📍Chitharāl hill temple, Tamil Nadu, India

Chitharāl(சிதறால்) rock temple is on a hill called Thiruchāranathu hill(திருச்சாரணத்துமலை) ~5km from Marthandam off NH 66 to Kanyakumari. This route goes through the village of Thikkurishy off the road to Thiruvattar. The actual village of Chitharāl is on the other side of the hill. The hill temple is a protected monument under ASI and there's a small entry fee at the trek gate. Toilets, drinking water and snacks are only available at the entrance.

There's a stone paved path all the way to the temple, and it's a gentle slope so it's an easy trek. Some of the rock outcrops are steep and will expose you to high wind and harsh sunlight but these are optional if you're only there for the temples! The hill range runs roughly parallel to the coast with northeast side landward and southwest seaward. Trek starts on the landward side but temple faces the Arabian Sea.

The oldest part of the temple is the reliefs on the north side chiefly: left the couple Pārśvanātha and Padmāvatī, center a lotus-pose Jain tirthankara and right Ambika with 2 children and leaning on a lion. Ambika is also known as a goddess in #hinduism and that #sculpture is still worshiped here. Based on inscriptions and the dates of prevalence of #jainism here, these reliefs could be anywhere from 1st century BC to 6th century AD.

The temple on the west side and the roof structure on the rock above are masonry and were built later. There's a triangular shallow pond in front of the temple. Inscriptions on a rock face to the south of the temple are dated 28th regnal year of the Āy king Vikramaditya Varaguṇaṉ(விக்கிரமாதித்த வரகுணன்) . This is ~911/912AD so the temple dates to before that. There are steps cut in the side of this inscribed rock to climb and enjoy the view of the surrounding forest and greenery. Part of the roof structure on top was restored in modern times and the roof over the reliefs also seems to be recent.

#tamilnadu #history #hills #forest

📍Near Bevanatham, Tamil Nadu, India.

I don't know the name of this place but it's near the village of Bevanatham around 15km from the 4 way junction on SH 85 near Kelamangalam, This hill is at the edge of the Denkanikkotai forest and has a distinctive column shaped rock on top. The trail begins at the stairs behind a shed. A green water pipe runs parallel to the right. Some part of the climb there are stairs but some you'll have to climb rock with railings. The trees protect you from the sun at the start; higher they're no longer there but there are winds to cool you off. Halfway up there's a resting place with a colorful statue of the #hindu gods Shiva, Parvati, Ganesha and Murugan on the bull Nandi. Behind the statue, the path leads horizontally and crosses the water pipe. There are tridents decorated with bangles on the way. The pipe connects to a plastic yellow tank here and continues uphill.

Further up, there are boulders on the hill amidst grass and a short distance later at the top there's a small temple. It was closed when we got there but the caretaker lady offered us roasted lentils with sugar, and showed another plastic water tank with tap for us to drink. We needed to be careful not to attract monkeys. Left of the temple there's a small shrine and a tree with charms tied all over. Nearby there's a way to climb the rock behind the temple but that's the highest you can go; the iconic column rock is inaccessible from all sides.

We saw an outcrop behind so we went down and went to the right side of the temple. There was another shrine with monkeys and high winds, and then behind was another tree with charms tied, then a short walk to the outcrop. From the right shrine we tried to walk down an alternate way nearer the column front side of the temple but it was impassable; we had to retreat and return the same way we climbed.

#naturephotography #forest #tamilnadu #hills #temples #nature #rural

📍 Shoolagiri, Tamil Nadu, India.

The Shoolagiri hike is 40 minutes away from Attibele toll plaza near Bangalore. Shoolagiri is named after the 3 peaks visible from far, resembling a trident 🔱 (= shoolam). The trail starts from a water tower near a temple. It's difficult to find parking so you might have to park way down in town. The trail first takes you to a small shrine; the caretakers were surprised to see us since they don't usually get visitors other than the locals. They offered us some of their lunch and water and told us which way to go to reach the middle peak. The southeastern peak needs you to go behind the shrine and looks inaccessible from this trail.
So we turned left to reach the middle peak. The big boulder is the middle tine's peak and is nearly vertical without footholds so we could only reach just below it. We saw some of the local kids playing there although it's a bit dangerous. On the other side of the hill you can see farm and forest. You can also see the northern prong with a small building on top. We thought the north peak was inaccessible too but found a path through the shrubs and managed to actually reach the top of the peak. We saw that the building lay in ruin but somebody near the middle peak boulder saw us here and was inspired to find the route himself!

Overall it's an easy hike apart from the steep section and I love the views! The steep section is actually worse during descent because the greenery obscure where the thorny bushes are so you can't just slide down blindly.

#naturephotography #forest #rural #tamilnadu #hills #ruins #wildflowers #nature