Vettuvan Koil

Vettuvan Koil is an unfinished Shiva temple on the eastern side of the rocky hill at Kalugumalai in Thoothukudi district, about 60 kilometres north of Tirunelveli and 20 kilometres west of Kovilpatti. It was carved in the 8th century under the early Pandya king Parandhagan Netunjadaiyan, at the same time as the Kalugumalai Jain Beds, with which it shares its approach path. It is the only known Pandya-era monolithic temple cut in the round, in place, from the top of a hill.

The temple was hewn from a single rectangular block about 7.5 metres deep; its upper part is finished, while the base was never completed. Niches in the tower hold attendant deities, ganas, Shiva with Uma, dancers, Nandi, monkeys and lions, and a Dakshinamurthy playing a mridanga, which the historian Sivaramamurti called unique, since he usually plays the veena. The figures move with a natural, easy liveliness. The Tamil Nadu archaeology department protects the site.