‘Stories in Stone’
This was clicked during our most recent trip to the town of Mahabalipuram in Southern India. Located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal in Tamil Nadu, we saw this extraordinary monument, known as Arjuna’s Penance, which is considered to be one among the most celebrated achievements of Indian rock-cut art.
Spanning approximately 96 by 43 feet, the massive stone carving that spreads across two giant monolithic granite boulders is said to represent two different tales: one story is about Arjuna performing penance to obtain the ‘Pashupatastra‘ weapon from Lord Shiva and the other is about the sage Bhagiratha who also performed penance to bring the river Ganges down to Earth.
The carving is teeming with gods, celestial beings, sages, animals, and flowing forms that suggest the cascading river, with the wall reading like a grand visual epic carved in granite. But, my picture for this week’s #WordlessWednesday isn’t that one. It is the one I’m sharing below:
As we walked away from this massive carved wall, in one corner we noticed the carving of these two monkeys. They caught our eye almost immediately, exuding a certain sense of playfulness and warmth! Clearly, these were not a part of the original sculpture, but most likely, were later additions. It was interesting to see how the monkeys were garnering all the attention and admiration from the visitors passing by the place.
I too paused to admire the piece of sculpture and wondered, as to why someone would create this piece in the first place.
Was it a part of the main carving? Or was it because someone was bored and wanted to use their time creating something different to amuse themselves and the others??
Whatever it is, but these two monkeys became the subjects of my camera lens. I thought they were strikingly life-like, as well!
What do you think?
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See you next week!