Kasi Viswanathar Temple, Tenkasi

The Kasi Viswanathar Temple in Tenkasi is dedicated to Shiva as Kasi Viswanathar, with Parvathi as Ulagamman. It is believed to have been built by the Pandya ruler Parakrama Pandyan in the 13th century, with additions by the Madurai Nayaks, and the town grew up around it. Legend says the king meant to go to Kasi for a linga, but Shiva told him in a dream to follow a column of ants, and he built the temple where the anthill ended. Inscriptions of 1384 record gifts of houses and villages to Brahmins to recite the Vedas and Puranas here.

A granite wall surrounds the shrines. The temple long had a flat tower; a seven-tiered gopuram, 180 feet tall, was begun in 1967 and finished in 1990. A pillared hall runs from the entrance to the east-facing sanctum, with Ulagamman's shrine alongside, and columns of Virabhadra holding sword and horn were added by the Vijayanagara kings in the early 1500s. Maasi Maham in February–March is the chief festival.