Cave Temples of Mahabalipuram

The Cave Temples of Mahabalipuram are located on the hillock of town, overlooking the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal in Kanchipuram District in Tamil Nadu, India. Also called mandapas or rock-cut caves, they are sanctuaries or temples covered with bas-reliefs. The earliest period of use of these caves as sanctuaries is traced to Buddhist and Jain periods. They were excavated on rock faces which were cut and then carved using chisel and iron mallet. Of the eleven mandapas or caves seen in Mahabalipuram, the most notable are the Varaha Cave Temple, Krishna Cave Temple, Panchapandava Cave Temple, and the Mahishasuramardini mandapa. They are cut and decorated with panels in the Mamalla style of the Pallava period in the 7th century. They are differentiated from the Adiranchanda cave temples which are dated to the Mahendraverman period of the 8th century. Remnants seen in the caves also indicate that they were plastered and painted when built. One of the most impressive sculpture panels, bas-reliefs, carved on the walls in the caves is that of the goddess Durga (a form of goddess Shakti) who killed Mahishasura the buffalo-headed demon which has a natural beauty with elegance of sense of movement, and this bas-relief panel in the Mahsisuramardhini Cave Temple is considered a masterpiece of Indian art. Many of the caves of the Pallava period have remained incomplete. The procedure in creating these caves involved creation of a smooth rock face, then cutting columns through the polished rock faces of required size and then carving bas-reliefs on the walls of the cave. Some of the cave temples are covered by the UNESCO inscription while others are not, such as the Koneri Mantapa, the Yali Mantapa, and the Kotikaal Mantapa. All caves here with simple plan and elegant architectural style, and have no deities deified in the sanctum sanctorum. It is one of the Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram that were designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1984 under the heading mantapas.