History

Chennimalai popularly known as the ‘Handloom Town’ is in Erode district in the state of Tamil Nadu, India.
This temple is situated at about 400 meters above sea level, and this hill is noted for its natural flora and fauna. This hill also has rare medicinal herbs in its lush green forests. In Devanagiri this hill is called Siragiri and Chenniyangiri. In Tamil it is called Chennimalai. The city underneath the hill is also called Chennimalai.

This hill is also called Sigaragiri, Pushpagiri and Siragiri. The Lord of mountains ‘Kuringi Andavar’, Murugan is highly praised and sung with reference to this abode in Kundruthoradal. Chennimalai is one of them and abounds in natural beauty and splendor.

The hill is home to hundreds of Peacocks, monkeys, rabbits, snakes and other reptiles. Recently, there were instances of people sighting spotted deers around Chennimalai.

Flora includes trees like Neem, Banyan, Tamarind and variety of shrubs. Mountains of kodaikanal, Sathyamangalam and Anthiyur are clearly visible from the top of the hill. It takes a 15 minutes drive to reach the hill temple by road and it gives a thrilling experience while travelling through the lush green forest with the steep slopes on the side.
The most famous temple of Lord Muruga in Erode District is Chennimalai. This world famous temple of Lord Muruga is where Lord Arunagirinathar was blessed with “Padikasu”, wealth of coins. This is where an unusual phenomenon, rather a miracle took place in the year 1984 on 12 February. A bullock cart with two bulls climbed the 1320 steps on their own on this eventful day. Saravana Munivar wrote the most popular Chennimalai Sthalapuranam before 700 years. Milk and curds are used as special offerings to Lord Muruga in Chennimalai and it is the general belief that curds do not become sour here.
The temple of Chennimalai is situated on the banks of Noyyal also called Kanchima Nadhi. The Sanctum Sanctorum faces the east. Just in front of the temple one finds the Puliyadi Vinayagar. Inside the temple to the right of Moolavar are the shrines of Mârkandeswarar and to the left Umayavalli. On the left side are the shrines of Kasi Viswanâthar and Visâlâkshi.

The steps behind Moolavar Sannidhi lead to the Valli Teyvannai Temple. The two consorts enshrined in a separate temple constitute a unique phenomenon. The Pinnakau Siddhar cave with the front yard filled with Vel of different sizes and shapes is on top of the hill. This Siddhar is one of the popular 18 Siddhar known to the world for their Siddha yoga. Saravana Mamunivar’s tomb is near the cave. There is also another very ancient cave near this temple.

The main deity Murugan is equated to the Sevvai graham or planet Mars and all the rest of the eight planets encircle the Lord in perfect harmony. If one circumambulates the main deity he is believed to get the benefit of circumambulating the navagrahas and worshipping them.