Seven Pagodas of Mahabalipuram

"Seven Pagodas" has served as a nickname for the south Indian city of Mahabalipuram, also called Mamallapuram, since the first European explorers reached it. The phrase "Seven Pagodas" refers to a myth that has circulated in India, Europe, and other parts of the world for over eleven centuries. Mahabalipuram’s Shore Temple, built in the 8th century under the reign of Narasimhavarman II, stands at the shore of the Bay of Bengal. Legend has it that six other temples once stood with it.

An ancient Hindu legend explains the pagodas’ origins in mythical terms. Prince Hiranyakasipu refused to worship the god Vishnu. The prince’s son, Prahlada, loved Vishnu greatly and criticized his father’s lack of faith. Hiranyakasipu banished Prahlada but then relented and allowed him to come home. Father and son quickly began to argue about Vishnu’s nature. When Prahlada stated that Vishnu was present everywhere, including in the walls of their home, his father kicked a pillar. Vishnu emerged from the pillar in the form of a man with a lion’s head, and killed Hiranyakasipu. Prahlada eventually became king, and had a grandson named Bali. Bali founded Mahabalipuram on this site.

The temples’ origins have been obscured by time, lack of complete written records, and storytelling. 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. In it, he states that the Pallava King Narasimharavarman I either began or greatly enlarged upon Mahabalipuram, circa 630. Archaeological evidence has not yet clearly proven whether Narasimharavarman I’s city was the earliest to inhabit this location.

About 30 years before the founding of Narasimharavarman I’s city, Pallava King Mahendravarman I had begun a series of "cave temples," which were carved into rocky hillsides Contrary to what the name suggests, they often did not begin as natural caves. Mahendravarman I and Narasimharavarman I also ordered construction of free-standing temples, called rathas in the region’s language, Tamil. Nine rathas currently stand at the site (Ramaswami, 209). Construction of both types of temples in Mahabalipuram appears to have ended around 640 (Fyson 3). Fyson states that archaeological evidence supports the claim that a monastery (vihara in Tamil) existed in ancient Mahabalipuram. The idea of the monastery would have been adopted from practices of the region’s past Buddhist inhabitants. Fyson suggests that the monks’ quarters may have been divided between a number of the city’s rathas, based on their division into small rooms. Buddhist influence is also apparent in the traditional pagoda shape of the Shore Temple and other remaining architecture (Fyson 5).

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