Thursday, December 24, 2009
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Anyway. I am staying at a very nice hotel called Mamallaa Heritage, which is just a short walk from the beach (the Tamil fondness for long names would not have been satisfied with Mamalla Heritage). To get to the beach, though, you have to walk down a road which is lined on both sides with sculpture galleries and carvers workshops and tribal arts and Tibetan arts and art and sculpture shops of all possible kinds. It is not possible to walk down (or up) this street without looking at and admiring the works. At least it wasn't possible for me to do so. And even if you did manage to, you would not avoid the souvenir vendors who walk up and down the street nor the calls from each shop. Some of the souvenirs on sale here as elsewhere seem quite odd to me. Do many tourists really choose to go home from India with a bullhide whip and a set of drums?
On bth sides of the road there are sculptures in all stages of completion - blocks of the newly bought rough stone, blocks on which outlines have been drawn, partly worked stones, roughly completed works needing only the final touches and the finished articles themselves. You can buy unfinished work if you prefer, one shopkeeper told me that some people do like to do this and inagine how the finished form would emerge in its perfection.
A lot of the pieces were truly beautiful and looked to me to be of museum quality. Most were similar in kind to those I had seen in many places all over India but some were new to me - the King Cobra sulptures and the bas relief pices of gekkos and lizards. There are also lovely healing sticks from Tibet and old seals used by the lamas there. Another thing I haven't seen before are images of Lord Krishna curled up and sucking one of his toes and exposing his penis. I've seen this a few times now, both with baby Krishnas and adult ones.
When I reached the beach and looked to my right, I saw the two towers of the Shore Temple, looking truly exotic near the sea, the sand and the trees. I knew from my book that the temple would be somewhere around there, but the first sight still took me by surprise and took my breath away.
I saw a dark brown and white cow on the beach and this makes me wonder if the "black and white" cow that I thought I had seen in Puducherry might not, actually, have been dark brown and white too.
A cafe on the beach had been damaged by the tsunami and displayed pictures of itself before the wave struck. The tsunami did a lot of damage here but there was one benefit in that it removed a lot of sand and revealed other structures near the beach temples whch had previously been unknown.
They say here that weather changed after the tsunami and that the monsoons are no longer to be relied upon.
The shore temple is said to be the oldest stone built temple in South India. It was constructed around 700 CE, at a time when the Anglo Saxons ruled in England, about a hundred years after the likely time of KIng Arthur.
There are two pyramid like structures. The smaller one is the furhter from the sea and was used as the vestibule for the main temple (perhaps like a proto-gopuram?). There are two shrines to Lord Shiva, and a reclining Lord Vishnu with his face turned away. It is quite unusual to see both gods honoured like this in the same temple.
When the temple was constructed the sea was farther away than it is today. Up to the early 1970s waves literally broke right onto the temple's walls. After a particularly destructive cyclone the government of India constructed a groyne wall so as to reclaim some land and protect the temples. The walls and carvings have also now been treated with preservatives but, unfortunately, a lot of the detail has been lost.
You cannot get to the temple by walking along the beach. You have to go back to the main road and walk past the hotel and then turn right again down Shore Temple Road. It costs Rs 250 for foreigners to get in but this also includes access to the Five "Chariots" (Pancha Rathas) on the same day. As you walk down Shore Temple Road, you pass on your left a large tank dedicated to Vishnu. The water is completely covered in water lilies.
Access to the shore temple is through a pleasant park with well-kempt lawns which afford a good view of the temple and also of the new lighthouse. The temple, as it is seen now, is largely a reconstruction because the cyclone in the 1970s did an immense amount of damage - but at least it stirred the government into taking action. When I had dinner in the roof top restaurant of my hotel, I could see the beams from the lighthouse periodically recurring.
Mamallapuram was an important port for many years and in the past sailors were guided by the lights of the Olakanesvara temple but an actual lighthouse was built more recently. Chinese traders did come here, as well as to Cochin, and there is, in fact, a Chinese style statue in the Shore Temple that shows the connection. Subsequently I also saw lions of possibly Chinese style in the Hill group of monuments.
