The world’s largest base-relief measuring 27mx 9m. This huge whaleback shaped rock contains figures of gods, demigods, men, beasts and bird.
The Arjuna's Penance Mahabalipuram is located in Mamallapuram, that is Mahabalipuram in Tamil Nadu.
The beautifully carved structure here at the Arjuna's Penance, Mahabalipuram is named after the famous hero of the epic Mahabharata.The scenes that are depicted in this rock structure is one of the two incidents from Mahabharata, according to the historians, It is either the story of how Arjuna performed stern austerities to attain Shiva's weapon or it is the image of King Bhagiratha's penance to bring down River Ganga to earth for purifying the souls of his ancestors. There are innumerable number of figures of Gods and Goddesses, birds, celestial creaturs and animals, humans and saints that adorn the whole structure of Arjuna's Penance . One interesting feature of this monument in Tamil nadu is the naturally created cleave between the two boulders separating the whole relief into two halves, which represents the descent of the celestial river carved here.