Places to Visit in Chennimalai

Kodumanal is a major Sangam-age archaeological site on the northern bank of the Noyyal River, identified with the ancient Chera trade town of Kodumanam. Excavations have revealed advanced iron- and steel-working furnaces, gemstone bead workshops, Roman artefacts and a bronze lion. It was a key industrial and trading centre on the route to Muziris and Kaveripoompattinam around 500 BCE.

An ancient hilltop Murugan shrine reached by a stairway of about 1,320 steps or a road with nine hairpin bends, roughly 28 km from Erode, linked to the Kanda Sashti Kavasam line "Siragiri Velavan".

Chennimalai Murugan Temple is best understood through its defining feature, its relationship with Erode and the evidence that survives at the site today.

This Vishnu temple in Erode city is dedicated to Kasthuri Aranganathar (Ranganatha) and goddess Kamalavalli, and is attributed to the Chola king Parantaka I, making it about 1,080 years old. Its name derives from a legend in which a pregnant woman offered kasthuri (herbal medicine) to the deity for a safe delivery. It is counted among the historic Kongu-region temples and lies within walking distance of the Periya Mariamman Temple.

Located at Pudupalayam near Anthiyur, this temple enshrines Gurunathaswami, worshipped through three sacred stones representing Kamakshi, Vishnu, and Shiva combined with Murugan. Legend holds the stones were once worshipped near Chidambaram, hidden in a river, and rediscovered at Pudupalayam, where a temple was built with Pandya patronage about 600 years ago. Its annual festival falls in the Tamil month of Aadi.

This hill shrine near Gobichettipalayam is dedicated to Lord Murugan in his child form as Balamurugan and is one of the town's two major Murugan hill temples. It is crowned by a roughly 40-foot statue of Senthilandavar, among the tallest Murugan idols in Tamil Nadu and visible for miles across the plains. The temple has a five-tiered Dravidian gopuram and was extensively renovated in 1956.

The Amarapaneeswarar Temple at Pariyur is a Shiva temple dating to about the 10th century CE, with its consort worshipped as Soundaranayaki Amman. Originally built during the Chola period, it received later additions from the Pandya, Hoysala and Mysore rulers, and today is rebuilt almost entirely in white marble. Maha Shivaratri and Pradosham are celebrated here with particular grandeur.

Kunderipallam Dam is an earthen dam built across a tributary feeding the Bhavani River at Kongarpalayam in Gobichettipalayam taluk, constructed between 1975 and 1980. It stands about 42 feet high and over 2,100 metres long, with a reservoir capacity of roughly 1.72 tmcft used for irrigation. Set at the foot of forested hills, it is a quiet local picnic and scenic spot.

This Vishnu temple sits on the Vedagiri hill at Urachikottai, about 5 km from Bhavani on the western bank of the Cauvery, and is regarded as the first of five hills known as the Panchagiri. Dedicated to Varadaraja Perumal, the temple is believed to be more than 1,000 years old. The hill is dotted with Saiva and Vaishnava shrines and overlooks the river.