Thirunandikkara Cave Temple

The Thirunandikkara Cave Temple is a rock-cut Shiva shrine carved into a hillock just north of the active Nandeeswara temple at Thirunandikkara in Kanyakumari district. It dates from the late 8th or 9th century; the Archaeological Survey of India attributes it to the Ay king Vikramaditya Varaguna, while the archaeologist Ajit Kumar credits the Pandyas a few decades earlier. The ASI protects it.

The square cave has a hall and a small, slightly raised east-facing sanctum holding a Shiva linga. Four Tamil inscriptions in Vatteluttu script on the pillars record gifts, the earliest, of about 800 CE, for a lamp to burn continuously, for drummers and for offerings. Faded murals represent an early stage of Kerala-style temple painting: the clearest, in the south-west corner, shows Ganesha in red outline with a devotee and palace scenes, while others show Narasimha with a female devotee and a lotus on the ceiling.