01Two shrines and a reclining Vishnu
The larger shrine faces east, so that the first sun off the Bay of Bengal falls on its linga. A smaller Shiva shrine faces west, and between them, in a low chamber, lies an older image of Vishnu on the serpent, cut from the bedrock before the temple was built around it. The towers are slender and stepped, among the first in the Dravida style built of dressed stone. Rows of Nandis stand along the enclosure wall, worn smooth by salt wind.
02The sea gives back
Sailors once called Mamallapuram the ‘Seven Pagodas’, and local tradition held that six more temples lay under the sea. When the tsunami of 26 December 2004 pulled the water back, people on the shore saw lines of stone; the ASI later found remains of older structures nearby. A stone breakwater now protects the temple. UNESCO listed the Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram in 1984.
The life of this place
- c. 700–728Rajasimha builds the Shore Temple.
- 1984UNESCO lists the Mahabalipuram monuments.
- 2004The tsunami exposes older remains near the temple.
Come at sunrise. The Mamallapuram dance festival is held against the Shore Temple in December–January.
