Panchapandava Cave Temple

Panchapandava Cave Temple
Pandava Cave Temple, 1860
Location within Tamil Nadu
Name
Other names	Pancha Pandava Temples Mandapa of the Five Pavadas
Geography
Coordinates	12°37′00″N 80°11′30″E / 12.6167°N 80.1917°E / 12.6167; 80.1917
Country	India
State	Tamil Nadu
District	Kanchipuram district
Location	Mahabalipuram
Architecture
Architectural styles	Dravidian Architecture
Number of temples	5
Inscriptions	UNESCO Inscription as a World Heritage Site in 1984 titled Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram
History and governance
Date built	c. 7th-century
Creator	Narasimhavarman I Mamalla of Pallava Dynasty

Panchapandava Cave Temple (also known as Pancha Pandava Temples and Mandapa of the Five Pandavas) is a monument at Mahabalipuram, on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal, in the Kancheepuram district of the state of Tamil Nadu, India. The mandapa (rock sanctuary) is part of the Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram. It is the largest cave temple in Mahabalipuram. It is an example of Indian rock-cut architecture dating from the late 7th century. The temple is one of the finest testimonial to the ancient Vishwakarma Sthapathis, of rock-cut cave architecture, out of many such caves also called mandapas. Part of the Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram, the temple is a UNESCO World Heritage Site as inscribed in 1984 under criteria i, ii, iii and iv.

The Panchapandava Mandapa or Pancha Pandava Cave Temple, is near the open-air bas-relief of Arjuna’s Penance, in Mahablaipuram town. It is situated on the top of a hill range along with other caves in Mahabalipuram, on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal of the Indian Ocean. Now in the Kanchipuram district, it is approximately 58 kilometres (36 mi) from Chennai city (previously, Madras) and about 20 miles (32 km) from Chingelpet.

The columns of the verandah, which have lion bases are a typical style of Pallava architecture. From the architectural features carved in the cave it is conjectured that this style could be assigned to Narasimhavarman I Mamalla period to Narasimhavarman II Rajasimha during the mid-7th century. It is one of the ten important cave temples created by the Pallavas in Mahabalipuram.