Saluvankuppam Murugan Temple

Walk through the gate on the northern side of the Atiranachanda cave monument. About 200 m away you will spot a fenced area close to the sea that encloses the remains of a temple. Play the next story there.

Mamallapuram was the stone workshop of the Pallavas, and most of the monuments you see today were built by them between the 6th and 8th centuries CE. But this town is home to even older monuments that have been lying under the sands for centuries. In 2004, a massive tsunami along this coast exposed three long-buried stone inscriptions on a rock not too far from here. These inscriptions, which were attributed to Rashtrakuta kings, hinted at an ancient temple to Lord Muruga somewhere in this region and spoke of land donations made to maintain it. Some inspired digging led to the discovery of the remains of an 8th century Pallava temple. And when they looked closer, they found that under the granite structure lay a foundation of bricks of an even older temple. Archaeologists believe that this site was home to a temple built around the 3rd century CE. That makes this one of the oldest temples in South India.

The shrine is dedicated to Muruga, the ancient warrior god in south India. The Pallavas were ardent devotees of Muruga and particularly worshipped him as Skanda, the infant son of Shiva and Parvati. Since the village where it is located is called Saluvankuppam, the temple is called the Saluvankuppam Murugan Temple.

It is believed that Mamallapuram still holds on to many such secrets buried deep underground.

UNESCO has declared about 40 sites in India as World Heritage sites, worthy of preservation for the benefit of future generations. Mamallapuram is one of them. The UNESCO report hails it as “the representation of a masterpiece of human creative genius.”

We hope you enjoyed this audio tour of the Unesco World Heritage Site of Mamallapuram.