Palani

Murugan as Murugan

Kaumara temple

Murugan Temple

Once all sages and gods assembled in Kailasha, the abode of Shiva, which resulted in the tilting of earth due to an increase in weight on one hemisphere. Shiva asked sage Agasthya to move towards the south to restore the balance. Agastya employed a asura named Idumban to carry two hills named as Sivagiri and Sakthigiri (Mountains of Shiva and Shakti) on his shoulders to be placed in the South, to balance the weight. Idumban carried the hills down south and en-route he placed them down for a while, when he rested. When he tried to lift them back, he was unable to move one of the hills. He found a youth standing atop of the hill and fought with him, only to be defeated. Agasthya identified the youth as Murugan and on reasoning out, the hill was let to remain at the location, which later became Palani. The mythology behind Idumban carrying the hills on the shoulder might have led to the practice of Kavadi. Sage Narada once visited Shiva at Kailasha and presented him with a gnana-palam (fruit of knowledge). Shiva expressed his intention of dividing the fruit between his two sons, Ganesha and Murugan, but Narada counseled that the fruit cannot be divided. So, it was decided to award the fruit to whomsoever first circled the world thrice. Accepting the challenge, Murugan started his journey around the globe on atop his peacock mount. However, Ganesha surmised that the world was no more than his parents Shiva and Shakti combined, circumambulated them and won the fruit. When Murugan returned, he was furious to learn that his efforts had been in vain and felt cheated. He left Kailasha to took up abode in the Palani Hills as a hermit. It is believed that Murugan felt the need to get matured from boyhood, hence discarded all his material belongings and went to Palani.

Period

Built by Bogar.

Architecture

Tamil architecture

First attested

5th century

Details are compiled from Wikimedia projects and published temple sources. Send a correction if something is wrong.

• Wikipedia, Dhandayuthapani Swamy Temple

More links

• HRCE Tamil Nadu
• English Wikipedia
• Google Maps
• Tamil Wikipedia