Varaha Cave Temple, Mahabalipuram

The Varaha Cave Temple at Mahabalipuram is an outstanding example of Pallava rock-cut sculpture. The cave mandapa contains four large relief panels: Varaha (boar avatar of Vishnu lifting the earth goddess), Trivikrama (giant Vishnu measuring the universe in three strides), Gajalakshmi (Lakshmi flanked by elephants), and Durga.

The naturalistic grace of the Pallava sculptures — particularly the roundedness of Bhudevi and Gajalakshmi — is considered a high point of 7th-century Indian art and anticipates the later mature Dravidian sculptural canon.