Malakkottai – Rock Fort, Trichy
Rock Fort (Mala Kottai) is located in Trichy, Tamil Nadu. There is a huge rock, around 80 meters high. over which a Pillayar (Vinayaka) Temple is located. It seems there is a Shiva temple as well, but it was closed for public when I went.
On the main road, before one enters the Rock Fort, there is a Church, which had an interesting architecture, as well:
So, generally you need to get down opposite to this Church, and walk inside the entrance marked with rocks. But, you only get to enter a busy market street, and the entrance to Rockfort is almost like the entrance to a small Temple! I had to check twice, if this was the entrance! So, you remove the slippers (since there is a Temple above), and start walking. If you have not exercised for a while (read in years), it will show during your climb up!
So, as you can see in the above photo (which was taken slightly after crossing the first series of steps from the entrance), the temple is up there (on the top)… Its 80 meters, not feet! But the walk is worth it, as from the top, the view of Tiruchirappalli city and the Kaveri river flowing through it, is quite enchanting.
It seems, the Pallavas started the construction of this temple by cutting and carving in the rocks as early as 7th Century. But the construction was completed later on by the Madurai Nayakkars during the Vijayanagara empire. It seems this was also used for military fortification later on by the British, and hence the name Rock Fort.
I know, I should have gone up and taken a photo of the city from there as well (I don’t take photos of deities), but I was already tired after walking across the neighboring Srirangam temple as well as climbing up till here! So, I decided to go back in the route shown below.
Destination Infinity
Thanks for the history behind the temple DI 🙂 🙂
Its been quite sometime since I have went there…
I have gone to Trichy many times, but this is the first time I went to this place though… What I will not do for my blog 🙂
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Thanks for the history of the rockfort DI…
You should have seen the ‘Thayumanaswamy temple’ (The Shiva Temple), which is in the half way towards the pillayar’s temple. For me, this is the must see place in rock fort than the pillayar’s, for the artistic wonders of the paintings in the ceiling and beautiful carvings of various Gods in the pillars.
On that day, it was closed… my bad luck!
Destination Infinity
The view from above was mindblowing.. history is so interesting!
I was very tired on that day, otherwise I could have gone on the top of the temple to take a proper photo of the city…
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I’ve been to this temple…and yes..it has amazing view of the city! Back then, I never had a camera to take the pictures! Thanks for bringing those memories back.
I know climbing this temple’s steps was a bit tedious…but u should have…coz its worth it… And I never knew about the history,,,thanks for sharing them DI.
I would have gone above, if I had not walked so much in the Srirangam temple. But anyways one more trip is due then… 🙂
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