page_title: Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram
section_title: Krishna
hierarchical_section_title: Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram / Description / Cave temples / Krishna
caption_attribution_description: English: The sketch produced and published in 1816 is of the bas-relief in the Krishna Mandapam, a Mahabalipuram monument at a UNESCO world heritage site. It shows the daily life, integrated into Krishna rasa lila Hindu mythology. From the source, Pen and ink drawing of the sculptures in the interior of the Krishna Mandapa at Mamallapuram, by an anonymous artist, part of the MacKenzie Collection and from an Album of 37 drawings and plans of the temples and sculptures at Mamallapuram, c. 1816. Colin MacKenzie (1754-1821) joined the East India Company as an engineer at the age of 28 and spent the majority of his career in India. He used the salary he earned from his military career as a captain, major and finally a colonel to finance his research into the history and religion of Indian culture. During his surveys he collected and recorded details concerning every aspect of Indian architecture, language and religion, resulting in thousands of drawings and copies of inscriptions. Mamallapuram, a tiny village south of Chennai (Madras), was a flourishing port of the Pallava dynasty from the 5th - 8th centuries. The site is famous for a group of temples, a series of rock-cut caves and monolithic sculptures that were most likely created in the 7th century reign of Narasimhavarman Mahamalla. The caves are all fronted with fine columns resting on seated lions, typical of the Pallava style. The Krishna Mandapa is a columned hall with a large sculpture panel carved on the wall inside the cave. A part of the panel depicts the myth of Krishna with one hand up lifting Mount Govaradhana to protect the villagers from the torrential rains caused by Indra. The artists show the rock relief base as a part of the lifted mountain.
context_page_description: The Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram is a collection of 7th- and 8th-century CE religious monuments in the coastal resort town of Mahabalipuram, Tamil Nadu, India and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal, about 60 kilometres south of Chennai.
  The site has 40 ancient monuments and Hindu temples, including one of the largest open-air rock reliefs in the world: the Descent of the Ganges or Arjuna's Penance. The group contains several categories of monuments: ratha temples with monolithic processional chariots, built between 630 and 668; mandapa viharas with narratives from the Mahabharata and Shaivic, Shakti and Vaishna inscriptions in a number of Indian languages and scripts; rock reliefs; stone-cut temples built between 695 and 722, and archaeological excavations dated to the 6th century and earlier.
  The monuments were built during the Pallava dynasty. Known as the Seven Pagodas in many colonial-era publications, they are also called the Mamallapuram temples or Mahabalipuram temples in contemporary literature. The site, restored after 1960, has been managed by the Archaeological Survey of India.
context_section_description: The Krishna mandapa is a sophisticated cave, with large panels depicting Hindu mythology and the culture of 7th-century Tamil Nadu. The temple is near the Descent of the Ganges bas-relief. Its facade consists of four leonine mythical figures vyala, holding pillars, and two pilasters. Behind them is another row of pillars. The walls of the pillared hall depict village life woven into the story of Krishna. Krishna holds Goverdhana Mountain, under which are people, cattle and other animals, in one section. In another section, a young man holds the hands of his beloved and pulls her in the direction he is going; although she resists slightly, she is willing. The panel then depicts a milkmaid carrying stacks of milk containers and a bundle of cattle feed on her head. Next to her is a man milking a cow. The cow has a calf, which she licks with a curved tongue. Above, Krishna plays the flute while people and animals listen intently.
caption: 1816 drawing from the Colin Mackenzie collection of the Krishna mandapa bas-relief, depicting daily life in 7th-century India and two aspects of the Krishna legends: flute-playing and lifting Mount Govardhana. From 1790 to 1820, Mackenzie paid anonymous Indian artists to draw thousands of sketches of temple ruins, inscriptions and artwork.
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