Tales of the Seven Pagodas

For many centuries, there have been rumors and tales of temples submerged in the sea - of which now, just one, the Shore Temple, stands visible, lovely and lonely, gazing out to sea, its stark beauty enhanced by the barren vistas of sand and stone and wispy wind-swept casuarina all around. Marco Polo is said to have visited Santhome (in modern-day Madras) where he was regaled with tales of the lost temples of Mahabalipuram. His descriptions found their way, in part, to the Catalan Atlas of 1375. The Catalan Atlas is one of the most important atlases of the medieval era, and was put together by a Catalan Jew (from Spain) called Abraham Cresques. It shows India in peninsular form, and Mahabalipuram is mentioned there as "Setemelti", which is assumed to be an erroneous version of "Sette Templi" - or seven temples. More