About the Nadupalani Dandayuthapani Murugan Kovil

The third of the six abodes of Murugan Swamy temples located in Tamil Nadu is the “Aarupadai Veedugal Swamy temple”.

The temple is dedicated to Murugan Swamy who is also known as Skanda, Karthikeya, and so on, located in the city of Palani, Dindigul district in the foothills of Palani hills.

The current temple is consecrated by a renowned Siddhars, sage Bogar, using a mixture of 9 toxic plants known as Navapashanam.

The specialty of the temple is that there are 683 steps the devotees have to take a flight to reach the Murugan deity.

Impressively, there is an arrangement of a sliding elephant route, also a winch and rope vehicle service to commute the devotees to the top of the hill.

A sum of INR 33 crores was collected between July 2015 to June 2016, making it the wealthiest Hindu temple in Tamil Nadu state of that year.

Palani Murugan Temple Timings

History of Palani Murugan Temple

According to mythology, the sculptor of this temple had to work quickly to finish the features of the temple and bring it to perfection.

Later some local men with access to the deity employed repulsive chemicals and stole from the idol’s contents, severely harming the idol and fueling conspiracies.

The temple has succumbed to rumors that the sculpture had not done the work of the temple so well.

Due to this incident, a memorial dedicated to Bhogar is located in the southern portion of the temple.

Also, the shrine connects by a passage to a cave at the summit of the hill, where Bhogar keeps a watch over eight idols of Lord Murugan, and to date, the meditation vibe is on.

After ages of Pooja and prayer, the main deity of the temple was abandoned and allowed to be consumed by the dense foliage.

“Perumal”, a monarch of the Chera Dynasty who ruled the region during the 2nd and 5th centuries separated from his tribe during hunting and began wandering in the forest.

On one night he was compelled to seek safety at the base of the hill.

As a result, Lord Subrahmanyan appeared to him in his vision and instructed him to renovate the temple and bring back the idol to its original self.

The monarch started looking for the idol, and when he did, he built the temple where it now resides and reinstated its devotional significance.

To honor this incident a modest stela stands at the bottom of the inclining stair up to the temple hillock 

Architecture of the Palani Murugan Temple

According to a popular legend, the idol of the deity is a mixed composition of 9 poisonous ingredients that when combined in a specific ratio, acts as an everlasting medicine.

The statue of the deity that stands on a pedestal with an archway framing it, depicts the God Skanda in the same persona he has adopted at Palani.

He stands as an embodiment of a youthful hermit stripped of all ornaments and hair, wearing only a loincloth, and armed only with a staff, or Skanda, as befits a monk.

The Palani Murugan temple has been rebuilt by the Cheras.

Cheras covered the territory bordering to the west and on the eastern side boundary covers the Karthikeya of Palani.

The priests of the temple were the descendants of the Gurukkal clan of Palani and possess ancestral privileges of sacerdotal devotion at the temple.

Only people of this community have the privilege to come close and touch the deity, henceforth performing pooja and other rituals.

The temple’s interiors are based on early Chera architecture, and the covered promenade encircling the gopuram is based on Pandya architectural design.

The shape and design of the two fishes in the sanctum represent the royalty of Pandyan symbol of designing the temples.

The sanctum’s walls are covered in several antique Tamil scriptures. A gold gopuram with numerous artistic carvings related to the main deity Karthikeya is present.

There are 2 small shrines, one for Shiva and Parvati, as well as one for the sage Bhogar.

There is frequent fabrication and purification of the main idol, located in the inner prahram.

The second precinct, in addition to Muruga, is housed, in lord Ganesha.

How to reach the deity Murugan on hillock

The Palani Murugan temple is located on the taller of 2 hills, “Sivagiri”.

This is the hill where historically the main stairway is carved into the mountain or the yanai-padhai, or the elephant’s trail.

It was used by the sacred elephants to reach the temple.

Another prominent route excavated into the hillside was used by the pilgrims to carry holy water to ritually bathe the Lord Murugan murti.

Totally there are three vertical railway tracks built up to the hill, these are functioning for the past 50 years for transporting pilgrims.

There is also a ropeway that has been in use for reaching the deity mandir that is operating for the past 10 years

Transportation Timings of Murugan Temple

Both the modes of transport to the deity location close at 8.00 pm on all days.

Facilities in the Palani Murugan Temple

Some common facilities available at the Palani Murugan temple are:

• Panchamritha Prasadam

It is a traditional authentic prasadam made from fruits, jaggery, ghee, and dry fruits and distributed to devotees after performing abhiskam to the deity.