After visiting the temple I went to see the Museum of Sculpture (Rs 2, whether you are foreign or Indian). There were many interesting things here, but nothing was labeleled except for one item which had a Tamil description. The book says that they are Pallava sculptures but some were certainly modern. Most are left in the open and show signs of weathering damage. One odd thing is that of all the many Ganesh idols that they had there, only one showed his vehicle - a mouse or rat. In fact some of the other sculptures looked as if the mouse could have been excised. In one he was dancng on an anlmal that looked more like a toad then a mouse to me, but perhaps it was supposed to be a mouse. I don't know why this was or if it was just a coincidence, but if the carvings are, in fact, from the Pallave period it could make sense as the mouse as mount element was first introduced in central and western India in the 7th Century, according to Wikipedia.
There were a few western style statues there. One was of Hermes and one looked to me at first to be a representation of Judith with the head of Holofernes, bt after I had loked at it for a while I decided it was probably David with the head of Goliath! The sculpted youth was rather androgynous. Another striking piece was a bas relief of what loked like a worker. His head was turned towards the visitor with an expression of surprise as if he had just happened to see the scultor "taking his picture".
On the roof of the building you could get a good view of the top of a decorated gopuram that has been moved there.
For lunch I had shark steak with vegetable rice. I've never eaten shark before! I thought it was right to get our own back for once, though I suppose that more men have eaten shark than vice versa. It seems to have a delicate taste. I can't be sure, though, beause I ordered shark msala and it was covered in incrediby hot spices! I'm not completely sure it really was a proper shark. One of the few things I know about sharks is that they have cartilaginous skeletons. But the fish I ate had things that seemed like little fish bones in it.
In any case, I bought a shark tooth pendant, so one way or the other I've probably got them back.
So as to get full value for money, I had to visit the Five "Chariots" on the same day. It was ony a short walk of about a mile but this did not prevent several auto drivers from telling me that it was too far to wlk and I should pay for a rickshaw! I preferred to walk. It was a lovely day and I could look more closely at the natural rock formations and the sculptors' workshops and the scenery than I could have from an auto.
The Pancha Rathas or Five "Chariots" are so named because there are five structures (not counting freestanding statues of elephants, bulls etc) and because some of them, at least, look a bit like the temple chariots used to carry images of gods on festivals - I have seen several of these at various museums throuhout India. These structures somewhat predate the shore temple. Basically, as I understand it, cave temples came first, then free standing monolithic temples like the rathas and then finally stone constructions like the Shore Temple. Before the first construction of stone temples, free standing temples were also made out of other materials such as wood and brick, but none has survived.
Each of the five structures is named after one or two of the Pandava brothers and their wife. As there are five structures and there were five Pandava brothers (whose story is told in the epic Mahabharata) they could have left the wife out. But they sneaked her in (fittingly for the Durga "temple") by cunningly allocating another structure to the twin brothers, Nakula and Sahadeva, which is also the only one of the five structures not in a straight line with the others - they are the two Pandavas whose mother was Madri and not Kunti.
The wife's name was Draupadi and she was married to all of the brothers. The story the guide who showed me Arjuna's Penance (Arjuna was one of the brothers, a great archer) told me was that one of the brothers brought his bride back and said to his mother on his return "Look, mother, I have brought back a bride!" But Kunti, his elderly mother, hard of hearing and distracted misheard him. She thought he had said "Look, mother, I have brought back some fruit!"
So she said to him "That is good. Share it with your brothers, my son!"
And, not wanting to disobey their mother, that's what the sons did.
In fact, of course, she was not the mother of the twins. But they would have obeyed her as the wife of their father Pandu. Having said that, the actual fathers of each brother were various deities but Pandu was their apparent father.
I have heard another story. That the sharing was done to avoid jealousy. Although this is an attractive idea, the fact that each brother had additional wives of his own (Arjuna had three other wives apart from Draupadi) seems to militate against it.
The Five "Chariots" are monolithic structures. Each one, with all its decoration and sculptures, all of the pillars and pilasters, is carved from one rock. More than this - the same giant rock, sloping from the far end of the enclosure to the point of entry, was used for all of the structures and statues.
The builders apparently constructed the buildings from the top down, to prevent damage to already finished work when they were continuing. This can be seen because the higher parts of each building are always complete, with the lower parts or bases sometimes remainng unfinished.
This method has caused some scholars to doubt whether the buildings were ever intended to be used as shrines or temples. Apparently, before a Hindu temple can be consecrated for worship a pot like object must be placed on the roof to enable the ritual that will "energise" the idol in the temple. But none of these structures have them. Howver, I don't really see why they couldn't have meant to put them on last of all - they don't have to be large - and we know the construction was interrupted because most of the lower structures are incomplete. And if the temples were never intended for use, what was the point of their construction? It must have taken an immense amount of work and skill.
