Mailam Hill Temple near Tindivanam, TN

Mailam Temple is situated on a small hill around 15 K.M. from Tindivanam, near Pondicherry. Actually, when you go on the Chennai – Tindivanam highway, you’ll find a road going towards your left indicating ‘Mailam’, a few K.M. after you cross Aaryas hotel junction. You’ll have to take a left here and travel for some distance until you reach a marketplace. This is Mailam town.

To go to the Temple, there is a separate route for people going in cars/vehicles and a separate route for people going by walk. So get down and ask someone in one of the Temple market shops, if you are not sure. I went by walk.

You’ll have to leave your chappals/shoes before you reach the steps. There are many shops who will keep them for a small fee. But remember that you’ll have to travel a total of 750m by walk, and more than half of it by steps. Nothing much, it’s a small hill. In case any old people are coming with you, it maybe difficult for them to climb. The vehicle path is 2 KM long and uphill, I was told.

This Temple is dedicated to God Murugan, one of the sons of Lord Shiva. Once you get into the Temple, you can find many monkeys. These will take away your cover if they know there are bananas or some other eatables in them. So it maybe better to give away the bananas voluntarily 🙂 Or just carry a opaque bag with zip and keep everything inside that. I was not afraid of them – but one or two might get close!

Getting to the main deity might be slightly confusing. First, you’ll have to traverse 75% around the Temple. Just before you go out, there will be a ladder-steps starting from a corner on your left. You’ll have to go there and then climb the ladder-steps. You might miss this as the location is not prominent, so watch out!

There were many shops and even eateries on the way to this Temple. Refer to the Mailam Temple Wiki page for the legend behind this Temple, bus routes, etc.

Destination Infinity

Photo credit: By Destination8infinity (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.