please tell me about shore temple at Mamallapuram?

Answer 1

Mahabalipuram(also known as Mamallapuram) is a town in Kancheepuram district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is a 7th century port city of the South Indian dynasty of the Pallavas around 60 km south from the city of Chennai in Tamil Nadu. It is believed to have been named after the Pallava king Mamalla. It has various historic monuments built largely between the 7th and the 9th century, and has been classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The monuments are mostly rock-cut and monolithic, and constitute the early stages of Dravidian architecture wherein Buddhist elements of design are prominently visible. They are constituted by cave temples, monolithic rathas (chariots), sculpted reliefs and structural temples. The pillars are of the Dravidian order. The sculptures are excellent examples of Pallava art.

Most of the sculptures are not very intricate in details but rather tend to be rough sculptures. One point of view is that this area served as a school for young sculptors. The different sculptures, some half finished, may have been examples of different styles of architecture, probably demonstrated by instructors and practiced on by young students. This can be seen in the Pancha Rathas where each Ratha is sculpted in a different style.

Some important structures include:

Arjuna's Penance - relief sculpture on a massive scale extolling stories from Hindu mythology.
Varaha Cave Temple - a small rock-cut temple dating back to the 7th century.
The Shore Temple - a structural temple along the Bay of Bengal with the entrance from the Western side away from the sea. Recent excavations have revealed new structures here. The temple was reconstructed stone by stone from the sea after being washed away in a cyclone.
Pancha Rathas (Five Chariots) - five monolithic pyramidal structures named after the Pandavas (Arjuna, Bhima, Yudhishtra, Nakula and Sahadeva) and Draupadi. An interesting aspect of the rathas is that, despite their sizes they are not assembled — each of these is carved from one single large piece of stone-.

Answer 2

The Shore Temple at Mamallapuram, built during the reign of the Pallava King Rajasimha (c. 700 - 728), is the earliest important structural temple in Southern India. Its three sanctuaries are dedicated to Vishnu and Shiva. Prominent in this photo are the temple walls, topped by large sculptures of Nandi, and its two steep pyramidal towers capped by octagonal domes.

As its name suggests, the Shore Temple overlooks the Bay of Bengal (Mamallapuram was the port city of Kanchipuram, the Pallava capital). Its location, so near the sea, has resulted in considerable erosion of the temple's superstructure.

For moe details about Shore Temple, please check the following websites:

http://www.tamilnation.org/culture/architecture/mahabalipuram.htm

Answer 3

The shore temple in mamallapuram (mahapallipuram) is the temple built by Krishna II. The temple has many statue and scripts. This temple is one of the famous temple in tamil nadu, It is not only a religious place but also a good tourist place.

Answer 4

The Shore Temple at Mamallapuram - R.Nagaswami in Art & Culture of Tamil Nadu, 1980
"Mamallapuram was developed as flourishing seaport by the great Pallava monarch, Narasimhavaraman I, and has ever since remained important in the history of south India. A naval fleet was despatched from here, by the same king, to Sri Lanka which was conquered and his vassal, Manavarman, installed on the throne. But above all, the grand conception of Rajasimha in cutting huge boulders of granite into exquisitely carved rathas has provided this seaside village with the most attractive and important monuments in India. The free standing monolithic temples called rathas, the lavishly sculptured cave-temples and the huge rock-face portraying the sculptures narrating the story or Arjuna obtaining the pasupata situated almost on the seashore, draw the admiration of the world. The charm of the place is enhanced by a temple with two towers, familiarly known as the Shore Temple.

Set against the background of unfathomable sky and the boundless sea, each merging with the other in a far off horizon, with the melody of the waves gently rolling over the outer walls, with the two towers as if piercing the blue canopy of the sky, with their sharp spires and with the green wood in the front welcoming the visitor with a gentle breeze, the Shore Temple has a splendour unsurpassed in aesthetic appeal. With the rising sun spreading its rays like a golden ball, with white clouds moving across, the towers are most fascinating. The temple, standing as it is on the coast for over a thousand years with most of its sculptures having been eroded, due to saline action but leaving vestiges here and there, mere outlines, shines in its pristine glory.

This temple is the most complex group of all the temples of south India, having two shrines placed one behind the other, one facing east and the other west. These two shrines are separated by a rectangular shrine sandwiched in between and having its entrance from the side. This shrine is dedicated to Vishnu, who is represented as lying on his serpent couch and known as Talasayana Perumal. The other two shrines are dedicated to Siva. There is a large open court at the western end.

