THE SHORES OF MAHABALIPURAM: A SAILOR'S TALE FROM 1985

There are photographs that fade. And there are photographs that anchor.

These were taken in November 1985, in Mahabalipuram, Tamil Nadu. I was serving onboard KD MUTIARA. Young, in a white uniform that was never meant for the dust of Tamil Nadu, standing in front of stones that were already 1,200 years old.

We were Malaysian sailors thousands of miles from Lumut, walking among the myths of another seafaring nation.

Mahabalipuram, or Mamallapuram, is not just a temple town. For centuries, it was a landmark for every sailor who crossed the Bay of Bengal. European navigators called it the “Seven Pagodas” – because from the sea, seven towering temples shimmered on the shore.

Today, only one complex remains: the Shore Temple.

Built in 700-728 AD by the Pallava King Narasimhavarman II, also known as Rajasimha, it is one of the oldest structural stone temples in South India. Unlike the other monuments in Mahabalipuram which were carved out of a single rock, the Shore Temple was built up – with blocks of granite brought together. It was classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1984, just a year before we visited.

The Pancha Rathas – the Five Chariots.

The photo with the stone of elephants and lion, built in the 7th century, when the Pallavas were at the height of their naval power. Mahabalipuram was their port, their shipyard, their window to Southeast Asia – to Kedah (Kadaram), Langkasuka to the world we now call Malaysia.

Standing there in 1985, we didn’t realise we were completing a circle. Malay seafarers had been coming to this coast for over a thousand years before us.

We were young. The Royal Malaysian Navy was young. KD MUTIARA herself was then part of a new generation of training and goodwill voyages, showing the flag across the Indian Ocean.

India in 1985 was different too – before the IT boom, before the crowds. Mahabalipuram was still a sleepy fishing village with ruins in its backyard. You can see the fishing catamarans pulled up behind the Shore Temple in one of the photos. That is a scene you will never see today.

What remains is this: Stone endures. Memory fades, but photographs bring it back. And the sea connects us all.

We didn’t realise that day in 1985, the exact beach where we stood were right in the path of the December 26, 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami.

It happened here, and my 1985 photos are historical important.

The fishing boat as you can see in my photo with a lady standing at the shore temple, those villages were the ones that suffered the worst losses in 2004.

Memory fades, but photographs bring it back….and the sea connects us all….the story where the Pallava dynasty and the RMN sailors meet. ……

Hj Zulheimy Maamor – ex crew KD Mutiara (1985/86)

9 September 2026: 2.27 a.m