Tiruttani Subramaniya Swamy Temple

Seven hundred feet above sea level, on a single rock with ranges of hills all round, stands the Murugan temple of Thanigai. The climb starts at the Saravana Poigai at the foot: 365 steps, as many as there are days in a year. A nine-storeyed gateway, four enclosures and a sanctum tower shaped with six petals make up the shrine. Inside, Subramaniya Swamy stands alone, without his peacock, holding the vajra vel in his right hand with his left on his hip. Calm as he looks, a hollow scar on his chest still marks the war with the asuras. The festival image is Shanmukhar, whose shrine is a hall built of a lakh of rudraksha beads.

The temple legend goes like this. After striking down Surapadman with his vel at Thiruchendur, Murugan came to this hill to let the heat of battle cool. It was the place where his anger, seru, subsided, thani, so it became Seruttani and then Tiruttani. He brought Valli here to marry her, after courting her at Vallimalai disguised as a hunter. Vishnu's daughters Amudavalli and Sundaravalli had done penance to marry Murugan; one grew up with Indra as Deivanai and the other with the tribal chief Nambirajan as Valli. To show that the two are one, a goddess called Gajavalli, combining both, holds Valli's lotus in her right hand and Deivanai's blue water lily in her left.

The elephant in front of Murugan, in place of a peacock, has its own story. When Indra gave Deivanai in marriage he gave his white elephant Airavata as part of the dowry, and the wealth of the heavens began to dwindle. At Indra's plea Murugan let the elephant turn its gaze east, towards the heavens, which is why it faces away from the sanctum. Indra's other gift was a sandal-grinding stone; only paste ground on it is applied to Murugan and the attendant deities. The Kalhara Theertham on the hilltop was also made by Indra, who worshipped Murugan with the kalhara flowers that bloomed in it.

Some customs here are found nowhere else. Because this is where Murugan's anger cooled, there is no Surasamharam on Kanda Sashti; instead he is cooled with a pushpanjali of a thousand kilos of flowers. Everyone worships Abathsahaya Vinayakar at the entrance last, not first. There are separate shrines of Vishnu Durga and of Bhairava holding four dogs that stand for the four Vedas. In Margazhi, before Valli's wedding, Murugan is bathed in warm water so that the young god does not feel the winter cold. The sacred tree is the magudam tree, and besides the Saravana Poigai the sacred waters include the Indra Theertham, Saraswathi Theertham, Madachettikulam and Nallankulam.

From the Sangam poem Thirumurugatruppadai to Arunagirinathar's Thiruppugazh and the songs of Ramalinga Adigal, this hill has been sung for centuries. Kachiyappar, who sang the Kanda Puranam, praised Thiruttanigai as the highest of hills, as the lotus is among flowers, the Ganga among rivers and Kanchi among towns. A Chola inscription of the time of Parantaka I survives here, and a Chola record on the sanctum wall, naming the king as the Parakesari who took Madurai, notes a gift of land and already calls the place Thiruthanigai. Raised in stone under the Cholas, the temple was enlarged under Vijayanagara rule. It has a square sanctum fronted by an ardha mandapam and a maha mandapam, finely carved pillars in the second prakaram, and a western tower from the Vijayanagara period; the nine-tiered eastern rajagopuram, about 123 feet high, is a 20th-century addition. A seated image of Arunagirinathar stands in the temple. About two hundred years ago, after Murugan met him on the steps as an old man and gave him the temple's prasadam, Muthuswami Dikshitar sang his first kriti, on the Lord of Thanigai. In 1917 Vallimalai Swamigal began the step puja on English New Year's Day, as an alternative to the custom of calling on officials that day, and it has grown into today's step festival. The HR&CE Department runs the temple.

Devotees come every day praying for marriage, a child, family prosperity and long life, and to be rid of anger and confusion. Those facing obstacles to marriage arrange a Thirukalyanam for Kalyana Murugan. Vows include tonsuring, offering one's weight in coins, pongal, sandal-paste dressing, panchamirtham and milk abhishekam, annadanam, ghee lamps, milk pots and kavadi. The sandal-paste prasadam, available only on festival days, is customarily dissolved in water and drunk. These are matters of faith; no result is promised, and for health problems medical treatment comes first.