01The wedding on the hill
The Skanda Purana and the Tamil Kanda Puranam tell that after Murugan destroyed the asura Surapadman, Indra gave him his daughter Devasena in marriage, and the wedding was held on this hill. Nakkirar’s Tirumurugarruppadai, in the Sangam collection, names Tirupparankunram first among the homes of Murugan. In the sanctum, cut back into the rock face, Murugan sits with Devasena; around him in the same rock are Shiva as Parankunranathar, Durga, Vishnu and Ganesh. Unusually, Murugan here is not given the abhishekam; it is offered to his vel.
02Pandya rock and Nayak halls
An inscription in the cave records that in 773 CE Sattan Ganapati, a minister of the Pandya king Jatila Parantaka Nedunjadaiyan, renovated the shrine and dug a tank, and that his wife made a shrine for Durga. Other rock-cut cells on the hill belong to the same Pandya age. In front of the rock the Madurai Nayaks added tall pillared mandapas with carved yalis and a gopuram, so that a visitor walks up through the halls and only at the end reaches the old cave. Jain beds and Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions on the far side of the hill are older still.
The life of this place
- 773 CESattan Ganapati, Pandya minister, renovated the cave shrine and dug a tank.
- 16th–17th centuryThe Madurai Nayaks added the front mandapas and gopuram.
About 8 km south-west of Madurai city; Skanda Shashti and Panguni Uttiram are the great festivals.
