Kodunkundreeswarar Temple, Piranmalai

01Pari’s hill

Piranmalai is the last outcrop of the hills in this country, rising over 2,000 feet from the plain. In the Sangam poems it is Parambu, the hill of Pari, one of the seven great patrons, who gave his chariot to a jasmine creeper that had nothing to climb; Kapilar, his friend and poet, sang of him. Sambandar sang the hill as Kodunkundram in the Tevaram. Shiva is worshipped here in three tiers: Kodunkundreeswarar at the foot, Mangaibagar with the Devi on the middle level, and Bhairava higher up the rock.

02The Marudu brothers

The Marudu brothers of Sivaganga, who also rebuilt Kalaiyar Kovil and fought the East India Company until they were hanged in 1801, gave much to this temple. At the foot of the hill are traces of a moat and of a fort that was pulled down in the early nineteenth century. Rock pools on the hill are called the Pandava tirthams. The summit also holds the dargah of a Sufi saint, and the hill is climbed by people of both faiths.

The life of this place