Mahabalipuram Temple Tamil Nadu

Mahabalipuram Temple is dedicated to Lord Siva. The Dutch, The English and other foreigners popularised the name of “Seven Pagodas”. This place once served as the fortress of the Dutch.

Mahabalipuram Temple Tamil Nadu

This place must have been built between the 2nd and 5th Centuries AD. Cholas made Kancheepuram as the Capital in 5th Century and ruled the region. Elanthirayan, the Chola prince, who sailed from Manipallava, an island off Ceylon, had Kanchi as his capital. While sailing in the ship, it was wrecked on the high seas and he reached the shore by swimming and came to Kanchi. The shore which he reached the shore by swimming perhaps named Kadamallai. He had developed into a big port. It flourished so till the 7th and 8th centuries. Thereafter the sea might have swept on the lands and many parts might have been swept off. Temples might have gone into the sea sometime between 1070-1117 AD.

Siva Temple on the shore was built in the 7th Century. It is only during Pallava period that hills were cut out, rocks were carved in and monoliths were heaped in artistic shapes. An Inscription says that the temple was called “Kshatriya Simha Pallaveswaram”. Rajasimha Pallaveswaram temple was built by Rajasimha Pallava during 690-710 AD.

Lord Vishnu revealed himself before Pundarika in this holy place. It is said that the sage derived his name from having offered all the lotus flowers (Pundarika means Lotus) to Vishnu. Led by a crocodile, sage reached Vaikuntam and wished to garland Lord Vishnu at Ocean of Milk, he did know what to do, he was restless, he thought of drying the sea to reach the place. A year passed and the lotus flowers he kept on the shores remained as fresh as ever. The waters too never got exhausted. However, Lord Vishnu yielding to his love and faith, and in the disguise of an old man appeared before the sage. He tried to dissuade the sage from his effort but in vain, Then the Lord told him that he was hungry and requested him to bring him food and he agreed to do the work for his sake. The Sage took the food accordingly from Mamallapuram and reached the shore, but the old man was not found there. Lord Vishnu himself was seen lying down on the sands. The sage rushed to the Lord in ecstasy and pleaded him. Thus Lord Vishnu is seen there since then lying on the barred floor, hence “Thalaysayana”. Sage Pundarika Tirtha is said to be more holy than the Ganges. Sage Agasthya, Garuda took a holy dip here and attained salvation.