Mahabalipuram: Two Lighhouses

These events take place on July 4th in Mahabilipuram, a small village South of Chennai. We have hired a guide and are viewing the local sights that make the town famous.


Our next stop was the Two Lighthouses. We walked up a long, sloping ramp and came upon this large elephant sculpted out of granite. What you see above is the elephant from the side. His head is on the left behind the trees. The house at the top is like the carriage atop his back people ride. Inside the temple behind the columns you see above there is an intricate relief.


This is Durga slaying a Bull demon. The story was that the demon was harassing the town until Durga steps in. She kills him, but he springs to life again from his own blood. This happens a number of times until she gets wise and rides in a lion. She kills him again and the lion drinks up the blood. Blood in the lion, no reanimating demon. Win for Durga.


Now is Durga the same as Chamundi, the demon-slaying beast riding goddess from Mysore? I think sort-of. You see the general archetypes recurring but it seems like there are differences in the local versions that make the unique. I think a Hindu might suggest that they are different but that the differences aren't important.
Our guide also showed us the amazing "musical columns". Basically, you put your ear to the column and he slaps it in different places and you can hear the vibration. Our guide explains that in an era before electricity and musical instruments this was how the people played songs. I gave him a rather dubious look but didn't say anything. You could hear the whunnng sound of the column when he smacked the solid granite, but that didn't make much sense to me.

In any case, next we climbed the stairs around to the top of the elephant temple to see the top. You sould see the inside had chambers leading to the top where the tenders could keep the signal fire of the lighthouse lit. It gave a commanding view of Mahabalipuram and the second lighthouse.

The second lighthouse was about a hundred years old. Practically a baby thing. We sat on top of the original lighthouse and enjoyed the cooling breezes. I could have stayed up there for a long time. It was very peaceful.

But the time came to get down and that was the only time I really had any anxiety. Some of the steps down were steep and it was a little crowded. But we were fine and it felt great to join up with our friends on the bottom and head off to the next site to see.