MAHABALIPURAM BEFORE PALLAVA?

Mahabalipuram is a town south of Chennai. In my previous writing about the port and some evidence that exists in and around Mahabalipuram, I had mentioned some questions that arise to the followers of Mahabalipuram's history.

Most of the people had heard about south Indian history which classified into three parts, that are

•  Historical Era (BCE)
• Black age  (3rd to 6th CE)
• Medival age (from 6CE) 

1. The Historical era (BCE) was ruled by Early Cholas, Pandiya & in the north by Ashoka.
2. During the black age, there is no specific king name has been identified. In Tamil, they will mention it as kalapirargal kaalam, and there is uncertainty in the history.
3. After the black age, The medieval age has some clearance of king's names and history. At this age, Pallava & Chalukyas had been concentrated in South India.

Most of them had been believed that Pallava kings were developed Mahabalipuram. They built several monuments and Temples. But Mahabalipuram was a Famous place before Pallava's development how could be possible?

Mahabalipuram had a port before the Pallava age during 1 century CE, however, it was not that much clear. 

Two Roman coins were founded in Mahabalipuram which was dated as 4th century CE by the scholars. it was founded in the year 1832 published by James prinsep.

How could  Roman coins be found in Mahabalipuram? 

Was there any trade that happened in early times? 

if yes then the Port might be in or near Mahabalipuram. 

What type of products they trade with Romans? & What language they have spoken to communicate?

If  Romans came to trade in India then the Indians would also be visited their place.

So Why did Pallava want to make monuments in Mahabalipuram which was already a famous place?

is monuments in Mahabalipuram was really made by Pallava's?

yes, because they made inscriptions in Five Rathas & Ganesh Ratha.

 Was Mahabalipuram a school of arts, Before making a big project they used the stones in Mahabalipuram as a rough draft to test several art techniques?

I think it must be not like that because when you see Arjuna penance & the beauty of elephants it would be clear & there are temples like Shore temple & Adi Varaha temple were finished sites.

At the same time monuments like Five Rathas were unfinished & mantapas like Mahishasura Mardini, Varaha mantapa has empty Garbagruhas. The war between Pallava & Chalukhya was interrupted to stop this work?

Was there any possibility of the natural calamity which interrupted them to stop these works?

If there is a port that existed in Mahabalipuram before & the presence of the Pallava era then what happened to it after the Pallava period?

Some of the research made in Coastal side of Mahabalipuram, underwater some of the structures have been founded so there could be some temples and there may be evidence or sign of port existence.

further research could make more clearance.

A Literature in Sanskrit called Avanti Sundari Katha, Written by Dadin, a poet in Pallava's court. It describes Lord Sthalasayanaperumal who was reclining on the shore, Lord's structure was damaged & it was repaired by a Sthapathi called Lalithalaya who was a very brilliant architect. Later Dandin was brought to the temple, He says that I can't find the replacement that had been made by lalithalaya. he is an excellent sthapathi says Dandin. Then a lotus flower came along the wave and touches Lord's feet then transformed into a Gandharva & went to the sky.

We can make sure that there is no piece of land in front of Shore temple from this story. where today a submerged place found in Mahabalipuram was not even active at the time of Dandin.

Dandins age was 7th century CE, so from Pallava's rule to till now the Shoreline remains the same in Mahabalipuram.

Now another question will arise so where is the exact location of the Port?

If the Port is not Submerged then it must be inland.

Here we can split the things into two, ("What if the submerged place in Mahabalipuram may be sopatma a Port mentioned in a Greek book Periplus of the erythraen sea. After it submerged the Pallava kings may change and rebuilt the port inland")my thoughts.

Port must not build in a small place it must be stretched very long distance so the inland port may start from Kovalam to Vayalur it may Exist some scholars were said. 

Now the question is what happened to the inland Port after Pallava's rule?

After Pallava, Chola's have also arrived at Mahabalipuram they didn't leave any footprints about the port.

Then the Vijayanagara kings also ruled, They also didn't leave any evidence?

Cholas are the first king who came as soon as they defeated Pallava's so during the 9th Century they came to power. in the 7th century, The port was mentioned by Thirumangai Azhwar but in the 9th Century, no one mentioned it.

What happened between these 200 years?

Comment your thoughts below.

