Next stop on my journey of “Trail of Arunagirinathar“, it is Jnanamalai Murugan, which got lost about 200 years back only to be rediscovered few years back(1990s).
Jnanamalai Murugan Temple(click on picture to enlarge).
Saint Arunagirinathar has visited and has sung song praising the lord as “Jnanamalai” Murugan and probably his songs is also one of the reason for the temple to be rediscovered.
How to reach: If you are going by car, then, you have to take Bangalore-Chennai highway. From Bangalore drive towards Vellore, pass Arcot and about 30km before Kanchipuram, take left turn near a place called Kaveripakkam, from there it is about 15 km. By train or bus, you need to get down at Sholinghur Railway station or Sholinghur Bus stand and get a share-auto to the temple, but make sure that you also get a return journey back, there are no transport service near the temple.
Photos of the temple: https://plus.google.com/photos/116513619246935986030/albums/5965851656240897089
Video of the temple:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7impm5mSYg
Facebook page of the temple: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jnanamalai-Murugan-Temple-Gnana-Malai-or-Jhnana-Malai/449688928464292
Google map :https://www.google.com/maps?ll=12.979134,79.50943&spn=0.264,0.475&z=11&q=Jhanamalai+Subramaniyaswami+Temple,+Govindacherikuppam,+Tamil+Nadu
Our Travel: We had to start our journey to Jnanamalai Murugan temple from Kanchipuram, because the previous day, we left to Chennai from Bangalore to meet an old US friend(who was visiting India), after meeting him, we drove back until Kanchipuram and stayed there overnight.
As per the direction on the internet, Jnanamalai Murugan temple was about 50km from Kanchipuram. We had a good breakfast at Saravana Bhavan and started our journey at around 10:45 A.M. It took us about half an hour to join Bangalore-Chennai Highway. At the highway junction, we had to take a left turn towards Vellore. After driving for about 10-15 km, I pulled my car to the shoulder to have a tender coconut, as it was peak summer, weather was very hot. For help, I asked the direction for Jnanamalai Murugan temple, but the folks who were selling coconut did now knew about it. Since, it is an ancient temple, which got lost in the middle, only to be discovered (in 1998) after 300 years or so, not many of them knew about this temple. I travelled for another 10km and asked for help, we got pretty good direction. As per them, I travelled another 10km and reached a place called Kaveripakkam, and took a right turn inside the town. There are no proper sign boards in this area. Even if there are sign boards it will be blanketed with unwanted posters. The temple is about 15km from this place.
After we took the right turn towards the Kaveripakkam town, the road got narrow & congested. It was around 11:45 AM in Kaveripakkam. Again, I asked for direction for the temple, and we were told to take a left turn(this particular road splits into two, one towards right and other towards left) and go towards Sholinghur (about 30 KM from there). The roads inside the town was bad and once we left the town, the road started getting better, but it was single lane and we passed along Kaveripakkam Lake. Not many buses or trucks ply in these roads, only you find some share-Autos and once in a while you come across a local bus. Also, please remember there are no gas stations or any restaurants on these roads, so, be prepared. We crossed some villages and as we came closer to the temple, we asked for further directions and we were told to go towards Govindacheri, the place closest to the Murugan temple.
Finally, after sometime around 12:30 pm, we saw a sign post, indicating the way to the Jnana Malai Murugan temple. As we were travelling, towards the temple, we could see the steps for the hill-top, I was very excited.
Experience at the temple: This temple is almost in the middle of nature, the place looks very fresh and beautiful. Nature at it’s best. At last, we reached the temple, there is a Hanuman statue at the entrance. This place is very clean and well maintained. We parked our car and went towards the temple entrance.
Started climbing the Steps, even though it was the middle of summer afternoon, we did not feel very hot because the steps are covered with shade. As we climbed, we enjoyed the beauty of the nature. Thru the half way there is a resting place. Not sure about the number of total steps but we climbed to the top within 15-20 minutes. The area on top of the is hill wide enough (about half a km), after reaching the top of the mountain, we had to walk for another couple of hundred meters to reach the temple. The pallavan style temple is very beautiful.
