Panchapandava Cave Temple

Panchapandava Cave Temple

Panchapandava Cave Temple, is a monument at Mahabalipuram, on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal, in the Kancheepuram district of the state of Tamil Nadu.

Panchapandava Cave Temple – Mandapa of the Five Pandavas

The mandapa or the rock sanctuary is part of the Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram. It is the largest cave temple in Mahabalipuram and an example of Indian rock-cut architecture dating from the late 7th century.

The temple is one of the supreme testimonial to the ancient Vishwakarma Sthapathis, of rock-cut cave architecture, out of many such caves also called mandapas.
It is part of the Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram, the temple is a UNESCO World Heritage Site as inscribed in 1984.
The pillars of the verandah, which have lion bases, are a typical style of Pallava architecture.

From the architectural features engraved in the cave it is assumed that this style could be allotted to Narasimhavarman I Mamalla period to Narasimhavarman II Rajasimha during the mid-7th century.

It is one of the ten important cave temples created by the Pallavas in the Mahabalipuram.