Thanumalayan Temple, Suchindram

The Thanumalayan (or Sthanumalayan) Temple stands in Suchindram in Kanyakumari district. Its name joins Sthanu (Shiva), Mal (Vishnu) and Ayan (Brahma), and the main linga represents all three gods at once, which makes the shrine sacred to Shaivites and Vaishnavites alike. Legend says Indra was freed of a curse here and still comes to worship at midnight. Inscriptions go back to the Chola period, and the Madurai Nayaks and the Travancore Maharajas later enlarged and endowed it; in 1875 a lottery even raised funds to rebuild part of it.

The two-acre complex blends Kerala and Tamil building styles, from the wooden 16th-century Navaratri Mandapam to an eastern gopuram 44 metres high. Inside are four 18-foot musical pillars, each cut from one stone, that ring with different notes when struck, and a dancing hall of 1,035 carved pillars. A 22-foot Hanuman carved from a single granite block was buried in 1740 and found again in 1930, and a huge mortar-and-lime Nandi measures 13 feet tall.