History: Saint Arunagirinathar had visited this temple during 15th century and has sung songs praising the lord Muruga. I believe during 17th or 18th century, for some reason (war??) people might have been forced to leave this area and the temple on the top of hill might have forgotten completely. If you see this place, it looks very fresh in the middle of woods. For long time (around 300 years), I believe no one knew or inhabited this place. But Murugan devotees were searching for this lost temple for quite sometime, fortunately with Muruga’s grace, they hit on this gold (i.e. temple) in 1998.
Due to heavy rains around this place in 1998, parts of the hill got washed away and a few steps to the hill got visible and when this site was examined in detail, it looked to be steps that was leading to top of hill. Also, this place matched exactly as described by Saint Arunagirinathar in his song praising the lord as “Jnanamalai” Murugan. As per Arunagirinathar, there should be Murugan temple somewhere on the top of the hill. The hill was searched, and finally the lost temple along with Murugan idol was discovered on the top of the hill. Since then, new steps have been laid and temple has been renovated and well maintained.
Murugan Footsteps: On the back of the temple, there is another small hill (about 20-30 steps leading to the top), where you can find Murugan Footsteps. This area is well protected and a small room has been constructed around these footprints to avoid footprints getting deteriorated.
I pretty sure, these footsteps (carvings) on the mountain is not man-made, it must have happened naturally OR someone really powerful person (Lord Muruga) should have walked and caused these footsteps (carvings).
For Murugan devotees, it is the footsteps of the Lord Muruga. As per the legend, Lord Muruga after marrying Valli at Vallimalai, on his way to Tiruttani, stopped on top of this hill and these footsteps are the evidence of it.
Murugan devotes, please skip this Paragraph. (For folks who wanted a scientific explanation, these footsteps (carvings) on the hill seem to be due to the meteor showers, when the mountain was still very young. As per records, this mountain(parts of Eastern Ghats) was formed about 200 million years ago, when India started splitting from the giant continent, Gondwana. When these mountains were very young, in fact, while it was still in semi-solid state, there could have been a meteor shower and these meteors could have created these carvings (footsteps). This is just my explanation, I cannot think of any other reason.)
Jnanamalai Murugan Temple(click on picture to enlarge).
How to reach: If you are going by car, then, you have to take Bangalore-Chennai highway. From Bangalore drive towards Vellore, pass Arcot and about 30km before Kanchipuram, take left turn near a place called Kaveripakkam, from there it is about 15 km. By train or bus, you need to get down at Sholinghur Railway station or Sholinghur Bus stand and get a share-auto to the temple, but make sure that you also get a return journey back, there are no transport service near the temple.
Photos of the temple: https://plus.google.com/photos/116513619246935986030/albums/5965851656240897089
Video of the temple:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7impm5mSYg
Facebook page of the temple: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jnanamalai-Murugan-Temple-Gnana-Malai-or-Jhnana-Malai/449688928464292
Google map :https://www.google.com/maps?ll=12.979134,79.50943&spn=0.264,0.475&z=11&q=Jhanamalai+Subramaniyaswami+Temple,+Govindacherikuppam,+Tamil+Nadu
Our Travel: We had to start our journey to Jnanamalai Murugan temple from Kanchipuram, because the previous day, we left to Chennai from Bangalore to meet an old US friend(who was visiting India), after meeting him, we drove back until Kanchipuram and stayed there overnight.
As per the direction on the internet, Jnanamalai Murugan temple was about 50km from Kanchipuram. We had a good breakfast at Saravana Bhavan and started our journey at around 10:45 A.M. It took us about half an hour to join Bangalore-Chennai Highway. At the highway junction, we had to take a left turn towards Vellore. After driving for about 10-15 km, I pulled my car to the shoulder to have a tender coconut, as it was peak summer, weather was very hot. For help, I asked the direction for Jnanamalai Murugan temple, but the folks who were selling coconut did now knew about it. Since, it is an ancient temple, which got lost in the middle, only to be discovered (in 1998) after 300 years or so, not many of them knew about this temple. I travelled for another 10km and asked for help, we got pretty good direction. As per them, I travelled another 10km and reached a place called Kaveripakkam, and took a right turn inside the town. There are no proper sign boards in this area. Even if there are sign boards it will be blanketed with unwanted posters. The temple is about 15km from this place.
