On Saturday, Ashwin and I set off on an impromptu afternoon drive down Chennai's East Coast Road and soon found ourselves pulling into a clearing next to a signboard that said 'Tiger Cave'.
Located in Saluvankuppam, about 5 kms before
Mahabalipuram, the Tiger Cave is a rock cut temple dedicated to Goddess Durga. The cave is supposed to be shaped like a tiger, with a cluster of smaller tiger heads forming the head of the tiger, but to me, it looked more like lions :) Like the temples of Mahabalipuram, this one too was built by the Pallava king Narasimhavarman I during the 7th century AD.
.jpg "Tiger Cave Mahabalipuram") |
| The head of the tiger |
.jpg "Tiger Cave Mahabalipuram") |
| The cave is shaped like a tiger |
The complex also has a cave temple dedicated to Lord Shiva:
.jpg "Tiger Cave Mahabalipuram") |
| Cave temple for Lord Shiva |
.jpg "Tiger Cave Mahabalipuram") |
| A Shivaling outside the cave |
.jpg "Tiger Cave Mahabalipuram") |
| Inscriptions on the walls of the Shiva Cave Temple |
It wasn't a terribly hot afternoon, but it was blindingly bright and sunny, made worse by reflections off the sand and the sea - I could hardly open my eyes, leave alone take proper photos, so I'm thinking early mornings would be the best time to visit this place.
.jpg "Tiger Cave Mahabalipuram")
Happen to run into your blog. Nice pictures. The next time you are at this site, try to capture the Somaskanda panel that is behind the Sivalingam (on the back wall} in the cave temple. That type of a panel appears to be a signature of the Pallavas. You can see a bit of it in your picture.
ReplyDeleteSince you are a photographer, you may also want to try and capture the facial expressions of the Dwarapalahans (the door guardians)to the cave temple. Because the statue surface is light and reflective, one may need to photograph by manual adjustment to capture the features. Best wishes.