The Pallavas were a powerful dynasty who ruled huge parts of South India between the 3rd and 9th centuries CE. They commissioned monumental works of art during the 7th and 8th centuries CE. It was then that the much celebrated Mamallapuram monuments  came up along the coast, about 60 kms from Chennai.  Mamallapuram attracts huge tourist crowds every day. Atiranachanda Cave Temple, 5 kms to the north of Mamallapuram, attracts far less. But it is this cave temple that excites Epigraphists, archaeologists who study ancient scripts. There are 2 stone inscriptions on either side of its entrance. They contain verses […]

If you visit the famous Vaikunta Perumal temple in Kanchipuram, you will see some wall panels depicting people with unmistakably oriental features. They may seem out of place at the temple, but these sculptures could very well be pointing to our Cambodian heritage! How? Read on to find out.  Between the 6th and 8th centuries CE, two dynasties were engrossed in a struggle for supremacy in South India: the Pallavas of Kanchipuram, who ruled most of Tamilnadu with parts of Andhra and Karnataka, and the Chalukyas of Vatapi who ruled most of Karnataka and parts of Maharashtra. Initially, it looked […]