October 1792: "Mauveleporam lies...on the sea coast and is known to mariners by the name of the Seven Pagodas". At the southern side of Mahbalipuram is a group of five freestanding temples and additional monumental figures of an elephant, a lion, and a bull. All were made under the Pallava dynasty during the seventh to eighth centuries. The temples are carved to resemble raths, the wooden vehicles of the gods. The carved reliefs of the neighbouring cave temple, depict the myth of the origin of the Ganges, how a holy ascetic, Bhagiratha, eventually persuaded the gods to let the river descend from heaven.