Welcome to the seaside town of Mamallapuram, an ancient port steeped in history and home to awe-inspiring monuments. This tour takes you back 1300 years, when the place was ruled by the Pallava dynasty. The Pallava kings were known to be great builders, and Mamallapuram was their workshop. The city is now a living museum, filled with stories of a fascinating period in Indian history. What was life like back then? How did sculptors of the time build magnificent structures out of immovable rock? What do stone inscriptions tell us about the evolution of local languages? Trace the history of temple building in South India. Listen to stories of cursed kings and powerful sages, of vengeful goddesses and wise demons carved into the walls. And follow the rise and fall of powerful kingdoms as you explore the most iconic sights of this UNESCO World Heritage Site. Experience history like never before with the Mamallapuram audio tour.
This audio tour is brought to you in partnership with Tamil Nadu Tourism and the Archaeological Survey of India. We wish to thank the Aseema Trust and their benefactors for making this tour available to all users at no cost.
Click on any pin to play the story.
TIMINGS
TICKETS
Shore Temple & Five Rathas and Krishna's Butter Ball
The timings and ticket prices are subject to change. Please visit https://asichennai.gov.in/ to enquire about the latest updates before your visit.
You can download the Storytrails audio tour from Google Play (for Android devices) or the App Store (for iOS devices). Open the app, search for the Mamallapuram tour, and tap ‘Download’ to save it to your device.
Yes. You can listen to the stories on the tour by scanning the QR codes placed at each location, even without downloading the app. However, this requires an internet connection and your experience may vary depending on the quality of your network connection.
You can listen to the stories in any order. However, we highly recommend following the suggested tour route as closely as possible, as the earlier stories provide context that enriches the experience of the later ones.
The total duration of the stories in the tour is approximately 90 minutes. To explore all the locations and enjoy the stories at a leisurely pace, we recommend setting aside at least 2.5 hours. If you are short on time, you can choose to listen only to the stories marked as highlights, which can be covered in about half the time.
Yes. The monuments in Mamallapuram are spread across three main clusters: Five Rathas, Shore Temple, and the monuments around Varaha Cave. These clusters are located about 1–2 km apart from one another. Within each cluster, however, the monuments and story stops are close together and can be comfortably explored on foot.
The final set of stops is located at Tiger Cave, which forms a separate cluster about 5 km north of Mamallapuram, on the road to Chennai. You will need a vehicle to travel between the main clusters and to reach Tiger Cave.
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Navigate the nooks, corners and gullies of Indian history through thirty amazing tales from the Storytrails treasure trove!
