in Camera

The same in colour. This is the second set of the series of pics I plan to post on Mamallapuram, the Pallava monuments, about 50 km south of Chennai. According to a publication of the Archaeological Survey of India, by C. Sivamurthy, these were sculpted during the reign of Narasimhavarman I and are the earliest monuments of their kind in India. While the five rathas (chariots) are named after the five Pandavas the heroes of the Mahabaratha and Draupadi, their wife, there is no historical significance says the author. (Also note of the five pandavas the ratha on the extreme right is named after the twins Nakula and Sahadeva; the one on the left is Draupadi ratha, next Arjuna ratha, then Bhima and the furthest one Dharamaraja ratha.)