A 1,700 year old Chinese connection!
Mamallapuram Was A Gateway For Trade With China, The Monk Bodhidharma Set Sail For China From The Ancient Port Town
Tipped to host the proposed second edition of the India-China informal summit between PM Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping, Mamallapuram has had historical defence and trade ties with China that are more than 1,700 years old.
The ancient port town, 50 km south of Chennai, had a defence pact between Pallavas and the Chinese that was aimed at securing Chinese territory from Tibet. Mamallapuram also flourished as a massive business hub on the Bay of Bengal transforming into a gateway for exports and imports from China to Tamil Nadu for eight centuries till 1,000 years ago.
“The agreement between Chinese rulers and Pallava king Narasimhavarman II during the early 8th century was the first strategic pact on security between the two kingdoms. Chinese declared him as the general of South China to take on Tibet as the latter had emerged a strong power and a threat to China,” said Kayal Barabhavan, author of ‘Bodi Dharma’, a four-part Tamil novel based on the Pallava dynasty.
Barabhavan said references to trade and defence links between two dynasties found a place in the book on the history of South India by K A Nilakanta Sastri. “Buddhist monk Bodhidharma, an icon in China, was the third prince of a Pallava king. He travelled from Kancheepuram through Mamallapuram to China in 527AD and became the 28th patriarch of Buddhism succeeding Prajnatara,” he said.
The tourism industry has been stressing on a tourism circuit centred on Bodhidharma. “It will attract numerous Chinese, Japanese and Thai tourists to Tamil Nadu,” said TN Tour Travel and Hospitality Association president V K T Balan.
Historians said the Chinese ties that were expanded by Pallavas continued till the Chola period, though the latter chose ports in Nagapattinam and Tanjore for trade. Archaeologist and secretary of Madurai-based Pandya Nadu Centre for Historical Research C Santhalingam said Chinese traveller Hiuen Tsang visited Kancheepuram in 7th century.
The ancient trade centre is battling a range of woes today — from civic amenities to infrastructure. South India Hotels and Restaurants Association honorary secretary T Nataraajan said promoting tourism was a challenge. “Due to the atomic power station at Kalapakkam, water sports activities are banned. Sea erosion is eating into sand dunes that disappear for two months every year,” he said. Stone carving has taken a hit. V Balasundaram, a master sculptor, said the art was on the wane. “Youngsters are no more showing interest. There is shortage for manpower,” he said.
Courtesy : TOI, Chennai
Tipped to host the proposed second edition of the India-China informal summit between PM Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping, Mamallapuram has had historical defence and trade ties with China that are more than 1,700 years old.
The ancient port town, 50 km south of Chennai, had a defence pact between Pallavas and the Chinese that was aimed at securing Chinese territory from Tibet. Mamallapuram also flourished as a massive business hub on the Bay of Bengal transforming into a gateway for exports and imports from China to Tamil Nadu for eight centuries till 1,000 years ago.
“The agreement between Chinese rulers and Pallava king Narasimhavarman II during the early 8th century was the first strategic pact on security between the two kingdoms. Chinese declared him as the general of South China to take on Tibet as the latter had emerged a strong power and a threat to China,” said Kayal Barabhavan, author of ‘Bodi Dharma’, a four-part Tamil novel based on the Pallava dynasty.
Barabhavan said references to trade and defence links between two dynasties found a place in the book on the history of South India by K A Nilakanta Sastri. “Buddhist monk Bodhidharma, an icon in China, was the third prince of a Pallava king. He travelled from Kancheepuram through Mamallapuram to China in 527AD and became the 28th patriarch of Buddhism succeeding Prajnatara,” he said.
The tourism industry has been stressing on a tourism circuit centred on Bodhidharma. “It will attract numerous Chinese, Japanese and Thai tourists to Tamil Nadu,” said TN Tour Travel and Hospitality Association president V K T Balan.
Historians said the Chinese ties that were expanded by Pallavas continued till the Chola period, though the latter chose ports in Nagapattinam and Tanjore for trade. Archaeologist and secretary of Madurai-based Pandya Nadu Centre for Historical Research C Santhalingam said Chinese traveller Hiuen Tsang visited Kancheepuram in 7th century.
The ancient trade centre is battling a range of woes today — from civic amenities to infrastructure. South India Hotels and Restaurants Association honorary secretary T Nataraajan said promoting tourism was a challenge. “Due to the atomic power station at Kalapakkam, water sports activities are banned. Sea erosion is eating into sand dunes that disappear for two months every year,” he said. Stone carving has taken a hit. V Balasundaram, a master sculptor, said the art was on the wane. “Youngsters are no more showing interest. There is shortage for manpower,” he said.
Courtesy : TOI, Chennai
The second informal summit between Modi and Xi is being held in the ancient city of Mamallapuram (earlier known as Mahabalipuram) — a major seaport during the ancient Chola and Pallava dynasties — and home to World Heritage-listed rock-cut temples and caves.
