Palani Murugan Temple is located on top of the Palani Hills in Tamil Nadu, South India. The idol of Palani Andavar is said to have been made of Navapashanam ( a combination of Veeram, Pooram, Rasam, Jathilingam, Kandagam, Gauri Pasanam, Vellai Pasanam, Mridharsingh, Silasat), by a siddhar called Bhogar. He is considered as one of the 18 siddhars born in the world.
We left home at 7 a.m planning a long journey, and our first destination was Palani. We had booked an accommodation in a budget hotel, Soundarya, after reading many reviews by Tripadvisor travellers. It was just okay for a day. AC was a great relief and it was closer to the Palani Murugan temple. Food was also available. We reached there and had our lunch.
After taking some rest we proceeded towards the temple. We had reached the gate where tickets for Winch are booked We wanted to travel in the rope car, but that was in another gate which is quite far, said the autorikshaw driver who took us there. The charge for the winch train was Rs.50/- each and the same charge for a rope car travel also. If we had known that we have to go to different place for the rope car we had gone there directly. Since we didn't have much time to spend we waited in the queue for the winch. After little more than half an hour, we were on the winch which took us up the hill where the temple is located. There were many ardent devotees going up by the steps (693 steps).
The view from top was mind blogging.
There were many people in the temple, also saw many young men and women with tonsured heads. Tonsuring head is one of the most important offerings of the temple by the devotees. We took a special ticket of Rs.100/- to get special darshan to save our time and we were able to have darshan of the deity soon.
After having spent some time in the temple we bought Panchamrutham, the prasadam of the temple. With a contented mind, we walked towards the winch station for our return journey from the hill. Some people were busy taking photos from the winch and others were enjoying the scenic beauty. Check out this video to see the winch train journey.
For our return journey, we preferred to walk to our hotel room in the almost setting sun, enjoying the scenery and the lake, after having an early dinner in a restaurant near the fruit market.
The next morning we left for Thandikudi, another less known destination.
