the Orukkal Mandapam, and Dharmaraja Mandapam .
The Atiranachanda Mandapam of Rajasimha, the last of the series,
The names Kotikal Mandapam, Orukal Mandapam, Idaichi mandapa, etc. indicate this.
The names Kotikal Mandapam, Orukal Mandapam , Idaichi mandapa, etc. indicate this.
In the Orukkal Mandapam, however, there are relief sculptures of standing Brahma
The Pancha Pandava Mandapam records an attempt to cut a square central
The Kotikal Mandapam of Durga has no sculpture of Durga inside the sanctum,
There is an Indo- Norwegian fisheries project at Mandapam to help develop the fishing industry on modern lines.
But more interesting are the 28 pillars of the Mandapam which exhibit some excellent Sculptures of figures from Hindu mythology.
The 6,776-foot(2,065 m) Pamban railway bridge connecting Mandapam on the Indian mainland with Pamban island was
opened for traffic in 1914.
Did you know that Rajnikanth threw open the Mandapam to all the sanitary workers who were bussed in from different
parts of Tamil Nadu during the 2015 Chennai floods?
The Pancha Pandava Mandapam records an attempt to cut a square central
shrine with a surrounding cloister in the form of a mandapa having two rows of pillars running all round.
Such a plan is not to be found commonly in the
Pallava examples except in the case of the Pancha Pandava Mandapam of Mahabalipuram and the unfinished Cave- temple IV at Mamandur.
The Varaha Mandapam and the Adivaraha cave- temples have each a
single shrine- cell while the Mahishamardini and the Ramanuja Mandapams have three shrine- cells in them; the Koneri Mandapam has five in a row behind the Mandapam.
The Atiranachanda Mandapam of Rajasimha, the last of the series, alone contains a bas- relief panel of Siva as
Somaskanda, with Uma and Skanda sitting beside him and Brahma and Vishnu standing on either side of the group behind.
In Rajasimha' s cave- temple, the Atiranachanda Mandapam, a black polished,
fluted or sixteen- sided stone linga( dhara- linga) also came to be planted on the floor of the sanctum in front of the Somaskanda relief on the hind wall.
The only example with triple shrine- cells is the Dharmaraja Mandapam or Atyantakama Pallava' s cave temple
where the two lateral shrine- cells are simple excavations, which are perhaps later additions, without definite shrine front, as is found in the case of the main central one.
All these cave- temples have only two pillars and two pilasters on the mandapa facade, and a similar set behind, inside the mandapa wherever there is such a demarcation of ardha- and mukha- mandapas, as in the Ranganathan cave- temple,
the Orukkal Mandapam, and Dharmaraja Mandapam.