Mamallapuram has ties with China that go back 2000 years. Celadon ware (pottery) of the first century and second century recovered on the eastern coast of Tamil Nadu, hint towards Chinese maritime activities as do recovery of Chinese coins of the time in Tamil Nadu.
Chinese monk Hiuen Tsang had also visited Kancheepuram — a flourishing Buddhist centre during the Sangam era — in the seventh century AD, most likely through Mamallapuram.
WHAT MAKES MAMALLAPURAM SPECIAL?
TOI takes a look at some of the myths, legends, history and less known trivia about the ancient port city that is in the spotlight owing to the Modi-Xi summit.
ARJUNA’S PENANCE: WHEN THE HIMALAYAS DESCENDED SOUTH
Arjuna’s Penance’, the bas relief panel carved on a rock at Mamallapuram more than 1,300 years ago, has intrigued historians, archaeologists, researchers and tourists for centuries. Some say it depicts the Pandava prince trying to propitiate Shiva to gain the Pashupata astra. Others say it depicts the penance of Bhagiratha to bring the Ganga to earth. Art historian S Balusami says the 36-foot-high and 75-foot-wide panel with 154 images presents an idyllic scene under a summer noon sun in the Himalayas.
This is a dynamic sculpture which had a cistern at the crest where water would have been stored during rains and flowed down the central cleft from an outlet. The water tank at the bottom suggests that it would have been carved to recreate the notion of a holy dip for the royals and their guests.![]()
VIGNETTES FROM ARJUNA’S PENANCE
Bar-headed geese and the common langur rendered with amazing accuracy
A hunter carries a jackfruit, indicating it’s summer
Vishnu as disciple listens to teachings at the Vadari ashram.
Note the ribcage carved to perfection
SEVEN PAGODAS MAY BE FACT, NOT FICTION
Just before the 2004 tsunami struck, some people claimed that they saw temple structures in the sea as the waters receded before flooding in. European explorers and mariners have described Mamallapuram as the town of the seven pagodas (temples), which they probably saw as they crossed the coastal city during their sea voyages. The legend was that the shore temple complex had seven temples. Archaeologists who undertook studies on and offshore now believe that there could have been seven temples, five of which are now submerged in the sea.
“Evidence indicates the Shore temple complex was extending further north, south and eastwards, to a very limited extent and some of the collapsed structures are under the sand or in the inter-tidal zone,” T. Sathyamurthy, former superintending archaeologist, Archaeological Survey of India
MYSTERY OF ABANDONED SCULPTURES
One striking feature at Mamallapuram is that most of the rock monuments are incomplete. Except three structural temples – Mukundanayanar shrine, Olakkaneshwarar temple and Shore temple – all other monuments, including Arjuna’s Penance panel and five rathas, have been left unfinished. Some researchers speculate that natural disaster abruptly stopped the work, others think the cave and rock-cut temples could have been training centres for sculptors. Researchers are also not sure if the monuments were built by a single king or many kings.
TIGER CAVE: A SHRINE MORE THAN AN AMPHITHEATRE
Tiger cave, the first ancient monument en route Mamallapuram is carved out of a single rock at Saluvankuppam, some five km north of the proper town. Though incomplete, the façade portrays 11 heads of the mythical Yali (a beast with lion’s face and twin horns) as embellishments on a rectangular stage, carved out of the rock, with two other smaller box-like stages on the sides. Though it looks like an amphitheatre with a stage, researchers say that it was a temple complex for Shiva and Durga, and an attempt at integrating several ancient forms of worship.
KRISHNA MANDAPAM SHOWS INFLUENCE OF SANGAM-ERA TEXTS
The carvings at the Krishna mandapa are inspired by passages from literary work of the Sangam-era. “Though the central theme of the bas relief structure is a depiction of Krishna holding up the Govardhana hill, the treatment and detailing has been influenced by Sangam literature,” says art historian S Balusami.
Among the interesting carvings to see are herdswomen taking palm-leaf mats and uri (pot-holder) while accompanying the herd.
...and Krishna holding up the Govardhana hill to save the people
of Brindavan
OTHER MYTHS, LEGENDS AND HISTORY
The Shore temple which has the oldest surviving Vimana – the tower over the sanctum sanctorum – in Tamil Nadu. It belongs to the 8th century and is based on Dravida architecture style
A precariously balanced boulder on a steep rock slope in Mamallapuram is known as Krishna’s butterball and is one of the main attractions. A hunk of stolen butter dropped by gods, goes the local legend
Archaeologists say the ancient port of the town could be near the backwaters of Punjeri village, 1km west of Mamallapuram, with an outlet into the Bay of Bengal at Kalpakkam
Murugan on his elephant ‘Pinimugam’, as mentioned in Sangam-era texts, on the eastern wall of Arjuna ratha, one of the five stone monoliths
Five rathas are free standing monolithic temples carved out of solid rock. They assume the name of five rathas as they resemble processional chariots. Actually, they are the temples for Durga, Vishnu, Shiva and Murugan. By analysing vahanas of deities, researchers now claim that Nakula-Sahadeva ratha is a Murugan temple
ext: Raghu Raman; Photos: LR Shankar