18-07-2025
The puzzling architectural marvels of Mamallapuram
You've all solved puzzles by putting together jigsaw pieces, or unscrambling jumbled letters. When historians research things about the past, it is also like solving a puzzle — using the pieces of what is left, and piecing together the missing information. But a few centuries ago, the Pallavas — a flourishing South Indian dynasty who ruled for many centuries — built an entire town of stone monuments, which has puzzled historians over generations.
Mamallapuram (or Mahabalipuram), is located around 50km from Chennai. The Pallavas made valuable contributions to architecture and sculpture, and Mamallapuram was the centre of their building activity. The town, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is filled with structures of historical importance including cave temples, sculptures on stone called bas reliefs and stand-alone temples.
One of the most unusual and highly visited set of monuments are the 'Pancha Pandava Rathas', built between 630 to 670 CE. When you look at these five structures, it may strike you that each has a different style. One looks like a hut, one has a vaulted semi-circular roof, some have pyramidal towers, and one has a curved back like an elephant. Some of them have elements from older Buddhist structures. Why were they built this way?
Finding answers
One theory is that the town of Mamallapuram was like a workshop or school for sculptors. Artisans built these 'full-size models', tried different methods of carving, and perfected their techniques — all to decide the patterns that future temple builders could use. Each ratha has a shrine inside to different deity, but they were not fully completed, and never used for worship; possibly supporting the theory that they were model pieces. But their true purpose remains an enigma.
These rathas, along with many structures in Mamallapuram, remain one of the finest examples of stone architecture and sculpture of the period. In fact, four of these rathas are guessed to be carved out of one massive rock that was slowly chipped away and carved into separate temples.
Another puzzle is their names. They are named after the Pandavas from the Mahabharata — Dharmaraja Ratha, Arjuna Ratha, Bhima Ratha, Nakula-Sahadeva Ratha and Draupadi Ratha. But no actual connection has been found between the rathas and the Pandavas, and we don't know when and how these names originated.
Mamallapuram is a site with many such mysteries, in its art, sculptures and architecture. In the children's book Mysteries of Mamallapuram, writer Ashwin Prabhu takes readers through the many of riddles and concludes, 'there doesn't have to always be one story, because there is so much in the past that we don't know yet!'
History is something that experts are still uncovering. Take a trip for yourself and find out what parts of the Mamallapuram puzzle you can solve!
