Thirumayam Fort and Temples

A 17th-century fort enclosing ancient rock-cut Vishnu and Shiva temples, 15 km from Pudukkottai

Thirumayam, about 15 km west of Pudukkottai, has a compact but rewarding combination of fort and temples on a single rocky hill. The fort was constructed in the late 17th century by the Ramanathapuram Sethupathis and later occupied by various powers including the British. Its walls of rammed earth and brick enclose a large area at the top of the outcrop, with bastions and gates in reasonable preservation.

More interesting are the two cave temples at the base of the rock, predating the fort by several centuries. The Sathyamurthi Perumal Temple is a Vishnu shrine with carved figures of Vishnu and his consorts in a dramatic Pallava-period style. Nearby, the Sathyagirisvarar Temple is a Shiva shrine of similar age. Both temples are still active places of worship with daily puja performed. The combination of medieval fort, ancient cave shrines, and the views from the fort walls over the flat Pudukkottai plains makes Thirumayam one of the best half-day excursions from town.

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A story
Thirumayam Fort was built in 1687 by the Sethupathi king Raghunatha Thevar on a rocky outcrop that already had a Vishnu cave temple carved into it centuries earlier. The result is one of the stranger architectural collisions in Tamil Nadu: a Mughal-influenced mud-and-brick fort wrapped around an ancient rock-cut shrine. The fort's most interesting feature is the cannon foundry — one of the few surviving examples in south India — where the Sethupathis cast their own artillery.