MahabalipuramRathas

Famousastempletown,Mahabalipuramissituatedalongtheshores
of the Bay of Bengal about 60 km from the south of Chennai.
Mahabalipuram is home to one of the architectural wonders of the
world,theRathatemples.ItwasthePallavakingNarsimha,whobuilt
the magnificent 'Ratha' cave temples of Mahabalipuram in the 7th
century. The Ratha temples at Mahabalipuram bear testimony to the
artistic genius of Indian architects in ancient times. The Ratha
templesalsoreflecttheartistictastesofthePallavarulers.TheRatha
temples gave birth to a new style of architecture, the South Indian
templearchitecture.
The'Ratha'cavetemplesareusuallycalledthe"PanchPandavaRatha"(thefivechariotsofthePandavas).
The Ratha temples are regarded as the transition point between the rockcut cave temples and freestanding
stone temples. The fact that each one of these temples is carved out from a single rock goes to prove that
theIndianarchitectshadgreatskills.ThemostremarkablethingabouttheseRathasisthattilldatemostof
themarewellpreservedandmanyoftheircarvingsareasfreshastheyweresome1,300yearsago.
ThetemplesatMahabalipuramarecalledasRathatemplesastheyresembletheshapeofrathas(chariots).
These temples are known especially for their Rathas and "Mandapas" (an open pavilion or a hall). The total
number of Rathas at Mahabalipuram is eight out of which five are named after the five Pandavas of
MahabharataandoneafterDraupadi,thewifeofPandavabrothers.ThefivePandavarathasaretheDharma
raja Ratha, the Bhima Ratha, the Arjuna Ratha, the Draupadi Ratha and the Nakul Sahadev Ratha. The
RathasatMahabalipuramareconstructedinthestyleoftheBuddhistviharasandchaityas.
AnotherremarkablefeatureoftheRathatemplesisthattheywereexcavatedbyscoopingoutthescarpofthe
hillfromfronttoback.
The unfinished Dharmaraja Ratha is three storied and the largest whereas the onestoried Draupadi Ratha is
thesmallestandhasaninterestingthatchlikeroof.BaseofthethreestoreyDharmarajaRathaissupported
byfiguresofalion,alternatingwithanelephant.ThebaseoftheDharmarajaRathaissquareanditrisesto
13metersasapyramid.TheArjunaandDraupadiRathasarededicatedtoShivaandDurgarespectively.