Another thing I don't really understand is why all these monuments were erected here. Mamallapuram used to be a fairly important port but it was never a capital or seat of kings and no legends connect gods ofr mythological events to this place, so far as I am aware. Perhaps the first temples were a whim of a Pallava king (or possily an even earlier dynasty as some remains by the shore temple sugget that there was a pre-existing structure there). When the shore temple was being built sculptors must have come here from far away and perhaps this place has been a home for sculptors ever since.
Certianly, experts say that the architecture of the Shore Temple profoundly influenced temple architecture both in India and abroad because of Mamallapuram's significance as a port.
The other reason for these things being here, of course, is the rocks themselves. It must have seemed like an invitation to the sculptures to see these rocks, so suitable for carving, just standing there in the middle of farmland.
The first, and therefore the shortest of the five "chariots" that you come to when entering the enclosure is teh one named after Draupadi with a Durga idol. It's a simple square building with a sloping roof and one entrance at the front. It shares a platform with the next ratha which is named after Arjuna (he was always Draupadi's favourite husband). This is bigger, with two square columns at its front and with a step pyramid style roof. It is dedicated to Lord Shiva and behind it (you have to jump across a crack in the rock) is a freestanding Nandi carved monolithically from the same rock. In front of the temple is a really beautiful elephant, the backside of which is the first thing you see on entering the enclosure.
The next ratha in the line is one called after Bhima. This is a long rectangular structure with an amazing curved roof which has been compared to the hood of a coutry wagon. The varying roofs of these structures probably reflect different types of roofs in existence at the tnme they were built.
The last ratha in the straight line is the tallest and is named after Dharmaraja or Yudhisthira, the eldest of the brothers. This one has three storeys and the upper ones could have been used for worship. There are beutiful relief sculptures carved in the niches around the ratha. One is another version of the Ardhanari like the one that I saw in Elephanta.
The final ratha is dedicated to the twins Nakula and Sahadeva. It's shape is "apsidal", that is to say a bit sticks out in the front of it. This gives it rather the shape of an elephant and it has been suggested that the elephant sculpture that stands between this ratha and that of Arjuna is intended as a visual pun
If you walk down the main road from my hotel and, instead of turning left down Shore Temple Road you turn right you will come to a remarkable rockside covered in carvings - Arjuna's Penance.
The carving here is older than the Shore Temple - maybe actually from the days of King Arthur. It is often claimed, in what seems to be a bit of an Indian habit, to be the largest bas relief in the world. But sometimes you do see a qualification in brackets - "so long as you don't count Angkor Wat"!
It took me a while to identify Arjuna as I was expecting an athletic figure with a bow and arrow. Of course the title of the piece should have given me the clue. Arjuna has been doing penance (he wants to pursuade Shiva to let him have a bow and arrows of great power) and has been fasting. His emaciated figure, looking like an old man and standing on one leg with his hands held over his head to increase his discomfort is in the centre of the sculpture. Some say this is not supposed to be Arjuna but Bhagiratha who also had to implore Shiva for something - in his case the descent of the divine river Ganga to earth.
On the right side (and, so far as I know, nothing to do with the Arjuna penance story) is a family of elephants with the baby elephants sheltering beneath their father. Slightly to the right of Arjuna there is a natural cleft in the rock and the sculptors have taken advantage of this to represent the River Ganges falling from heaven (via Shiva's hair). Perhaps this does give the Bhagiratha argument more weight.
The side with Arjuna / Bhagiratha on is filled with carvings of dozens of gods and goddesses, Shiva himself and his ganas and various animals such as lions and tigers. Shiva appears to be holding his hand out to the ascetic figure, but I could not see a bow or arrow. Below the ascetic there is an amusing relief of a cat, also standing on one leg and ignoring the mice around him! There is also a free standing statue of a monkey grooming her baby just to the right of the bas relief.
Above the Arjuna's Penance on the top of the hillside Krishna's Butterball, on the other hand, is a purely natural phenoenon as far as anyone knows. It's a gigantic boulder, looking almost spherical from some angles, balanced on the top of a steep ridge. It looks ready to fall at any moment, as if a gust of wind or someone leaning upon it would cause it to topple.
But, in fact, it seems that it would be very hard to move. It is said that the Chola kings unsuccesfully tried using many elephants to move it. My guide told me that the British had also tried to move it (Health and Safety reasns, don't you know, can't have that rock up there ready to fall onto the town at a moment's notice). But they couldn't move it either.
