Dhandayuthapani Swamy Temple

The Palani Temple also known as the Dhandayuthapani Swamy Temple is one of the 6 Murugan temples in South India . My Husband has been here before and wanted to take me .

The Drive To Palani Temple

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At this temple there is a practice of worshippers shaving their head to obtain Murugan’s blessing . My husband had one of the barbers shave his head. Make sure to agree on a price before getting your head shaved .

Head Shaving At Palani Temple

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Palani Murugan Temple is on a hill . You can walk up the hill or take a funicular . If you plan to get your head shaved you do that at any of the hair cutting places available at the bottom of the hill . You get your hair cut , you take a shower and get shanthanam for your head . My husband did this and than we took the funicular up . It was about an hour and half wait to take the funicular up .

The Palani Funicular

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Once we were at the temple there wasn’t a long wait . We went through the lines, prayed and were able to come down relatively quickly .

The Palani Temple

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The history behind this temple is based on a famous regligious story . It’s the story of gyana-palam ( fruit of knowledge ) . The story goes Siva and Shakti had one gyana-palam and they wanted to give it to their sons . However they couldn’t spilit it so they offered to the son that can go around the world the fastest . Murugan took his peacock and started flying around the world . Pilliyar in the mean time circled his parents indicating they represented the world . Shiva and Shakti agreed with Pilliyar and gave him the gyana-palam. When Murgan came back and found this out he was mad . He went to Palani to calm down . Most children of Hindu religion would have heard this story growing up . So being able to visit this temple was special !

Definitely a temple to visit for Murugan devotees.

Logistics :

We had arranged a car with driver from Madurai. It was very convenient . The driver dropped us off at the bottom and waited till we were done than he dropped us back off at Madurai .

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