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Sunken City · Permit dives

Mahabalipuram, the Seven Pagodas

Submerged structures · 5 to 8 m, Off the Shore Temple, Tamil Nadu, India
PROTECTED
Evidence status: Historical tradition. no documented source (historical tradition); legal status unknown (manual verification recommended). This account is presented as historical tradition, not verified fact. Manual verification recommended. Repository evidence: 0 sources · 0 timeline events · 0 media items · legal unknown · view on the Map Evidence on file: historical tradition

Mahabalipuram, the Seven Pagodas: still unexplained.

The drowned six of the legendary seven pagodas

The law of this ground: Indian antiquities waters (ASI), survey diving by permit; nothing may be disturbed.
The subject
developing the photograph…
The manifest
The drowned six of the legendary seven pagodas
The account

Sailors called this the Land of the Seven Pagodas, and only one, the Shore Temple, still stands above the surf. When the 2004 tsunami sucked the sea back five hundred metres, it bared carved lions, an elephant, and temple walls on the seabed, and divers from the National Institute of Oceanography have since mapped masonry and a flight of steps offshore. The legend the locals kept for a thousand years turned out to be a map.

Leads, where the trail points now
  • Pin down the most specific last-known position in the record before going; the search centers on Off the Shore Temple, Tamil Nadu, India.
  • What you are chasing is The drowned six of the legendary seven pagodas. Work the documented record of Mahabalipuram, the Seven Pagodas back to primary sources and separate what is attested from folklore.
  • Indian antiquities waters (ASI), survey diving by permit; nothing may be disturbed.
What the record holds

What remains open

  • No period map of the site has surfaced.
  • No contemporary press coverage has been found.
What we know, and what we don't
Established

No documentary claim is yet established. The account rests on tradition.

Still open
  • No period map of the site has surfaced.
  • No contemporary press coverage has been found.
The evidence room

No documentary or visual exhibits have been located yet. The trail below and the open leads are where this dossier grows next — every exhibit that enters here carries a source.

Where the trail points now
  • Pin down the most specific last-known position in the record before going; the search centers on Off the Shore Temple, Tamil Nadu, India.
  • What you are chasing is The drowned six of the legendary seven pagodas. Work the documented record of Mahabalipuram, the Seven Pagodas back to primary sources and separate what is attested from folklore.
  • Indian antiquities waters (ASI), survey diving by permit; nothing may be disturbed.
  • Search Library of Congress + DPLA (IIIF) for period cartography of the site.
  • Run Chronicling America for dated newspaper mentions.
  • Query NARA for archival records tied to the site.

Have a source, a map, or a clipping? Add a lead and it enters the record with its citation.

Start the hunt here
The first leads, so no one walks in cold.
Sources and the record
Related case files

The full hunt kit

Starting brief, what's known and disputed, evidence timeline, source list, map card, coordinate-confidence and legal-access summaries, and a field checklist, free with a Fellowship account.

Latest Word From the Newswire

Context, not proof. The dossier's own sources remain the evidence record.

Checking the wire…

Chart position 12.616°, 80.205° (approx.) View on the Map