Ancient town of Mahabs gets modern makeover ahead of Modi-Xi summit

In the upcoming Modi-Xi meeting from October 11 to 13, the hot topics are said to be of larger interests such as trade and bilateral relationship and the fact that all this will happen at Mamallapuram itself is bringing the much-needed infrastructural facelift to the ancient town. While it has all the attractions to woo tourists from across the world, it was lacking some basic facilities and it was a cause of concern.

 The image makeover starts at least 20 km before Mamallapuram, at Tiruvidanthai to be precise, where both the leaders are expected to alight at a helipad and proceed to Mahabalipuram. Damaged portions of the road are being re-laid, medians are being given a fresh coat of paint and reflectors are being replaced all the way up to Mamallapuram. The stretch has been divided and given to different teams of contractual workers. 

Inside the town, encroachments have been removed to widen the roads, shops on roadsides have been asked to not occupy pavements to display their products, pavements are being laid and readymade lawns brought from Bengaluru are being set up in the gardens near the Pancha Rathas and Krishna’s Butterball. “At least 800 temporary workers have been deployed from various departments such as PWD, Municipality, Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), Tourism and Highways to complete the task before October 8,” a tourism official said. 

While ASI officials have involved workers to clean up monuments defaced by tourists, two mobile phone towers, which were in the vicinity of the Butterball, have also been removed. As a security measure, all labourers have been issued identity cards, without which they will not be allowed to involve in the beautification process. “We have been asked to wear the identity card on us during the work and we are paid on a weekly basis,” one of the workers said. While police personnel could be seen almost everywhere in Mahabalipuram, a police officer said that the number of personnel on duty would go up in the coming days as summit draws closer.

No instruction to restrict foreign tourists 

While the official itinerary of the event has not been disclosed, even the officials involved in the preparation are not sure of the exact dates and venue of the meetings and where the leaders would stay in Mahabalipuram. “When Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami visited Mamallapuram on Thursday, he was apprised by the officials that the exact details of the event are yet to be received from the Central government. We have been completing the work assigned to us by higher officials after inspecting the town,” a tourism official said.

Amid talks that there will be a clampdown on tourists, foreigners in particular, during the summit, a police officer said that they have not received any instructions to restrict the movement of foreign tourists in the town. “There are more than 70 resorts in the town and we have been inspecting all of them every day to check if the information of their foreign guests has been furnished at the local police station,” a sub-inspector said. “We have been asked to carry out the work without disturbing residents or tourists,” he added. While foreign tourists were seen visiting the heritage sites without any trouble when DT Next visited Mamallapuram, a German couple who reached on Thursday said that they did not know anything about the summit.

Talking to various shopkeepers, DT Next found out that the business has been dull for the past few weeks. “This time of the year usually does not see many tourists. Adding to the woes, the official activities in the town have reduced the inflow of tourists further,” said Mohan, who runs two shops at the government complex near Pancha Rathas. “Initially, they asked us to remove the additional roof under which we displayed our wooden and metal articles. Then they asked us to remove the reapers outside the shops, which we use to hang the items for sale. Now they have asked us to keep the articles inside the shop. Displaying the artefacts is the only way to invite customers. So keeping them inside small shops won’t do any good for us. Also, there is not much space to keep all the items inside the shop. Many shops had to be closed temporarily due to this. The restrictions have affected our business, but we cannot do anything about it until October 14,” he added. 

Prem Anand of Sunrise resort in Mamallapuram said that there is no restriction to allow tourists to stay in the town but they have been asked to inform the tourists that all the heritage sites would be closed for the public during the summit. “If the heritage sites are closed for public visits, there is no purpose for tourists to come to the town or stay here,” he said. 

Meanwhile, there were talks about demolishing the shops adjacent to Shore Temple. But the officials have not confirmed it yet. Daniel, a member of Valluvar Kuzhu that manages the shops on the stretch, said that the officials should not only concentrate on the work to appease the leaders but do something that would benefit the tourists, too, in the long run. “Street lights near the beach have not been burning for many months now and there are no lifeguards on the beach. There are no basic facilities for the tourists visiting the beach. Officials and the government should take steps to rectify them, too,” he hoped.

Mamallapuram’s ties with the dragon land are ancient and it is set to give a historic fillip to the summit. The mighty Pallavas, whose flourishing sea port was Mamallapuram for a long time, had a relationship with China and had even sent envoys there during their rule.

“Celadon ware (pottery) of the first, second Century (Common Era, about 2000 years ago) recovered on the eastern coast of Tamil Nadu gives us a clue to Chinese maritime activities,” said noted archealogist S Rajavelu.

Chinese coins dating to the same period were also found in Tamil Nadu, he said, adding they showed the ancient trade links. Pattinapalai, a post Sangam period work, cites the anchorage of a Chinese ship on the eastern coast of ancient Tamil Nadu. Authored by Urutthiran Kannanar, the work refers to a ship tungu naavay, in Tamil, which is a big Chinese vessel “Zunk,” said the former Archaeological Survey of India official.

Also the Chinese text the Han annals has a reference to contacts with the Tamil country.

Emperor Wei (circa 185-149 BCE) encouraged traders and the Chinese text Ch’ien Han Shu of the first century refers to Kancheepuram as “Huang-Che” and Chinese kings had sent presents to the then ruler of Kancheepuram, he pointed out.

“The Vayalur inscriptions (near Mamallapuram) say that Pallavas had sent envoys (6-7th Century AD) to China. Similarly, Tamil inscriptions have been found in the dragon country as well,” said Rajavelu.

Chinese monk Hiuen Tsang, who visited Kancheepuram in seventh Century AD, reached Mamallapuram and then continued to the temple town, he said. Keen on understanding more about Buddhism and to get original texts, Hiuen Tsang visited Kancheepuram, then a flourishing Buddhist centre and hub of learning, he said.

Ancient Indian sources indicate that Kancheepuram was referred to as a “kadiga”, which meant a “university”, he said.

The 2004 Saluvankuppam excavations in Kancheepuram also make it clear that Mamallapuram was a port town even during the Sangam era (about 2,000 years ago), he added.