It's known as Krishna's Butterball because it is ball like in shape and because Krishna, when he was young, used to love butter and would take as many butterballs as he could. Nearby, with access free of charge, are sprinkled several other carved temples and caves.
No one has come up with a reasonable explanation for how this rock got to be in its present precarious location. At its back (the side facing away from the sea) you can see that it's not actually spherical, there's a straight edge as if the rock had been cleaved from something. It doesn't look to be the same stone as the ridge on which it rests. Some say it was swept in from the sea, some that "it is a gift of god". The locals touch there hands to it and say a blessing and claim that this will give them strength. Neither the cyclone nor a recent earthquake has dislodged it and the effects of the tsunami passed it by.
On the second day I visited the Ball they were making a Tamil language film there about sightseers. I asked if they needed any extras but they didn't :-(
I took an auto out of town to visit the Crocodile Bank whch is between here and Chennai. Most of the roads in Mamallapuram are dirt tracks. The main road, on which my hotel stands, is metalled but, so as to forestall the possiblity of jealousy from other roads here, the locals have covered it in earth and sand and sprinkled rocks and dug potholes all along it. We went north along this road, bumping and bouncing, untill the outskirts of town when the road suddenly became ok again. My driver took advantage of this and drove at full speed. It's hard to know how fast we went. I'd guess 40 mph, which seems very fast in an auto even on a paved road. Empty plastic bottles bounced out of the back of the rickshaw onto the road. They'd been housed well enough for the slow journeys around town the auto ususally made, but not for this.
When we reached the Crocodile Bank I felt that it was really good. It's a place dedicated to the breeding of endangered species, particularly but not exclusively crocodilians. There are hundreds of crocodiles there kept in something like their natural habitats. In contrast to the Sculpture museums all the signs were in English and everything was very well explained.
For Rs 30 I was able to throw 2 kilograms of raw meat and bones (six large pieces) to a pitful of hungry crocodiles and watch as they struggled to get it first and then the winner practically swallowed it whole, bones and all. The most interestnig thing was that before I began to feed them, but as the man was brnging the meat to me, the crocs must have scented the meat and slowly began creeping forward out of the water, towards the wall behind which I stood.
I saw many crocodiles of many types. Most were sunning themselves and not moving. Some had their mouths wide open as then lay there - maybe for extra cooling?
In some pits I could not see any crocodiles at first but then could make them out. Thier camouflage is much more effective than you would think. Sometimes though there really did seem nothing to be seen. I think that in those cases the crocs were underwater. They can hold their breath for up to six hours and I wasn't prepared to wait that long.
Indeed, I did see in an underwater viewing chamber, a large croc with his eyes closed apparently asleep at the bottom of the water. I can safely say "his" and not "its" because this croc had a large protuberance on its nose which, so I was told, is the distinguising mark of a male croc of that species and how they can be distinguished from the females.
One of the saltwater crocs there is known as Jaws III and is currently 16 feet long and 30 years old. The largest ones grow to 20 feet long and this one is still growing and could become the longest in the world.
I was allowed (on payment of another Rs 30) to hold a baby crocodile and be photgraphed doing so. It seemed happy enough and stayed still as I held it. The python, on the other hand struggled a bit as did the baby turtle (I quite liked the feel of its flippers on my hands).
They had a collection of crocodile eggs which look quite like chicken eggs. The shells were white in colour.
They also had a collection of Aldabra Giant Tortoises. I'd never heard of these before but apparently they grow as large as the more famous Galapagos ones and also live to a great age, sometimes over 200 years. The ones I saw were large but not yet giants, I would say their shells were about two feet long. but they are young and will grow. The avaerage for an adult male is apparently a four foot long shell. I the wild these tortoises are found only in one atoll near the Seychelles.
On the way back from the Crocodile Bank, I stopped off at the Tiger Cave. As you appraoch it, it looks very much like Fred Flintstone's cave from the cartoons. It gets its name from the elaborate decration around the cave entrance, although the animals depicted may not be tigers after al but some mythical beasts. There was another nearby cave dediated to Shiva with a newly installed shivling and some really nice bas reliefs of the Shiva family - Shiva and Parvati and Ganesh and Kartikeya with Brahma and Vishnu in the background.
Mamallapuram is a lovely place for a holiday. I actually think I could happily stay here for the rest of my fortnight in India and maybe just take day trip to some nearby places such as Chennai. But I must move on and see more . .
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