Seven Pagodas of Mahabalipuram

"Seven Pagodas" has served as a nickname for the southern Indian city of Mamallapuram, also called Mahabalipuram (old name), since the first European explorers reached it.

[1] The temples' origins have been obscured by time, lack of complete written records, and destruction of architectural proof by Turko-Persian invaders.

Englishman D. R. Fyson, a long-time resident of Madras (now Chennai), wrote a concise book on the city titled Mahabalipuram or Seven Pagodas, which he intended as a souvenir volume for Western visitors.

Fyson states that archaeological evidence supports the claim that a monastery (vihara in Tamil) existed in ancient Mahabalipuram.

Hinduism's stupam design influence is also apparent in the traditional pagoda shape of the Shore Temple and other remaining architecture (Fyson 5).

He recounts a local belief regarding the pagodas, that the god Indra became jealous of this earthly city and sank it during a great storm, leaving only the Shore Temple above water.

However, the six missing temples have continued to fascinate locals, archaeologists, and lovers of legends alike, and have recently returned to the archaeological spotlight.

He wrote an account of his visit and the legend in 1798, which was later collected by Mark William Carr in his 1869 book Descriptive and Historical Papers Relating to the Seven Pagodas on the Coromandel Coast.

Southey told romantic tales of many cultures around the world, including India, Rome, Portugal, Paraguay, and Native American tribes, all of which were based on accounts of others' travels, and his own imagination.

He notes that, before Europeans began to visit Southern India toward the beginning of the British Raj, many of the smaller monuments at Mahabalipuram were partially or entirely covered with sand.

Once early English archaeologists realized the extent and beauty of the site, toward the end of the 18th century, they appointed experienced antiquarians such as Colin Mackenzie to preside over the dig (Ramaswami, 210).

Anecdotal evidence can be truthful though, and in 2002 scientists decided to explore the area off the shore of Mahabalipuram, where many modern Tamil fishermen claimed to have glimpsed ruins at the bottom of the sea.

Tourists and residents who witnessed this event from the beach recalled seeing a long, straight row of large rocks emerge from the water.

The tsunami also made some immediate, lasting changes to the coastline, which left a few previously covered statues and small structures uncovered on the shore.

Perhaps the most famous archaeological finding after the tsunami was a large stone lion, which the changing shoreline left sitting uncovered on Mahabalipuram's beach.

In April 2005, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and the Indian Navy began searching the waters off the coast of Mahabalipuram by boat, using sonar technology (Das).

ASI archaeologist Alok Tripathi told The Times of India that, as of his February 2005 interview, sonar exploration had mapped inner and outer walls of the two previously submerged temples.

Most archaeologists working on the site believe that a tsunami struck sometime between the Tamil Sangam and Pallava periods, destroying the older temple.

ASI scientist G. Thirumoorthy told the BBC that physical evidence of a 13th-century tsunami can be found along nearly the entire length of India's East Coast.