Arjuna’s Penance

Located behind Sri Sthal Sayana Perumal Temple, are the bas reliefs bas reliefs (‘bas reliefs’ is a sculpting technique created either by carving the material such as wood, stone, ivory, jade, etc., or by adding material at the top of a smooth surface) built under the reign of Pallava king Mahendravarman in the 600-640 A.D. This monolithic sculpture is one of the largest of its kind in the world, and the largest Open Air Bas reliefs in the world. It is carved out of two huge boulders 27 meters long and 43 feet high and is size of a huge blue whale. Hence, it has aptly been listed as the World UNESCO site. The mammoth sculpture depicts the invincible Pandava Prince and warrior, Arjuna, practicing austerities to please Lord Shiva for obtaining a mighty weapon before the war of Kurukshetra. Some scholars have contradicted this interpretation and claimed that the rock-cut sculpture has been fashioned so as to portray the penance done by King Bhagiratha, an ancestor of Lord Rama, to bring down river Ganges from the heavens to the earth. Lord Vishnu, sages, celestial nymphs, Nagas, holy deities, Gandharvas, Yakshas, auspicious animals and other divine entities also beautify this carved edifice. It is to be noted that Arjuna’s real site of penance is somewhere up in the Himalayas.