After we took the right turn towards the Kaveripakkam town, the road got narrow & congested. It was around 11:45 AM in Kaveripakkam. Again, I asked for direction for the temple, and we were told to take a left turn(this particular road splits into two, one towards right and other towards left) and go towards Sholinghur (about 30 KM from there). The roads inside the town was bad and once we left the town, the road started getting better, but it was single lane and we passed along Kaveripakkam Lake. Not many buses or trucks ply in these roads, only you find some share-Autos and once in a while you come across a local bus. Also, please remember there are no gas stations or any restaurants on these roads, so, be prepared. We crossed some villages and as we came closer to the temple, we asked for further directions and we were told to go towards Govindacheri, the place closest to the Murugan temple.
Finally, after sometime around 12:30 pm, we saw a sign post, indicating the way to the Jnana Malai Murugan temple. As we were travelling, towards the temple, we could see the steps for the hill-top, I was very excited.
Experience at the temple: This temple is almost in the middle of nature, the place looks very fresh and beautiful. Nature at it’s best. At last, we reached the temple, there is a Hanuman statue at the entrance. This place is very clean and well maintained. We parked our car and went towards the temple entrance.
Started climbing the Steps, even though it was the middle of summer afternoon, we did not feel very hot because the steps are covered with shade. As we climbed, we enjoyed the beauty of the nature. Thru the half way there is a resting place. Not sure about the number of total steps but we climbed to the top within 15-20 minutes. The area on top of the is hill wide enough (about half a km), after reaching the top of the mountain, we had to walk for another couple of hundred meters to reach the temple. The pallavan style temple is very beautiful.
History: Saint Arunagirinathar had visited this temple during 15th century and has sung songs praising the lord Muruga. I believe during 17th or 18th century, for some reason (war??) people might have been forced to leave this area and the temple on the top of hill might have forgotten completely. If you see this place, it looks very fresh in the middle of woods. For long time (around 300 years), I believe no one knew or inhabited this place. But Murugan devotees were searching for this lost temple for quite sometime, fortunately with Muruga’s grace, they hit on this gold (i.e. temple) in 1998.
Due to heavy rains around this place in 1998, parts of the hill got washed away and a few steps to the hill got visible and when this site was examined in detail, it looked to be steps that was leading to top of hill. Also, this place matched exactly as described by Saint Arunagirinathar in his song praising the lord as “Jnanamalai” Murugan. As per Arunagirinathar, there should be Murugan temple somewhere on the top of the hill. The hill was searched, and finally the lost temple along with Murugan idol was discovered on the top of the hill. Since then, new steps have been laid and temple has been renovated and well maintained.
Murugan Footsteps: On the back of the temple, there is another small hill (about 20-30 steps leading to the top), where you can find Murugan Footsteps. This area is well protected and a small room has been constructed around these footprints to avoid footprints getting deteriorated.
I pretty sure, these footsteps (carvings) on the mountain is not man-made, it must have happened naturally OR someone really powerful person (Lord Muruga) should have walked and caused these footsteps (carvings).
For Murugan devotees, it is the footsteps of the Lord Muruga. As per the legend, Lord Muruga after marrying Valli at Vallimalai, on his way to Tiruttani, stopped on top of this hill and these footsteps are the evidence of it.
Murugan devotes, please skip this Paragraph. (For folks who wanted a scientific explanation, these footsteps (carvings) on the hill seem to be due to the meteor showers, when the mountain was still very young. As per records, this mountain(parts of Eastern Ghats) was formed about 200 million years ago, when India started splitting from the giant continent, Gondwana. When these mountains were very young, in fact, while it was still in semi-solid state, there could have been a meteor shower and these meteors could have created these carvings (footsteps). This is just my explanation, I cannot think of any other reason.)
