ABOUT

Vettuvan Koil in Kalugumalai, a panchayat town in Thoothukudi district in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu, is dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva. Constructed in the Pandyan Architecture and rock cut architecture, the unfinished temple is believed to have been built during the 8th century by Pandyas. The rock-cut architecture exemplary of early Pandyan Art. The other portions of Kalugumalai houses the 8th century Kalugumalai Jain Beds and Kalugasalamoorthy Temple, a Murugan temple.Vettuvan Koil is the only one of the monolithic Pandya Temple that still survive[ As per local legend, a rivalry between a father and son resulted in son finishing the sculpture first at the lower hills, while the father was slow to respond. In his angst, the father killed the son and thus the shrine remains unfinished.The temple is maintained and administered by Department of Archaeology of the Government of Tamil Nadu as a protected monument.