Courtallam
Here is a beautiful naturalistic place slightly away from Tenkasi. It is known as the “Spa of Tamilnadu”. Honey and Shenbagadevi are the other sub fall, including nine other falls located in CourtallamThe Kutralanther temple, a gorgeous temple of Lord Shiva, is in the location. There are numerous branch falls in Kuttralam flowing from the mountain top. It houses two significant falls, like Main falls and Small falls. The falls accommodate the medicinal qualities from the top of the mountain. These provide a replenishing and rejuvenating feel to its tourists. Other than the falls, there are Courtrallam eco-park and Chitrasabhai temple to teach history and science.
Kasi Viswannathar Temple
The temple’s presiding god is Lord Shiva in Kasi Viswanathar, with his consort Parvati as Ulagamman. Histories reveal that this temple has the pride of housing the self-forming deity. As the name, It is known as the Kasi of the south, so worshipping the shrine here is like worshipping the Shiva in Kasi. It holds the river Chittar which is as sacred as Ganga. Parakram Pandiyan built the temple with their Dravidian style. The Raja Gopuram is an extended structure of a hundred and eighty feet tall that took many years to construct. A pathway leads the tourist to the ninth tier of the gopuram to enhance the tourist providing an aerial view of Tenkasi town. It also constitutes the beautiful statues of Lord Murugan and other sub deities. It has a musical stone pillar in which each dome produce different sounds when tapped. It composes the wonderfully carved twin statues of Nataraja, Thirumal and Kali Devi. The temple celebrates all annual festivals and special poojas in a grand manner.
Karuppanadhi Dam
It is an earthen dam located twenty-seven kilometre away from Tenkasi at Chokkampatti village. It is under the foothills of Western Ghats and built over the Karuppanadhi river. It is the branch river of Tamirabarani. The river originates in the Krishnapuram village of Kadayanallur village. The dam houses two sluice gates to pass the overwhelmed water. During the monsoon season, the dam offers an awful ambience. It is the time water gushes from the dam opening the gates. It is the source of water for agriculture around the dam. A lush green garden covers the dam. It is incredible to look at the panoramic view of the dam from the road. It offers a picturesque view while the sun hides inside the cloud. It took more than five years to construct the dam.
Ayikudi Balasubramanya Temple
The village of Ayikudi houses the temple. Lord Murugan is the presiding god of the temple. Histories reveal that the lord Hanuman stayed on the river banks during his trip to Lanka. The local people call the deity as Rama Subramanya Swamy. The statue in this temple has four hands of which three hands represents the shaktivaram, vajra and Abhaya mudra. The fourth hands hold the peacock. The speciality of the temple is that besides all the Murugan temples, the shrine in the temple is setting on a Lotus. It also constitutes the statues of Lord Vishnu, Shiva, Ambika and Ganesha. It gives a special place to the Sun in the form of the shrine as Aditya. Now the management of the temple is in the hands of the Travancore family. they renovate and maintain the temple properly.
Thirumalapuram Cave temples
This cave temple holds two sub-temples carved out of rock. Pandya Kings constructed the temple in their reign. Between the two one is unfinished. The other temple is incredible, housing the rectangular Ardha-Mandapa. It has the flight of steps and cells on the west sidewall. There is a monolithic Nandi statue in a broken state facing the presiding deity, Shiva linga, at the mid of the temple. T at the middle of the templehe figures and sculptures in the temple stand as stunning proof for Pandyan art and architecture. It has three sections with three more -relief statues. One is the dancing Shiva, Lord Vishnu and Ganesha. This temple also holds the statue of Brahma. The inscription of the twelfth century mentions that Prince Chakravartin Srivallabhadeva gifted land to the temple. It contains the bas-relief sculptures and description that belongs to the Pandya rule.
Besides all those places, the town itself is an intriguing place to take a walk around—this house both paradise places like Coutrallam and Kollam. So after completing the visit to the city, also visit those paradises to take the remaining features of nature.
