page_title: Tourism in Tamil Nadu
section_title: Kalugumalai
hierarchical_section_title: Tourism in Tamil Nadu / Religious sites of Tamil Nadu / Caves / Kalugumalai
caption_attribution_description: English: Vettuvan Koil
context_page_description: Tamil Nadu is a state in the south-eastern part of the Indian Peninsula. Tamil Nadu is previously a part of the United Madras Province, which was later partitioned based on languages. Tamil Nadu has more than 4,000 years of continuous cultural history. Tamil Nadu has some of the most remarkable temple architecture in the country, and a living tradition of music, dance, folk arts and fine arts. Tamil Nadu is well renowned for its temple towns and heritage sites, hill stations, waterfalls, national parks, local cuisine and the natural environment and wildlife. The state has the largest tourism industry in India with an annual growth rate of 16%. In 2015, the number of domestic arrivals was at 333.5 million making the state the most popular tourist destination in the country, and foreign arrivals numbered 4.68 million, the highest in the country, making it the most popular state for tourism in the country.
context_section_description: Kalugumalai consist of three important Temples in Kalugumalai:
  Kalugumalai Jain Beds : There are many rock relief sculptures dating to the 8th-9th century A.D. in the area, including the rock cut image of Bhagawan Parshwanatha flanked by two Yaksha, as well as many other rock cut images of other tirthankaras. The sculptures and the epigraphs are to be assigned to the reign of Pandya, Parantaka Nedunjadaiya (A.D. 768-800). There are approximately 150 niches in the bed, that includes images of Gomateshwara, Parshvanatha and other Tirthankaras of the Jainism. The Jain beds are maintained and administered by Department of Archaeology of the Government of Tamil Nadu as a protected monument.
  Vettuvan Koil :  is a Hindu temple built between the 8th and 9th century. Kalugumalai is a priceless unfinished Pandyan monolith cave temple, part of the iconographic richness that helped chronicle the burgeoning richness of the Tamil culture, traditions, and sacred centres containing religious art. The temple is carved out from a single rock in a rectangular portion measuring 7.5 m (25 ft) in depth. The carvings in the temple show the top portion of the temple, with an unfinished bottom. The granite rock looks like a blooming lotus, with hills surrounding it on three sides. The vimana (ceiling over the sanctum) has niches of Parsavadevatas, the attendant deities of Shiva, like ganas, Dakshinamurthy depicted playing a mridanga, Siva with his consort Uma, dancers, various niches of Nandi (the sacred bull of Shiva) and animals like monkeys and lions.
  Kalugasalamoorthy Temple : The main deity of this temple is Murugan. The main deity hall and entrance hall is excavated inside the foothills of kalugumalai in the south western corner of the hill and with external structural additions. The temple has many aesthetic sculptures. The temple dates to the 18th century.
caption: Vettuvan Koil
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