The palani hills situated in Dindigul district near coimbatore in Tamil nadu is famous for its Lord Murugan( karthikeya) temple.
The myth is that karthikeya after fighting with his parents, Lord Siva and Parvathy came to settle in the hills as a hermit. Due to this reason the muruga temple here is really famous and an important pilgrimage center. The Pilgrims are mostly from Tamil nadu and Kerala.
The temple is located on top of one of the hills and has somewhat falt top. In front of the main temple there is a large open hall. People have to make there way to the hall to view the main deity. The main deity here is believed to be made of a mixture of nine poisonous substances mixed in a certain ration to form a medicine. So the abhishekan from here is considered a medicine. The deity here is seen holding a dhandu and hence called Dhandayutahpani
To reach upto the hall one has to climb up the hill through steps. There are two was a direct steep step, this can be too much on the elderly. Another is the elephant path, which is winding path used by temple elephant to reach the top and hence the name.
This is more doable. For people who can manage that too there is a wench and rope car to reach the top. After reaching top you can stand in queue to view the deity, the length of queue can be reduced by paying a fee.
A thing I didn’t enjoy about the trip is that except for temple and its premises there is lack of hygiene. The last time I went there was about 5 years back and at that time there were lot of mules and small horses and the place stung of horse dung.
But the area out of the inhabited locality surrounding the temple is still undisturbed and covered in green pastures and a view from atop the hill of the surrounding hills is breath taking. Also the trip to the trip upto the hills was also interesting. The temple is accessible by road fro different locations in tamil nadu. We came in through Coimbatore.