MAMALLAPURAM

MAMALLAPURAM

Subject : History

Context : The Pallava era monuments at Mamallapuram, where the informal summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping took place in October 2019, will be among the highlights at the Republic Day parade in New Delhi.

Concept :

• Mamallapuram, also called Mahabalipuram or Seven Pagodas, is a town that lies along the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal, 60 km south of Chennai.
• The town’s religious centre was founded by a 7th-century Hindu Pallava King—Narasimhavarman, also known as Mamalla—for whom the town was named.
• It contains many surviving 7th- and 8th-century Pallava temples and monuments, chief of which are the sculptured rock relief popularly known as “Arjuna’s Penance,” or “Descent of the Ganges,” a series of sculptured cave temples, and a Shiva temple on the seashore.
• The town’s Five Rathas, or monolithic temples, are the remnants of seven temples, for which the town was known as Seven Pagodas.
• The entire assemblage collectively was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1984.