MAHABALIPURAM WAS A PORT CITY

MAHABALIPURAM WAS A PORT CITY

                                                                     SHORE TEMPLE

Mallapuri is the name of a well-known place called Mahabalipuram situated south of Chennai. The place has various historical sites that are well known. Mahabalipuram was under the kingdom of Pallava during the 7th & 9th centuries CE and most historical architectural sites are built by them. In recent years, Mahabalipuram, has become a recreational site for Chennaites but at the same time, very few know that Mahabalipuram was a port city.

PERUMBANATRUPADAI:

Mahabalipuram was also famous before Pallavas' rule. Mahabalipuram is mentioned in perumpanatrupadai, a Tamil literature in pathupattu, originating around the 1st Century (பெரும்பாணாற்றுப்படை). The literature was written by uruttiran kannanar. The literature mentions the existence of a port near the city of Kanchipuram. The port name mentioned in the literature was Nirpeyaru. a king name mentioned tondaiman illandirayan who ruled Kanchipuram at the time of this literature. 

THIRUMANGAI AZHWAR:

Some of the scholars have said Nirpeyaru could be Kadalmallai because it was the site nearest to Kanchipuram which served as a port in later centuries. Kadalmallai is the name given to mahabalipuram by Thirumangai Azhwar in his poem.

• The word Kadal refers to the sea,
• Mallai refers to wealth,

 

Also in his poem he denotes, in the port of Kadalmallai (Mahabalipuram), there are ships carrying heaps of gold & nine types of gems refers” Navamani kuvaiyum” which are nine types of gems, and in the next line, he salutes to the Lord Sthalasayana.  as "Kadalmallai Thalasayanathe". 

THIRUMANGAI AZHWAR

THIRUMANGAI AZHWAR: 

“Kanangal iyangum Mallai Kadalmallai Thalasayanathe”. Kanangal refers to the Ships, the word iyangum means running so the poem says the port is busy with ships arriving & departing & it’s the place of trading various valuable and precious products at the time of Thirumangai azhwar. So during the age of Pallava’s rule, Mahabalipuram was a busy port city. The age of Thirumangai azhwar is approximately known as 7th CE so during that time Kadalmallai was a busy port city.  

PERIPLUS OF THE ERYTHRAEN SEA:

On the other hand, Perumpanatrupadai says a port near Kanchipuram so it might be related to a Greek writer Alexandria written periplus of erythraen sea. In that, manual he says a port called sopatma which is located north of Arikkamedu. Arikkamedu is an archeological site in the south of Pondicherry. The port must be north of the Arikkamedu according to some scholars. with that, some of the scholars marked as Marakkanam.

VAYALUR:

 Another scholar says the Sopatma port might be in Vayalur which is 22km south of Mahabalipuram and it served as a port for south Asian travelers. 

In Vayalur Pallava king Rajasimha wrote an inscription that says he ruled the Lakshadweep islands and in another inscription, more than 50 of his ancestors' names(Pallava king names) were written. The reason for this inscription that he wrote in Vayalur maybe it served as a port for southern travel. 

PARTHIBAN KANAVU:

Tamil writer named Kalki has written "Parthibankanavu" a novel,  a Chola king's son named Vikrama Cholan has been deported because of his movement started against Narasimhvarman's rule in Tiruchirappalli. Vikraman tried to keep Chola's flag on the hill of Tiruchirappalli in his attempt he fails to the Narasimhavarman's army so they arrested him and deported him to Shenbaga theevu.

 The current geographical location of shenbaga theevu is not known. for deporting Vikrama they came to (Kadalmallai)Mahabalipuram Port. Through ship, he sends to Shenbaga theevu.

You may think that Parthiban kanavu is just a novel, but Kalki was formed on a fifty-fifty basis. after very long research he made this novel. There are more creative things in this novel but at the same time, some are evidence-based. However, these must be not taken as evidence. 

These are the pieces of evidence that Mahabalipuram and/or its surrounding places served as a port during the past centuries and became untraceable at present. These are three different references that coincidently make the nearest Geographical location. 

CONCLUSION:

1. The evidence of Thirumangai azhwar indicates Mahabalipuram as a Port.

2. The second perumpanatrupadai says somewhere near Kanchipuram so it might be Mahabalipuram. 

3. And the last Greek writer says sopatma, it might be a little confusing that it may be Mahabalipuram or Sadras or Vayalur or Marakkanam. 

4. Kalki’s novel cannot be taken as main evidence but some of them may relate to these three. 

  so what do you think about it? Is there the possibility of a port in Mahabalipuram? The port in Mahabalipuram is built by Pallava’s? Or the location of the port differs like the south of Kadalmallai Sadras or Vayalur

Comment your views below......