Velliangiri Sivan Temple — Attraction in Tamil Nadu

Very Good Divine Experience. But those who are above 50 years, shall be checked for their health condition before Climbing/trekking the Hills. Total 7 Hills to be climbed. Powerful Shiva Temple & Lingams are at the Top of 7th Hill. Sufficient qty of Food & Water should be taken during journey. Torch light is mandatory, it will be 100% dark after 6.30 Pm, nothing visible in dark. Everyone should experience the Power of God & Natural habitat of mountains. Appx 6 Hours required to reach (upwards) -the 7th Hill. It is less difficult while climbing but very difficult during downward journey (6 hours for downward journey). "Bamboo Stick" should be required for the entire journey to avoid slipping & skidding. We can have darshan of Temple Gods on the way completion of each mountain thro Ist Hill to 7th Hill. We can realize the Powerful Divine experience during the journey. Really remarkable. Thank you. IMPORTANCE :- The Velliangiri Mountains, (Tamil: வெள்ளியங்கிரி மலை) a part of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, are situated at the Western Ghats of Coimbatore district, Tamil Nadu. Known as the "Sapthagiri, 7 Hills (Tamil: சப்தகிரி, ஏழுமலை) - Seven Mountains", these mountains are held and revered on par with spiritually most powerful place on the planet - Mount Kailash, the legendary abode of Lord Shiva. On the top of the Velliangiri Mountains, Shiva is worshipped as Swayambhu, one who is self-created and in this form, he graces the devotees.

Story of Velliangiri :- As per the Kachiappar Perur Purana, Lord Shiva in the hill of Kailayam (Mount Kailash), was worshipped by Lord Vishnu-Komuni. The gracious Lord Shiva appeared before him and asked, "What is your wish?" "My eyes have not seen your dance of grace (Aananda Thaandava). So I wish to see that, said Vishnu. Lord Shiva said: "The two sages Patanjali and Vyaghrapada have performed some of their virtues, and I showed them my dance in Vellinangiri.(Om Nama Shivaya)

In the same way, Lord Vishnu obeyed the command of the Lord Shiva, wearing the Rudraksham, Lord Vishnu went to the southwest of Velliangiri hills and worshipped Lord Shiva.

As per a legend, Vayu Bhaghvan and Adiseshan had a dispute to find out who is superior, to prove the superiority adiseshan encircled the Kailasam, Vayu tried to remove this encircle by creating santamarutham (Twister). Because of the santamarutham, 8 kodumudigal (parts) fell from kailasam into 8 different places which are Thirugonamalai (Trincomalee), Thirukalahasti, Thiruchiramalai, Thiruenkoimalai, Velliangiri Mountains at Tamil Nadu, Neerthagiri, Ratnagiri, and Swethagiri or Thirupangeeli.

The Shiva Temple:- Of all the mountain shrines in Tamil Nadu, the Shiva temple of Velliangiri in the western boundary is considered to be the most famous. Known as Rajathagiri, Velliangiri, Dakshin Kailash or Bhoolok Kailash, this sacred spot, according to legend, is where Shiva performed his cosmic dance on the request of his consort Umadevi. The five faces of Lord Shiva, Brahma, Vishnu, Rudra, Maheshwara and Sadasiva, are seen as Panchagiri and as Panchalingas pertaining to the panchabhutas, in Velliangiri. The hill ranges have abundant natural resources, which include rare herbs.

Lord Panchalingesa and his Consort Manonmani amman alias Parvathi, bestow their grace on the devotees who throng here annually between February and May. There is a plan to provide shelters and temporary toilets near Andisunnai for the devotees during the season.

Experience:- The season that are suitable for trekking this mountain is between mid Feb to mid May (in Tamil months maasi, panguni and chitirai), Entry is restricted by the forest department in the other months. Although entry is said to be given by forest department on new moon day and full moon day upon prior request. We have to be careful about Elephants near Bamboo Trees and other animals.

Note: Above content is copied from Wikipedia to get the best essence &...

To pray Velliangiri Andavar in person, you need to trek 7 hills with different terrains which will test your physical and mental strength. If you are able to walk up and down 100 times between ground floor and first floor in your house, consider yourself fit for trekking the first hill. It's that hard really.

Velliangiri hills will be open for trekking from mid of February till May. Children and Women aged from 10 to 60 are not allowed to trek. They also request persons with diabetes, high blood pressure, heart and lungs disease, obese persons not to trek. In 2024, till this Mar 15, there has been 2 deaths reported while trekking the hills. Only if you feel fit enough, you can decide visiting Velliangiri Andavar Shrine.

For everyone who trek there, the ultimate saviour will be the bamboo sticks which they sell for Rs.30. The support given by the bamboo sticks will be equal to the support given by our parents in life. Without those bamboo sticks, I couldn't even imagine finishing the trek. If you are not willing to buy it for Rs.30, you can see lot of sticks in first hill while you start trekking, which were put by those who finished the trek already and you can use those.

Plastics are banned in the hills and they will check out bags thoroughly for banned plastics. For plastic water bottles, we need to pay Rs.20 as deposit and you can get it back after you finish the trek, giving back the bottles.

