Hill Temples in Salem

Ootumalai Dhadayuthapani Balasubramaiar temple

have road facility. Visitors to this temple is increasing in good no. especially in the evening. I wish TNSTC-SLM give mini bus permit here instead of regular bus.The next hill top we covered was Oothumalai. Here, you could go all the way to the temple by car. Oothumalai is about 11 kms from Skandasramam. This hill top temple too is dedicated to lord Muruga, assuming the name of Balasubramaniar. It is a small temple, but very interesting for two reasons: Here, Lord Muruga is seen holding the neck of his beloved peacock, a unique posture not to be seen in any other temple. Also, the view from the hill top is amazing and one could capture a good view of Salem town from here.

                                       

As you descend a few meters, you would notice a small Shiva temple. Next to the linga, on the rocks one would find wonderful engravings of gods and goddesses along with asuyambuSudharshana chakra. This small section of engravings is fenced and is worth a visit if you do reach Oothumalai.

Oothumalai Sathyanarayana Temple: 
In Oothumalai itself, opposite to the small Shiva temple, a climb through a series of steps would take you to a Vishnu temple, assuming the name of Satyanarayana. It is one of the very few temples dedicated to Satyanarayana in Tamil Nadu and hence assumes significance. The flight of steps are few, probably less than 60, but slightly steep in nature. The temple is a small one but the statue of the principle lord here is worth a visit for its beauty. It does feel quite enchanting to take a round around the temple premise.


Kumaragiri Murugan temple
                                   
                                   
now road facility is coming up, which will be new life for this temple on the hill. Same mini bus concept should be introduced here. For those fit bodies and souls, the next temple to check out is Kumaragiri. The temple is located on a hill top and is dedicated to Lord Muruga. One needs to climb more than 700 steps to reach Kumaragiri hill top. Unfortunately, you cannot take your vehicle along and will have to be climbed by stairs. The temple truly looked fascinating from the foot of the hill but looked like an exhaustive climb. Given our plans for covering more temples that morning, we decided to give it a skip. But, if you have the time and stamina, it is worth the climb. I will have to probably catch it sometime later.


Kanthashramam

though popular, even many salemites don't know the location. Now new NH-68 bye-pass will pass close to this hill.A Oodai (small river) near Kandhasraman have some waters during winter can be developed.One of the primary landmarks of Salem or probably the most known temple closest to Salem. It is about 10 kms from Salem town. It is located on top of a small hill called Skandagiri. A couple of small hairpin bends would take you to the main entrance of the temple. The temple was set up in the 1970s. As the name indicates, it is the temple dedicated to lord Muruga. However, the temple is more famous for the sheer size of statues of various gods and goddesses in its premises. In specific, the relatively big statues ofPancha Mukha Vinayaka, Anjeneya, Danvantiri and Dattareya deserve special mention.

There is also a special hall here for statues of various renowned sages and saints across India. Also, extremely unique and interesting in Skandasramam, is the presence of Nava grahas like Surya, Chandra, Ragu and Kethu with their spouses. I found this quite fascinating. Everything about Skandasramam is quite big in scale and the Nava grahas that way do not disappoint. It is verytough to find statues of Nava grahas with such grand sizes and finesse as you observe in Skandasramam. The same foundation have a Skandasramam constructed in Selaiyur in Tambaram, Chennai which is equally impressive. But, it is always good to visit the place where it all started. A must visit in Salem, especially if you have not been to the one in Chennai.

Nethimedu,Kariyaperumal Karadu

Subramania swamy temple and Kariaperumal temple. Steps are availabe till Murugan temple. But further up though huge temple was built for Perumal, sill there is no proper paved steps. There should road connectivity to top of hill to these two temples


Poimaan Karadu i.e Nagaramalai perumal temple
 another popular hill temple. But it is opened only during Puratasi since there is no steps nor road this temple. So there should be paved steps to this mountain.