Thiruparankundram

Thiruparankundram, also spelled Tirupparankundram or Tiruparangundram, is a neighbourhood in Madurai city in Tamil Nadu, India. It is about from Periyar Bus Terminus, the centre of the city and constitutes the southwest part of the Madurai city. The town's landmark and fame is the huge monolithic rock hill that towers to a height of 1048 feet (319 m) and has a circumference of over It is a home to many ancient and historic monuments including Jain caves, some protected as India's national monuments. As of 2011, the town had a population of 48,810. It was incorporated into a new township in 2011, and the first local body election for the corporation was held on 18 October 2011.

Thiruparankundram and its landmark hill contains some of the earliest cave temples of Shaivism tradition in this region. The hill is sacred to the Hindus. They call it Skandamalai (lit. "hill of Skanda (Murugan, Kartikeya) – the god of war"). The western edge of the Thiruparankundram hill is home to ancient Jain beds with Tamil Brahmi inscriptions dated between 2nd century BCE and 2nd century CE. Uphill, the hills has several other Jain bas reliefs of Parsvanatha and Mahavira with inscriptions, dated to about the 8th to 9th century. The traditional name of these Jain beds is "Pancha Pandava" beds, reflecting the local historic belief that the beds were one of the places where the five brothers of the Mahabharata fame rested. The southern side of the hill has a natural spring called Saraswati Tirtha as well as another Thirupparankundram rock cut cave temple that some have proposed was an ancient Jain temple converted into Shaiva temple in the 7th century and expanded in the 13th century. Some Hindu pilgrims circumambulate around the entire Thiruparankundram hill given the many religious monuments and history here.

According to 2011 census, Thiruparankundram had a population of 48,810 with a sex ratio of 999 females for every 1,000 males, much above the national average of 929. A total of 4,736 were under the age of six, constituting 2,455 males and 2,281 females. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes accounted for 7.44% and 0.66% of the population, respectively. The average literacy of the town was 79.55%, compared to the national average of 72.99%. As per the religious census of 2011, Thiruparankundram had 91.79% Hindus, 3.62% Muslims, 4.46% Christians, 0.01% Sikhs, and 0.11% following other religions.

There is a bus stand with bus services connecting Thirupparangkundram with other parts of Madurai and adjacent villages. Passenger trains running between Madurai and Tirunelveli stop at Tirupparankundram railway station, which is from Madurai Junction. The nearest airport is Madurai Airport at Avaniyapuram which is from Thirupparankundram.

The temple of lord Muruga one of the oldest temples built in sixth century is here.