South India
Travel
Mahabalipuram: The Varaha Cave Temple
Visiting the Mahabalipuram group of monuments, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, was on my bucket list and I finally got to put a check against it. The group of monuments have served as backdrop for classical dance...
Heritage Walks
Pondicherry Heritage Walk : The French Quarter
Pondicherry is best explored and experienced on foot or by cycle. The gorgeous yellow and purple buildings in the White Town make for great photographs as do the ornate windows and doors. But there's...
Heritage Walks
Mahabalipuram Heritage Tour : Stories in Stone
On our way back from Pondicherry to Chennai, we decided to take a stopover at Mahabalipuram, a small town that falls in the Kancheepuram district. Also known as Mamallapuram after the Pallava King Narasimha...
Looking At Art
Mahabalipuram : Arjuna’s Penance / Descent of Ganga
Who doesn't love a great story? Now imagine, the story takes form of sculptures and caves - and 19 of them in the same vicinity. No wonder, Mahabalipuram is a UNESCO World Heritage Site....
Objects
Royal Life : A Kalamkari Narration
WHAT IS IT? Kalamkari, a multistep process for dying textiles by applying each color with a stylus (kalam) or by using resists, is a specialty of the Deccan region of India. Although the region produced many...
Culture
Nataraja : The Lord of Dance
WHAT IS IT?
'The Nataraja' is one of the most important, visually thrilling forms of the Hindu god Shiva. Artists in Tamil Nadu, India began to make this form of Shiva in the early tenth century,...