Mahabalipuram

History at a glance

1. 630-668 AD
   The Pancha Rathas are cut, each from a single boulder of granite. They are the earliest monuments of their kind in India.
2. 668 AD
   Narasimhavarman I dies. THE RATHAS ARE LEFT UNFINISHED AND ARE NEVER CONSECRATED.
3. 7th century
   The cave mandapas are excavated into the hillside and the Descent of the Ganges is carved across two boulders, about 96 feet by 43.
4. c. 700 CE
   Rajasimha (Narasimhavarman II) builds the Kailasanathar temple at KANCHIPURAM — city 16 — in structural sandstone.
5. c. 725 AD
   The Shore Temple is BUILT — granite blocks and cut stone, not carved rock — with two sanctums, for Vishnu and for Shiva.
6. 1798
   John Goldingham visits and gives the first written account of Mahabalipuram, describing the SEVEN PAGODAS by the sea.
7. 1984
   The Group of Monuments is inscribed by UNESCO, 8th Session, reference 249, under criteria (i), (ii), (iii) and (vi).
8. 2004
   The Indian Ocean tsunami strips sand from the shoreline, revealing carvings including an elephant's head and a horse in flight, and evidence reported as six of the seven pagodas.
9. Ongoing
   ASI continues the exploration. UNESCO notes that sustained removal of sand has brought several buried structures to light around the Shore Temple.

Best time to visit