Arjuna's Penance: According to the story in the epic Mahabharata, Arjuna, one of the Pandava brothers, offers prayers in extreme conditions in order to obtain Lord Shiva's weapon. Descent of the Ganges: According to this story, the sage Bhagiratha, offeres prayers in extreme conditions in order to bring the river Ganges down to earth.
On the relief one can can see many scenes being carved out in support of both the stories. The left side has the main elements of the story. Just above the shrine, Arjuna (or Bhagiratha) stands on one leg, his arms upraised, in a yogic posture. 
While the right side has scenes of the natural and celestial worlds and the life-sized elephants protect their young. A natural cleft populated by nagas (snakes) separates the two halves of the relief.We shall explore finer details of this relief soon: 1
I have always wanted to visit mamallapuram. I have been to Chennai so many times but I never had a chance to go there.
ReplyDeleteThis is simply amazing.
ReplyDeleteIndeed it is beautiful !!
ReplyDeletebeautiful photos
ReplyDeleteStunning carvings, really love your temples!
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful carvings!!!
ReplyDelete♥ •˚。
ReplyDeleteAmigo,
Seu país é fantástico!!!
As fotografias são fantásticas!!!
Passei para te deixar um abraço.
Beijinhos, querido.
Brasil
♥ •˚。
°° 。♥。
●/ ♥•˚。˚
/▌
/ \ 。˚。♥
A place i would love to visit .Amazing carvings and interesting history.Thanks for sharing these beautiful pictures.
ReplyDeleteLovely piece of Art work .
ReplyDeleteMarvelous carvings and stories. I love the littlest elephants. Thank you for sharing this with us.
ReplyDeleteSuch intricate artwork. Great shots!
ReplyDeleteHappy sky watching.
Liz @ A Simple Life
Elephant is very helpful in your country. Are there many elephant around till now? I heard that many people killed elephants because of their horns they should be punish for doing that. ^_^
ReplyDeleteSWF
Great photos, it is interesting to see people next to the carvings to get a feel of how big they area, very detailed work, thanks for sharing
ReplyDeleteSuch a gorgeous, fascinating place! Terrific capture, Rajesh! Hope you have a wonderful weekend!
ReplyDeleteSylvia
I was only able to open the middle image, I wonder why.
ReplyDeleteThe relief is fantastic. Incredible artistry.
ReplyDeleteGreat photos and thank you for your weekly interesting travel around India!
ReplyDeleteHave a nice weekend!
Those relief carvings are amazing. I wonder what type of stone this has been carved into.
ReplyDeletewonderful place and art. Love the elephants:-)
ReplyDeleteHappy weekend!
Amazing!
ReplyDeleteFascinating, Rajesh. And life-sized elephants? Wonderful.
ReplyDelete— K
Kay, Alberta, Canada
An Unfittie's Guide to Adventurous Travel
Incredible - that is something a person could spend many hours exploring and understanding.
ReplyDeleteWhat awesome sculpture work...and to think it dates back to the 7th C. Unbelievable. How can one country have so much? Your posts continue to amaze me. Genie
ReplyDeleteAmazing detail on these carvings, Rajesh! Thanks for sharing, great photos. Happy skywatching1
ReplyDeleteVery beautiful!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful intricate carvings!
ReplyDeleteamazing work!
ReplyDeleteInteresting
ReplyDeleteIt is indeed a beautiful work. Thanks for sharing the lovely stories behind it. Have a great weekend.
ReplyDeleteTruly a great place to be with children. Nice shots Rajesh.
ReplyDeleteLooks like it's history lesson on stone.
ReplyDeleteMy SWF
What wonderful intricate work!
ReplyDeletei enjoyed ths place thoroughly rajesh...got more informn thrgh ths post...
ReplyDeletenice shots
ReplyDeleteImpressive. Great shots.
ReplyDeleteHave a wonderful weekend.
A wonderful post and great images. Beautiful work.
ReplyDeleteGreat architecture! India is simply beautiful.
ReplyDeleteI can't believe the work!! Boom & gary of the Vermilon River, Canada.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful! This is like our weekend spot these days!
ReplyDeleteCruise Pictures
Consistently fascinatingly carved. Awesome. :)
ReplyDeleteIt is amazing! And hard to imagine that beautifully intricate work was done so long ago.
ReplyDeleteI liked the flower show post above too -- when I see your flowers it helps me to realize that we actually live the same world ;>)!
(We are in Oregon (the Pacific Northwest) right now -- and in this part of the country, structures built in the 1800s are old ;>)
Wow! Amazing craftsmanship and such a perfect place to catch some very interesting shadows.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful. I'm back for MYM.
ReplyDeleteHave a fabulous week!
MLC
MCN
great that they still preserved this.
ReplyDelete- Happy a Blessed Monday from Life Moto
What a wonderful post and story. Reading your posts we can learn a lot about Indian history.
ReplyDeleteVery nice shots.
Regards!
We especially go to this place to check the carved elephants and play a little slide made in rock beside this. Good shots!
ReplyDeletei had been here recently - in sept last month
ReplyDeletelovely place & the stone relics
http://sujathasathya.blogspot.com/2011/10/visit-to-mahabalipuram.html
You missed Arjuna :) He was the guy with ribs protruding in the middle :)
ReplyDeleteNice pics, Mahabs was like our Tavern, hope you liked the place.
I didn't know of these relics. Thanks for posting it. I'm going to make a trip here sometime.
ReplyDeleteExcellent! I wish to visit this place sometime. India is so rich culturally and there is so much to see. One lifetime is not enough.
ReplyDeleteOMG! This is gorgeous!
ReplyDelete