Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c23.13

c23.13

One other feature is observable at Mamallapuram, now almost obliterated, but which when in full use gave the town, and particularly its religious architecture, some of its character. This was a well-designed and extensive water system, drawn from the Palar river, and distributed by means of canals and tanks to all parts of the port. There are indistinct but none the less definite traces of this installation, so that in its palmy days such a constant supply of running water must have made it a very pleasing seaside resort. But this was not provided solely for public use, it was also maintained for ritualistic purposes, as proved by the design of some of the temples in which cisterns and conduits appear to have formed an essential part of the scheme The significance of what appears to be a popular belief in water worship, combined with the Naga or serpent cult, is embodied in a remarkable scene sculptured on the eastern face of the main hill, and now misnamed Arjuna's Penance. This rock-cut drama is an allegorical representation of the holy river Ganges issuing from its source in the distant Himalayas; the water, fed from a receptacle above, cascading down a natural cleft in the rock in the centre of a magnificent picture carved in relief.