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Today I traveled with 3 other friends by bus to a nearby village called Mahaballahpurum. We left Chennai at 8:00 a.m. and rode on the express bus an hour and a half. When we got off we were met by a very friendly auto-ricshaw driver—Mamaurm, who named his vichicle “Smiley” with pictures of Si Baba, his guru, on it to protect us. The attractions in this village are temples carved out of single boulders. They are now taken over by the Indian Government and managed as historic sites. This set of temples was carved around 500-650 a.d. They don’t think that they were used as worship sites, but perhaps to honor a king, although not a lot is known. There are Hindu references of the Gods. It remains a mystery why the people making them abandoned them—several in the stages of development. They know that they are carved from the top down, so not to disturb their work. The carving is fine and intricate, with fine details still in the faces. The rock is granite, one of the hardest rocks in the area, and difficult to work with.

When we went to the first site there was a monkey that someone had given a pepsi. He deftly opened the bottle and drank it down to everyone’s humor. Later down the path another mother monkey with baby hanging on passed me by, but chased a woman carrying a Fanta orange bottle—she was persistent and the woman abandoned it to the aggressive animal.

The magnitude of this feat was more than impressive. There were stairs carved into the curved rocks to lead up to the top where there were vistas of the ocean and looking far across the land. The driver waited for us while we climbed and marveled before he drove us to the next set of buildings. The first one was a lighthouse, which was used continually by building fires on top in the nights to warn sailors and bring the fishermen home. It was replaced in 1920 by a more modern one, which is still used.

There were 5 sites in all, a tremendous amount of work. Inside of several of them are detailed friezes of scenes of love and battle. Ancient and current favorite themes. There was a perfect well carved out of rock—a perfect 10’ hole. Thinking of the work and strife that made them is humbling and painful to consider. By the shore temple a man and parrot told my fortune. It confirmed my loving family and devotion to finding a path of truth and integrity—it encouraged me on. Everywhere people selling wares—of course many carvers of intricate small and large granite and marble carvings. I bought 2 perfect moon stones to send to Sylvia to make into jewelry.

The sun was bright, and hot. I wore my bathing suit under my pants, and am turning the color of the rocks. We were taken to a roof top restaurant that served lime soda and fresh fish. We ate and rested and talked. Wonderful strong women. Easy to travel with and fun to share the moment with.
After short shopping we boarded the rickety bus back to Chennai. Hot and tired and happy.