The main Gopuram of the Shore Temple in Mahabalipuram or Mamallapuram, built in the 8th Century, between 700 and 728 AD, during the reign of the Pallava King Narasimhavarman II and sculpted granite cows on one side of the temple marking one of the boundary walls. Declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1984, the temple is one of the oldest structural temples in South India. Remarkably well preserved for a temple that is over 1300 years old, it withstood the ravages of the Tsunamis of the 13th Century, and 2004. The sides and the granite cattle, display quite clearly, the sand and wind erosion of one thousand three hundred years. Photo shot in the afternoon sunlight; no people; copy space. Horizontal format. ©Mano Chandra Dhas