A little to the south of the sancta and within the compound is a majestic lion which carries a miniature Mahishasuramardini carved inside a square cavity cut in the neck of the animal. Two attendant deities of the Goddess are shown as mounted on either side of the animal. A little to north of this, in the platform, is an exquisitely carved deer shown with majestic ease. Unfortunately its head is mutilated. In between the deer and the lion could be noticed a dwarf with only the legs preserved.

This temple with triple shrines was built by Narasimhavarman II, familiarly known as Rajasimha. That Rajasimha was a great patron of art, literature and other fine arts is revealed in innumerable titles he assumed for himself like Vinanarada. He was a great devotee of Siva and a prolific temple-builder. Both lithic records and copper plate grants of the Pallavas extol him as one who lavished wealth on temples and scholars.

It is to the genius of this monarch that we owe the monumental Kailasanatha temple of Kanchipuram, and the Talagirisvara temple at Panamalai. An inscription in Pallava grantha characters, in the balipitha at the western end of the Shore Temple, extols the prowess of Rajasimha.

This temple has been so often visited and illustrated that the very name of the Shore Temple would recall the two towers standing on the shore. However, there is one factor which has escaped attention. The temple originally consisted of three, vimanas the third vimana which was over the Vishnu shrine has crumbled down. That these shrines were under regular worship for long is borne out by literature and epigraphs.

Thirumangai Alvar, who lived in the eighth century A.D. has sung of the temple and refers to Lord Vishnu as Kadalmallai Talasayana. Rajaraja, the great Chola emperor, has left two inscriptions in the temple, recording gifts of lands, etc. Interestingly he mentions the names of the three shrines of at Kshatriyasimha Pallavesvaragriham, Rajasimha Pallavesvaragriham and Pallikondaruliya Devar shrine.

As mentioned above, Rajasimha who constructed this temple, was a king of varied tastes and delighted in assuming hundreds of titles, as evidenced from the Kailasanatha temple inscriptions. Amongst his titles, mention may be made of Rajasimha, Narasimha, Kshtriyasimha and Purushasimha, as also Mahamalla, Saturmalla, Amitramalla, etc.

It is, therefore, evident that the Kshatriyasimha Pallavesvara and Rajasimhapallavesvara mentioned in the inscription are after Rajasimha's titles. A recently discovered label inscription found on the lintel of this Vishnu shrine, in the Pallava grantha script of the Rajasimha age, gives the name of the temple as Narapathisimha Pallava Vishnu griham. This find confirms that the Vishnu temple was also built by Rajasimha. The other reference is to the Talasayana shrine. An inscription of Virarajendra Chola, also found in the temple, refers to this Lord as Kadalmallai Emperuman.

From the above it is evident that all the three shrines in the temple were under regular worship for a considerable time. It is well-known, that according to the prevalent custom, a temple is placed under worship only when it is crowned with a vimana, and duly consecrated with a stupi (Kzcmbhabisheka). It is, therefore, certain that the Talasayana shrine of the temple had a vimana, which has crumbled.

The above conclusion is amply justified by the presence of a course of rectangular and square pavlion ornaments (bhadrasalas and vimana types) which formed the first storey of the vimana. This is further proved by the rectangular pavilion ornaments of the other storyes still lying scattered inside the
compound. Judging from the extant remains, the vimana was of a rectangular type with a series of stupis arranged in a line on it ridges, and attained a height between those of the big and the small towers.

Though rectangular vimana over the sanctum went out of existence in later times, it was present Pallava days. The monolithic temples of Ganesa and Bhima rathas, both in Mamallapuram, are splendid examples of the rectangular vimanas. The Mahendravarmesvaragriha, constructed at the entrance of the Kailasanatha temple of Kanchipuram by Rajasimha's son, a structural example of the rectangular vimana still preserved.

The same rectangular structures form the principal form of the gateway towers called gopuras in the south Indian temple-complex in the succeeding centuries.
Rajasimha's conception of this temple-complex, with two square vimanas interspersed with a rectangular one, each spire from the land's side showing an increase in height and the whole being set against the background of the ocean is .indeed a marvel, an inspiration and vision quite befitting a great artist like Rajasimha."