Nature & WildlifePeak and rock pillar

Rangaswamy Peak and Pillar

Sacred Nilgiris peak near Kotagiri with a 400-foot rock pillar, seen from Kodanad View Point

Photo: Ramana from Coimbatore, India · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

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01 — The story

Rangaswamy Peak rises above 5,885 feet about 20 km from Kotagiri in the Nilgiris and can be seen from Kodanad View Point. Also known as Rangabottu, it is the most sacred place of the Irulas, who believe the god Rangaswamy dwells there, and the Badagas hold their Giri Habba rituals here. An annual harvest and fertility festival takes place on the peak.

On its north-west side stands Rangaswamy Pillar, a rock column about 400 feet high. The peak is also remembered for an air crash: on 13 December 1950 an Air India DC-3 came down here, carrying the statistician Abraham Wald.

Unmapia

02 — About

Coming soon

We’re still writing about Rangaswamy Peak and Pillar: its history, what’s there and why it’s worth the trip.