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Mahabalipuram in Tamil Nadu (India) beats Taj Mahal with maximum foreign tourists

The site is home to a collection of 7th and 8th Century Hindu religious monuments

, and SUBHASHIS MITTRA

October 6, 2022 . 6:00 PM

4 min read

Pancha Ratha (five chariots) is an architectural ode to *Mahabharata*'s five Pandava brothers Yudhistir, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula, Sahadeva, and their wife Draupadi. Thematically and structurally, each *ratha* is significantly different from the other ones, but all of them were carved out of a long stone or monolith. Spread over one to three storeys, their forms vary from square to apsidal. The walls of these ancient edifices are decorated with bas-reliefs and murals. A beautifully carved monolithic *airavata* (elephant) and **nandi** (bull) decorate the premises. Though originally meant to be places of worships, these were never consecrated and used actively for any sacred rites (text source: world history) ( all images were taken from Tamil Nadu Tourism and Unesco)

Mahabalipuram, a Tamil Nadu town in India, classified as a UNESCO world heritage site, has beaten the Taj Mahal in the number of foreign visitors.

Alternatively known as **Arjuna's** Penance, Descent of the Ganges is a gigantic open air bas-relief sculpted out of pink granite. The dramatic relief sculpture narrates the tales from Indian epics such as the ***Mahabharata***. Nearby *mandapa*s, particularly the Krishna Mandapa, however, showcase scenes of pastoral life amid mythical figures (text source: world history)

As per the Indian Tourism Statistics 2022, as many as 1,44,984 foreign visitors came to Mahabalipuram, located about 60 km from Chennai in South India in 2021-22, accounting for 45.50 percent of the travelers from abroad who visited the top 10 most popular and centrally protected monuments with ticketed access.