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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
TIRUKAĻUKUNRAM OR PAKSHITIRTHA.
BY T. RAMAKRISHNA, B.A., OF MADRAS.
Thirty-five miles to the south of Madras, on the coast, lies the old Dutch settlement of Sadras with its ruined fort, and the same distance to the south-west on the Great Trunk Road lies Chingalput, famous as the scene of one of Clive's exploits and the capital of an old dynasty of kings. The distance between these two places is eighteen miles, and exactly midway is Tirukalukunram or the hill of Sacred Kites' (the Brahmins call it Pakshitirtha). The early history of the place is unknown. Legend says that once upon a time all the four Vêdas went together to Siva, and requested him to give them a permanent habitation where they might for ever worship him. Śiva accordingly transformed them into four hills connected with one another, and himself took his abode on the top of one of the chain. On this account the Šiva image of the place is called Vadagiriswarar, or the god of the hill of the Vedas.'
It is also said that at a place a few furlongs from this chain of hills, Śiva fought with 10,000,000 Rudras and gained a victory over them. At the place where this battle was fought, a temple in honour of Siva was built and called Rudrangoil or the Rudra Temple.' The village of Rudrangoil is a very small one, containing about a score of meanly-built houses; but the temple is a large one and old.
Besides these there is a third temple at the foot of the chain-the largest of the threehaving four large Gopurams. In this temple is the wife of Śiva. There is nothing important here, except that the stone idol is much worn from age, so much so that it is anointed only once a year, sometimes in March, when thousands flock to the town to witness the anointing.
Tirukaļukun ram was comparatively an unimportant place till the 15th century, after which it gradually rose in popularity through the exertions of a devotee named Pêrambila Tambirân, who went about the country begging and preaching in the name of Siva, who, it was said, appeared to him in a vision while asleep one night at Acharavá (now a South Indian Railway Station), and requested him to dedicate himself to this work. Pêrambila Tambirân was eminently successful, and made Tirukalu
[JULY, 1881.
kunram what it is now, the most popular place in this part of Southern India, excepting perhaps Conjeveram.
Once upon a time, it is said, Indra worshipped the Śiva idol of this place, and the exact spot where he offered his devotions is still shown by the natives of the town, and is called Indra Tirtha m or Indra's Tank. In commemoration of this event Indra is said to anoint the idol once in twelve years by a thunderbolt which falls exactly on the top of the conical-shaped building on the hill, and without injuring the building or any one in it, goes round the idol thrice, and then descends the hill unperceived. The anointing of the idol, then, once in twelve years, is considered as one of the wonderful things connected with the place. There is a tank at the foot of the hills called Sangu Tirtham or Chank-shell Tank. This tank, which is the biggest in the town, produces a chank-shell once in twelve years. Two or three days previously, the water of the tank assumes a frothy appearance, and makes continually a roaring noise. The people of the place watch carefully, and then with due ceremony and pomp take up the shell, when it comes floating to the shore, and, place it on a silver vessel. Then a festival takes place in honour of the event, when the shell is taken round the town in procession with tomtoms, and afterwards deposited with the other shells in the temple at the foot of the hills. But they say that the shells diminish in size every time owing to the sins of the Kaliyugam. The writer of this article was assured by an old man at the place that this event had happened regularly some four or five times during his lifetime. Then every day between twelve and one o'clock, two large white birds of the kite species come to the temple on the hill for the purpose of being fed by a Pandaram specially appointed for that purpose. It is said that these kites, which were originally two Rishis transformed into birds for some sins they had committed, bathe every morning in the Ganges at Banaras, take their meals in Tirukalukunram, and sleep in Râmêsvaram; but however false this may seem, the wonderful regularity of attendance strikes every one. The Pandâram, long before the time, ascends the hill, which is nearly five hun
