Pazhamudircholai Murugan Temple (Solaimalai)

After darshan of Kallazhagar at the foot of the hill, a three-kilometre road climbs through forest so thick it is shady at noon, and ends at the Murugan temple with its three-tiered tower. In the sanctum Murugan stands as a bridegroom between Valli and Deivanai, the only one of his six abodes where he appears with both consorts. The Aadi Vel stands near him, with Vithaga Vinayagar to his right.

The temple legend goes like this. Avvaiyar was walking to Madurai in the blazing sun and sat down, worn out, in the shade of a naaval tree. A cowherd boy up in the branches asked if she would like some fruit. When she nodded, he asked a second question: "Hot fruit or cold?" Puzzled, she asked for the cold. He shook the branch and the fruit dropped into the dust, and she picked each one up and blew the sand off it. From the tree came laughter: "Are they that hot, grandmother? Let them cool before you eat!" Beaten at her own game of words, Avvaiyar realised the boy was Murugan himself and wept. The grove where the fruit fell became Pazhamudircholai.

A naaval tree still grows to the right of the temple as its sacred tree, with a Ganesha at its foot. Other naaval trees fruit in Aadi and Aavani; this one waits for Aippasi, the month of Kanda Sashti. In early times only the Vel was worshipped here, and the images of Murugan and his consorts came later, which is why the Vel still has a shrine of its own.

Climb on for a few hundred metres and you reach Rakkayi Amman, the goddess who guards these hills. The sweet water that runs beneath her feet is the Noopura Gangai, and pilgrims bathe in it before they worship her.

Old Tamil literature is the witness here. Nakkeerar's Sangam-age Thirumurugatruppadai names the grove as one of Murugan's abodes, and the Ettuthokai, the Pattuppattu and the Silappathikaram all know its Murugan; the Silappathikaram places it on the old road to Madurai. Ilam Peruvazhuthiyar sang of it, and later Arunagirinathar and Kumaraguruparar. No inscriptions are recorded at the temple. The present three-tiered rajagopuram was built in the 20th century with devotees' donations, and the temple is run by the HR&CE Department.

People have long prayed here for wisdom and learning. When a prayer is answered, devotees offer Murugan a milk abhishekam and new cloth, and many also have milk poured over the Vel at the Tuesday morning puja. These are devotional practices; no result is promised.