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Description
Arjuna's Penance/Descent of the Ganges is an epic sculpture carved into a rock face at Mahabalipuram, depicting scenes from the Mahabharata.

To give you an idea of what an undertaking this was: it's 12-1300 years old, cut entirely from the local cliff face (if you mess up, you have to start over elsewhere), the elephant is life size, or perhaps a bit larger than life size (would be a big Indian Elephant), and this isn't the whole thing, it keeps going in both directions (it's actually impossible to capture it all in a photo directly from the front).

It's very amazing, I haven't seen a rock cut sculpture on this scale since Ellora, and this is even more impressive artistically.

Mahabalipuram, Tamil Nadu, India.

Enjoy,

D

Description
Arjuna's Penance/Descent of the Ganges is an epic sculpture carved into a rock face at Mahabalipuram, depicting scenes from the Mahabharata.

To give you an idea of what an undertaking this was: it's 12-1300 years old, cut entirely from the local cliff face (if you mess up, you have to start over elsewhere), the elephant is life size, or perhaps a bit larger than life size (would be a big Indian Elephant), and this isn't the whole thing, it keeps going in both directions (it's actually impossible to capture it all in a photo directly from the front).

It's very amazing, I haven't seen a rock cut sculpture on this scale since Ellora, and this is even more impressive artistically.

Mahabalipuram, Tamil Nadu, India.

Enjoy,

D