Kalugumalai

Kalugumalai, the hill of the vulture, is a small town in Kovilpatti taluk of Thoothukudi district, about 21 kilometres from Kovilpatti on an old trade route to Courtallam. Its hill carries three remarkable monuments: the rock-cut Kalugasalamoorthy temple, the monolithic Vettuvan Koil and the Kalugumalai Jain beds. A large urn-burial cemetery was found at its foot, though many urns were lost to limestone quarrying.

Vettuvan Koil is an unfinished Pandya temple of the 8th–9th century, carved out of the living rock: workers cut a rectangular pit about 7.5 metres deep and shaped the shrine from the block left in the middle. The Jain beds are around 150 relief sculptures, including Parshvanatha with two attendants, made in the reign of Parantaka Nedunjadaiya (768–800). Vatteluttu labels name donors ranging from carpenters, potters and smiths to high officials.