Velliangiri trekking distance is 6 Kms and is less when compared to 7 Kms Sathuragiri trekking but the nature of terrains makes Velliangiri the No.1 hardest trek in Tamilnadu. I suggest you to have atleast 2 bottles of water. There are few water streams on the way and you can refill there. I suggest to have Electral dissolved water which can avoid muscle cramps while trekking. There are many shops along the way which sell buttermilk, lemon juice etc. There are no restrooms available while trekking, so be prepared.

After security check, your trekking will officially start. First hill will be full of steps and harder to trek and this ends with Vellai Pillaiyar Temple. Second and third hills will not be that much hard like first hill, but they also have steps almost. When compared to first 3 hills, next 3 hills will be little bit easier with Rocky and dusty terrains with almost no trees to rest.

You can see like rocks with white colour sand particles and hence they call it as Thiruneer Malai. In sixth hill, there's a water stream and all your tiredness will vanish when you bath there and pray the Sivalingam inside the water stream.

The seventh hill will be as hard as the first hill which who have to climb steeply. Once you climb the top, you can see the beautiful Velliangiri Andavar who blesses us as Suyambu Lingam.

If climbing uphill is harder, then downhill will be double harder since you will be already super tired already. Uphill will test your energy and downhill will test your muscle strength and fitness. It took totally 8 hours for us to finish the trekking. 4 hours to climb uphill and 4 hours for downhill.

Don't forget to bring water, energy giving fruits like orange, grapes which have fluids, electral powder to avoid cramps, a pair of shoes with good grip if you are not used to walk on bare foot. After 3rd hill, it will be completely open space and to avoid yourself from scorching sun, avoid climbing in daytime, and if in daytime use sunscreen. Avoid littering, feeding monkeys and strictly avoid usage of fire.

At the foothills there is Annadhanam arranged by Chennai Silks. We ate there and felt they are truly doing a great job by offering food wholeheartedly and not for name sake. It tasted great. Hearty thanks for their noble...

Well... We were 10 people and decided to do Velliangiri trip at least this year (Last year we missed it). Initial plan was to go by our car, but considering the trekking hours we boarded a train (Kovai Express - 6.10am) and reached Coimbatore around 2pm. After our lunch, we reached Gandhi Puram bus stand and reached Poondi (base station) in one hour. It is advisable to board at Gandhi Puram considering the travel hours, the bus frequency is high, so you will get seats easily... After the prayers at the base station, there is a check point at the initial stage itself, plastic covers are not allowed, even they will remove the water bottle covers and any eatables like Biscuits, peanuts will be removed from the cover and they will pack it in the news paper and will give it to you.. very strict officers but there are lot of shops available at the hills who sells everything with plastic covers (No Comments!).

We started our trekking around 5.30 pm, I knew that it would be difficult to climb but it was challenging too! I have climbed Sathuragiri and Paravathamalai, compare to this place they're very easy. I stopped and decided to go back to the base within 30 minutes as it was only stairs to climb, but one of my friend was motivating me and helped me to reach the first two hills (company is important). We stopped at many times and It took one hour to reach the first hill, in some places we couldn't realize where we were, since it was dark. Only the fifth and sixth hills were gentle to walk, we noticed a bison at a10 feet distance (really gigantic), people were happy to see that and flashing their on it (it was in a good mood I guess). We reached the sixth hill by 10.30pm, we didn't take shower as it was freezing, we started to climb the final and toughest one! We were climbing almost at the edge of the hill and slippery. Finally we reached the destination around 11pm!!! We finished our prayers and they were serving Pongal as prasadam (it took some time to find whether it was Pongal or Sambar rice)... No water resources available at the seventh hill, so better to fill some water from the falls at the sixth hill.

We decided to leave around 11.30pm, while returning we noticed that the seventh hill was even more riskier compare to climb. The sand was really smooth, so it was very much slippery. Somehow we managed to reach halfway through the seventh hill and wanted to take a nap for couple of hours. Some of us were sleeping, but few cannot, including me.. it was freezing and mist everywhere. Around 1am we started to walk again, some of my friends wanted to take rest at the sixth hill, but me and one my friend didn't want to stop, so we decided to continue and we managed to reach the second hill with just one halt . I was exhausted and really wanted to take a nap, thankfully it was not too cold, so I took a 30 minutes nap and started walking again. Finally, reached the base around 7.30am...

after refreshments, we were served free food by the people. Hot and Yummy, we tried from different people who were serving food...

After the breakfast, we reached Isha for bath..

We purposefully decided the night trekking. Pros: No animals (especially monkeys) Will not be tired so quickly Can avoid the Sun

Cons: No visibility (cannot climb without torch light) No chance to see nature beauty/dam from the top of the hill

Ladies, age between 10 and 50 are not allowed... There are lot of shops available at the hill but over charged by twice/thrice (500 ml water bottle was Rs.50). If you decide to stay in the night, you surely need bedsheets.

Overall, it was a wonderful experience.. if you ask me if I go ever, well,...