Temples in Mahabalipuram

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Talasayana (Sthala Sayana) Perumal Temple.

The Sthala Sayana Perumal Temple is one of the Vishnu Divya Desam temples. It has a good size gopuram (entrance tower). The goddess is called Nilamangai Naachiar. This temple is not far from the bus stand, in the center of town.

Varaha Cave Temple

The Varaha sculpture shows Lord Vishnu taking the form of a boar to rescue the earth. The Lord is coming out of the ocean holding the earth. There is a sculpture of Vamana (Trivikrama), Lord Vishnu as the dwarf brahmin incarnation, on the southern wall of the cave.

If you continue to your left you come to the Rayala Gopuram, and a little further is the Ramanuja Mandapa.


If you make a right when you come up the hill from Arjuna's Penance you come to the Ganesh Ratha, a monolithic temple that is 11 ft by 19 ft and 28 ft high. If you keep walking up the hill you come to Krishna's Butter Ball, which is a huge almost totally circular boulder, that stays balanced on top of the hill. A little further is the Trimurti Cave, which contains bas-reliefs of the trinity-Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva.

South of Arjuna's Penance, at the highest point of the hill, is the Olakaneswara cave temple, or God of the Flaming Eye. It used to be used as a lighthouse until the beginning of the 20th century. Close by is the new lighthouse from which you can get a good view of the area.

Below the old lighthouse is the Mahisasure-mardhini Mandapa (Durga Cave). There is a sculpture in this cave that shows the goddess Durga fighting with the buffalo-headed demon. There is another sculpture of Lord Vishnu lying on Sesa Naga in Hill cosmic sleep.

Shore Temple

The beautiful Shore temple is a two towered structure built in the 7th century. There are actually two temples, one facing east and one facing west. The one facing east is a Lord Siva temple with a Siva-linga. The other temple is a Vishnu temple with a 2.5 metres Maha-Vishnu sleeping on Ananta Sesa carved onto a granite boulder, facing east. Lord Vishnu's pastimes are carved on the outer wall of the Vishnu temple. A wall has been built around these temples to protect them from the ocean. These temples are one kilometre from town, right next to the ocean.