Kottukkal Cave Temple, also known as Kaltrikkovil in Malayalam, is an existing example of

rock cut architecture Rock-cut architecture is the creation of structures, buildings, and sculptures by excavating solid rock where it naturally occurs. Intensely laborious when using ancient tools and methods, rock-cut architecture was presumably combined with quarry ...

, built between 6th and 8th centuries CE. It is situated in the village of

Kottukkal Kottukkal is a village in Kollam district of Kerala, India. The historical importance of the village is linked to Kottukal cave temple, built before 800 CE. The village comes under ''Ittiva panchayath'' and it is the most prominent town in thi ...

, near

Anchal Anchal is one of the fastest developing town located in the centre of Kollam district in Kerala, India. Etymology There are a number of different legends about the origin of the name Anchal. One legend is that there used to be an "Anchalappi ...

Kollam district Kollam district (), (formerly Quilon district) is one of 14 List of districts in Kerala, districts of the state of Kerala, India. The district has a cross-section of Kerala's natural attributes; it is endowed with a long coastline, a major Lac ...

, Kerala, India. The name Kottukkal (which means Kothiya Kallu- carved rock) is a reference to rock cut shrine. There are two caves of unequal size, both facing the east with the sculpture of the main deity Ganapathy in between. The smaller cave has an idol of

Hanuman Hanuman (; sa, हनुमान, ), also called Anjaneya (), is a Hindu god and a divine '' vanara'' companion of the god Rama. Hanuman is one of the central characters of the Hindu epic ''Ramayana''. He is an ardent devotee of Rama and on ...

and the larger one has a monolithic

Nandi (bull) Nandi ( sa, नन्दि), also known as Nandikeshwara or Nandideva, is the bull vahana of the Hindu god Shiva. He is also the guardian deity of Kailash, the abode of Shiva. Almost all Shiva temples display stone-images of a seated Nandi ...

in it. Lord Shiva is also a deity in the temple in the form of a

Shiva Ling A lingam ( sa, लिङ्ग , lit. "sign, symbol or mark"), sometimes referred to as linga or Shiva linga, is an abstract or aniconic representation of the Hindu god Shiva in Shaivism. It is typically the primary ''murti'' or devotional i ...

. According to local traditions, the big rock was brought to the area by the

incarnation Incarnation literally means ''embodied in flesh'' or ''taking on flesh''. It refers to the conception and the embodiment of a deity or spirit in some earthly form or the appearance of a god as a human. If capitalized, it is the union of divinit ...

s of

Shiva Shiva (; sa, शिव, lit=The Auspicious One, Śiva ), also known as Mahadeva (; ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐ, or Hara, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions within Hindu ...

including Nandi to the area, and another small rock near to it called 'chummaadu para' is believed to be the support to relieve the pain when the bigger hard rock kept in head. Historians read its origin back to the 7th century AD when ' Nedila Paranthaka Nedumchadayan' who ruled

Chadayamangalam Chadayamangalam is a village located in Kollam district of Kerala state, India. It is located along the Ithikkara river and the MC road that passes across the major urban locations of Kerala. It acts as centre for Chadayamangalam block panch ...

the nearby place, made the rock cut temple. It is now situated in the centre of a large extent of paddy fields and daily rituals are done under Travancore Devaswom Board. The calmness and tranquility of the area attracts the travellers, and one can reach the spot travelling 45 kilometers from Kollam.

Architecture

The temple is made by carving out a gigantic piece of rock. This architectural is situated in the middle of paddy field and from a distance gives impression of sleeping elephant. There are two 10 feet long and 8 feet wide rooms cut into the rocks and covered by a single rock overhead. The temple have

Shiva linga A lingam ( sa, लिङ्ग , lit. "sign, symbol or mark"), sometimes referred to as linga or Shiva linga, is an abstract or aniconic representation of the Hindu god Shiva in Shaivism. It is typically the primary ''murti'' or devotional im ...

flanked by Nandi and Sri

is believed to belong to the period of

Pallava dynasty The Pallava dynasty existed from 275 CE to 897 CE, ruling a significant portion of the Deccan, also known as Tondaimandalam. The dynasty rose to prominence after the downfall of the Satavahana dynasty, with whom they had formerly served as f ...

(8th century BC) and contemporaneous with the

Shore Temple The Shore Temple (c. 725 AD) is a complex of temples and shrines that overlooks the shore of the Bay of Bengal. It is located in Mahabalipuram, about south of Chennai in Tamil Nadu, India. It is a structural temple, built with blocks of gran ...

Mahabalipuram Mamallapuram, also known as Mahabalipuram, is a town in Chengalpattu district in the southeastern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, best known for the UNESCO World Heritage Site of 7th- and 8th-century Hindu Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram. It is o ...

near

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

Access

From

Thiruvananthapuram Thiruvananthapuram (; ), also known by its former name Trivandrum (), is the capital of the Indian state of Kerala. It is the most populous city in Kerala with a population of 957,730 as of 2011. The encompassing urban agglomeration populati ...

, 1) the MC Road at Ayoor jn turn right, the road leading to Anchal,turn right at Anchal Kurishmoodu jn then Go through Kadakkal road via kottukal jn.or 2) In MC road Manjappara which from

Ayoor Ayoor is a Town in Edamulakkal Panchayath of Punalur Taluk, Kollam district, Kerala state, India. Ayoor is located on the M C Road or state highway One. Jadayu Nature Park, Chadayamangalam is only 3.5 km away from ayoor. 32 km east of K ...

bridge then to the temple. From Kollam, local roads lead to

first and at Ayoor jn turn to Anchal road and turn right at Anchal Kurshinmoodu jn and turn right to Kadakkal road via Kottukal jn. The best and widest road is MC road -Ayoor Anchal road -Anchal Kadakkal road

References

External links

7th-century establishments in India Tourist attractions in Kollam district Hindu temples in Kollam district Hindu cave temples in India Caves of Kerala 7th-century Hindu temples {{Kerala-hindu-temple-stub