Chennai, Feb. 12: The waters that killed thousands have brought to life creations of the past.
As they receded, taking away chunks of the sandy beach near the ancient shore temple in Mamallapuram, the waves unravelled boulders with elegantly carved figures which, sources said, could trigger a search for six other shore temples believed to have been submerged long ago.
Officials said it was possible that another tsunami, similar to the one that lashed the Tamil Nadu coastline on the morning after Christmas, swallowed the other six temples, said to have been built between the seventh and eighth centuries.
Sources at the office of the Archaeological Survey of India in Mamallapuram, the ancient Pallava port town 50 km from Chennai, said among the sculptures are a beautifully-carved elephant head with winnows like broad ears and trunk curving upwards to its left and the figure of a horse.
Just above the elephant forehead is a small, almost square, hole with the carving of a deity inside, similar to the period’s rock-cut shrines — temple-like structures with deities scooped out of monolithic rocks. This mini-shrine portion of the boulder was visible even before the tsunami but now the entire boulder has come into view.
Another long-buried boulder the sea has thrown up has an elegantly sculpted lion on it. It, too, has a mini-shrine-like structure cut into the rock, the sources said. Lions and elephants are two favourite motifs of Pallava period sculpture and architecture.
A third structure indicates remains of what may have been a temple, sources said. There are also other figures that are yet to be identified.
The great Pallava king Narasimha Varma had carved out of rocks the port town, which is famous for its monuments and temples, including the famous five dedicated to the five Pandava kings.
The sources said some local fishermen had first reported they had seen the new boulders. “The shorelines have now become notably shallower and appear to have changed much,” said one.
One survivor told PTI he could see “a temple” under the sea from where he held on for life after being swept away by the 30-foot waves.
A group of senior archaeologists from New Delhi and Chennai had recently visited Mamallapuram, a source said. Now, thanks to the alert fishermen, the ASI is expected to take up more intensive underwater explorations there, they added. Officials said an underwater survey could begin sometime next month.
