Many of us have heard of the world famous cave temples like Ajanta, Ellora, Udayagiri, Siddhannavasal and the beautiful sculptures there. Only a few would have had the chance to go there. But here we are going to tell you about an ancient mountain cave temple hidden in the Kanyakumari district of our Tamil Nadu with breathtaking beauty that was started before the Ajanta Caves.
Kanyakumari, which makes the Kanwars choke:
Kanyakumari district was once a part of the state of Kerala, known as God’s Land. That’s why Kumari district fascinates the visitors with its natural beauty on par with Kerala.
Kanyakumari has many tourist sites like Vivekananda Mandapam Thiruvalluvar Statue Bhagwati Amman Temple Tank Bridge. In this row, there is also a Kudaivara temple, which is very famous to the outside world.
Chitaral Cave Temple:
Near Kulithurai in Kanyakumari District is a village known as Chiparal. Located on the border of Tamil Nadu and Kerala, this village fascinates the visitors with the scenic beauty of the Western Ghats and the sea next to Marthandam. This scattered cave temple located on the Thiruchanath hill here holds various historical wonders. The temple dates back to the first century BC to the sixth century AD. While the Ajanta Cave itself is estimated to have been built between the second century BC and the seventh century AD, the temple dates back to the first century BC.
Exciting Green Mountain Scenery:
From the base of this hill, this cave temple looks like a small rock at the top and is surrounded by green forests on all four sides. This cave temple can be reached by walking up the steps of about 500 meters from the base. The towering rock formations all around and the view points from standing on the hill are indescribable.
Welcome Doctor’s Cave:
The first thing that greets us as we pass the stairs is the Sage Cave The rock caves here have evidence of sages living there till the 7th century. Passing this cave you can reach the temple on the hill.
Refreshing Heart Shaped Pool:
The heart-shaped pond located on the top of the hill here adds to the beauty of the place. The pond is naturally carved into the rock by Jain monks.
Beautiful sculptures adorning the rocks:
Cave temples are not an ordinary thing to build and it takes many years. All the world famous cave temples are famous because of the intricate yet beautiful carvings adorning the rocks.
In that way, the Tirthankaras who were responsible for the emergence and growth of Jainism inside and outside the cave temple have been categorized as sculpture, Devi and Parsuvanathar and are very beautifully carved. Also the statue of Mahavir Ambika with two children and the flying Vidyadhara is divided into three rooms in the temple.
Must Visit Place:
People who want to visit a new place, people who are interested in sculpture and tourists must visit this temple at least once.
How to go?
It is located at a distance of 48 km from Kanyakumari and 7 km from Marthandam.
Jainism developed on this hill with the help of Mahendravarman I and in the 13th century this cave temple was converted into Bhagwati Amman temple. This hill is also called Sokan Dhungi Hill. Currently under the protection of the Indian Archaeological Department, the name of the person who carved it and the details of the town are mentioned under the sculpture in this cave temple.
Jain school
Apart from this, it is known from the inscriptions that a Jain school functioned here from the first century AD and several hundred students studied in it.
Jain Buddhism began to decline in southern India due to the rise of Saivism and Vaishnavaism in the eighth century AD. As a result, the temple was neglected for many centuries, but it got a bit of a revival only during the reign of Rajarajan II.
