{mosimage}Even though I visited Mahabalipuram last year, an impromptu visit there yesterday with Vaidhees had some surprises in store for me. May be because I travelled with a person of strong literary / history intrest & keen observation, there was a remarked difference in this trip. We all tend to believe that whatever works available in Mahabalipuram are of the Pallava sculpturers' best capabilities, but I realised yesterday that they are actually the thwarted attempts and incomplete works. There are many strong indications that the sculptural works have been abruptly stopped, may be because of the war by Pulikesi & Chalukkiyas. The speciality of these Mahabalipuram temples is that they are made out of single rock, in other words "single piece". In lot of places the material removal had just started (they had a standard pattern of removing the excess material in blocks and using the same for pavements and other foundation works) and the work stopped abruptly. Why I feel that the works are incomplete one can be seen in pictures. Take a peek!!!
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This time I managed to see some places skipped / missed last time, like "Rayar Gopuram", where an amazing work of Vishnu's "Dasavatharam" is found in a single piece of rock. An attempted replica of "Bhageerathan Penance" was found in another place. If the war hadn't disturbed the art works, we might have been blessed with a massive and complex structure like in Angorvat. Anyway good that it didn't happen, because we don't deserve such monuments. After seeing the wonderful works being reduced to the hideouts for lovers and public's lack of awareness of the valuable sculptures, and the apathy towards such priceless monuments by scribbling their (and lover names) on the works really bleed my heart.
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