Arjuna's Penance
Mamallapuram, Tamil Nadu, India
Nearby attractions
Krishna's Butter Ball
Mamallapuram, Tamil Nadu
A 250-tonne granite sphere balanced impossibly on a slope for 1,200 years — kings' elephants failed to budge it.
Shore Temple Mahabalipuram
Mamallapuram, Tamil Nadu
A granite poem facing the dawn sea — the Pallavas' 8th-century twin-spired shrine has met every sunrise for 1,300 years, sole survivor of the fabled Seven Pagodas, ringed by surf, salt spray and the UNESCO monuments of Mamallapuram.
Pancha Rathas
Mamallapuram, Tamil Nadu
Five monolithic 7th-century shrines, each carved whole from one boulder as a different temple prototype — the Pandavas' stone chariots.
Tiger Cave Saluvankuppam
Mamallapuram, Tamil Nadu
A rock-cut shrine ringed by eleven carved yali heads in a casuarina grove by the sea — with a buried Subrahmanya temple excavated beside it.
Sadras Dutch Fort
Kalpakkam, Tamil Nadu
A 17th-century Dutch VOC sea fort with gabled warehouses and a moss-grown cemetery of carved tombstones, just south of Mahabalipuram.
Madras Crocodile Bank
Chennai, Tamil Nadu
Romulus Whitaker's famous croc conservation centre on the ECR — 2,000 crocodilians of 14 species, night safaris and venom demos.
DakshinaChitra
Chennai, Tamil Nadu
A living museum of South Indian life on the ECR — 18 relocated heritage homes from four states, craft demos and folk performances.