The 2004 tsunami revealed ancient sites along the coast near Mahabalipuram. Archaeologists are still busy with the finds.
At the end of 2004, in the aftermath of the killer tsunami that struck India’s coast and claimed many lives, there was one bit of good news from Tamil Nadu. The news, which caught the attention of historians and archaeologists, came from Mahabalipuram (also known as Mamallapuram), a coastal town in Kancheepuram district.
Just before the tsunami hit, the sea receded far out. Observers on the beach reported that in an area otherwise permanently under water, the receding sea laid bare a long, straight row of large rocks. This triggered talk of the mythical Seven Pagodas, the seven temples said to have been built there by the Kancheepuram’s rulers close to 2,000 years ago.
“It is true that there were reports saying that people saw a rocky structure below the sea,” says Satyabhama Badhreenath, superintending archaeologist of the Chennai Circle of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). “But whether it is man-made or just natural rock is not confirmed.”
ASI took the reports seriously and began excavations in collaboration with its underwater research unit.
One of the major finds revealed by the tsunami was a brick temple — the first in the region — in Salavunkuppam, a few kilometres north of Mahabalipuram. ASI experts say it was dedicated to Lord Subramanian during the reign of the Rashtrakuta king, Krishna III. They believe it dates back to around the 10th century.
Another stone temple discovered after the tsunami has a sanctum sanctorum and a mandapa, but its deity has still not been identified. Both these temples are open to the public and a large number of visitors, foreign and Indian, now walk in to see them.
In the years since the tsunami, three more rock formations with elaborate carvings of animals and a sculpture of a sage sitting under a tree were found near Mahabalipuram.
As recently as last month, a Jain sculpture, possibly 1,000 years old, was discovered in Padur, on the Old Mahabalipuram Road. It was being used by nearby residents as a washing stone.
The name Mahabalipuram is believed to have come from the Pallava king, Narasimhavarman I, who was known as maha-malla (great wrestler). Archaeologists believe it was a port city, established in the early centuries CE and most active from the 7th to the 13th century. The area around Shore Temple in Mahabalipuram is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
“The rich availability of rock outcrops in the region would have led rulers, over the centuries, to select this place as a lab to experiment with architectural method,” a senior ASI official says. Archaeologists hypothesise that Mahabalipuram and places nearby were where architects tested new ideas before venturing into the creation of real temples elsewhere. The architecture of each temple structure in Mahabalipuram, including the famous Draupadi, Bheema and Arjuna Rathas, is different.
ASI is also working to conserve the local monuments and protect them from the sea and from adverse atmospheric conditions. ASI was reported to have initiated conservation work with a budget of around Rs 5 crore at a group of sites including Mahabalipuram and other parts of coastal Tamil Nadu.
Methods to prevent sea water from entering the temple through its southern side in case of another tsunami are being studied, sayASI officials.
“The tsunami has not affected the Mahabalipuram monuments much. Still, we are carrying out all possible efforts to safeguard the monuments from the attack of sea waves,” says Badhreenath. The main conservation activities include measures to protect the monument from the salt-laden winds and from weathering with paper pulp treatment, growing certain plants to help resist salt-laden winds and setting up of groyne walls to prevent sea water from entering the monuments.