It is commercially also available at various locations of the temple and city of Palani in ½ and 1 kg airtight jars and can be preserved for many days without refrigeration.

• Tonsuring

During the Thai Poosam festival, a large number of devoted offer hai as a religious practice for this tonsuring shed is built by the temple authorities.

The sheds are well maintained with hygienic bathing facilities and tonsured hair collection procedures.

• Lodging

The temple offers 5 lodges facility to the devotees at fairly reasonable pricing namely: Dandapani Nilayam, Karthikeya Vidhuti, Ghoshala, Velavan Vidhuti, and cottages.

The rooms are hygienic and have access to all the basic facilities, about 1 crore rupees as been invested for its renovation and development recently.

Devotees can book the rooms by contacting the temple authorities prior to visiting the temple.

Check out for more details 

• Sannati System: This is a wooden ramp system in the SS queue line with air condition capacity of 35 tons is provided in the Deity Garbha Gudi area
• AngaPrathatchanam : A facility is carried out for the devotee’s convenience in the outer pragaram of the temple which is about 450m.
• Pure Drinking Water: The temple has installed two reversible osmosis systems with a huge capacity of 700 liters per hour and 350 liter per hour at various locations like Annadana Mandapam, Que lines, Inner and outer praharam
• Viboothi service: Two Vibhooti Prasatham packing machines have been installed at a cost of Rs 5.70 lakhs, viboothi is packed in a small paper pouch and distributed to the devotees
• RO plant system: The latest development of installing 750 LPH, 350 LPH, and 1000 LPH RO system at 30 different points in the temple, also on the Elephant pathway to provide hygienic water to the devotees.
• Chinna Kumarar Mandapam: In the temple’s North and South Praharam a cellar floor called Chinnakumarar Mandapam is located, with an SS queue line with an establishment cost of 1.5 crores.
• Steps and Elephant Path: Along with ropeway and winch, there are other ways viz steps an elephant path.

         Also, are 100 Nilal Mandapams installed in the elephant path by a donor.

• Winch: The capacity of the winch is 36 seats and the length of the way is 290m from the base station to the hill temple, with a travel time of 8 mins.

The cost of the winch is cheap from the time 5.20 am to 9 pm,  and only special occasion winch operates from 3.20 am to 9.00 pm

Cost of the winch for up and down travel

• Rope Way System: The rope car travels only 2.45min for a distance of 323m, it is the fastest mode of transportation compared to the winch.

A mono cable fixed grip reversible jig-back ropeway system is being operated with four cabins on each side with 350 passengers per hour capacity with a travel time of 3 mins.

Cost of the Ropeway system

As a special attraction to the tourists, a 30 m high artificail water fall is created along the rope car alignment.

Special Services to the society from the Murugan Temple of Palani

•  Ghoshala: Devotees can witness Ghoshala( cattle feeds) at an area of 219 acres to protect cows and to provide fresh milk to devotees and other inhabitants of the nearby places.

The  Goshala was started on June 3rd, 2008, where 499 cattle are taken care of with ample water and pipelines laid for castle feeds.

A grassland of 12 acres is cultivated in nearby places and rice husk for castle feed with 9 sheds.

• Annadanam: This scheme came into light in the year 2002 on March 23, the donor devotees can join this scheme by paying Rs 20000/-.

Now the annadanam is hygienically prepared by steam vessel systems and systematically served using tables and chairs.

The mandapam is 130*33 ft erected with over 93 lakhs establishment cost with 1 crore rupees spent for recent renovation with another floor constructed for extended devotees service.

• Other free services like clock room, parking facility, free toilet facility, Saravana pogia and so on.

What are the festivals celebrated at the Palani Murugan Temple?

The temple is dedicated to Lord Skanda, and the popular festivals of celebration in the temple are

How to reach Palani Subramanya Swamy Temple

• By Road: Devotees can reach the temple from all the cities of Tamil Nadu via local and government buses, the nearest big city is Coimbatore located 105 km from Palani.

• By Air: Coimbatore and Madurai are the two major cities that have airports located close to Palani.

• By Train: Dindigul is the nearest railway station located to Palani at 57 km, devotees can avail of train facilities from various parts of the state and reach Palani via Dindigul.

Accommodation near Temple

• Hotel Pattaih Naidu Palace

• Hotel Devine Fort

• Sara Regency

• Ponnis Resort

• Hotel Tranquil Inn