The South region of India is famous for shining beaches, enchanting rivers, amazing backwaters, lagoons, exotic wildlife, mountains etc. apart from this is the only place where you can enjoy the divine surroundings in the lush green lap of nature.
The holy places of south India are superbly designed and welcoming you with its arms stretched. You can see these well designed pilgrimage sites at every corner of this region. The tranquility and architecture of these legendary and religious sites are really surprising; these are the perfect examples of creative ideas, artistry and craftsmanship.
Most of the southern temples are designed with Dravidian and Vesala styles of architecture.most of the temples are made up of rectangular, square, star shaped or octagonal shape having delicate as well as exquisite carving patterns.
In this zone almost each region consist one major holy place, several towns also known as the temple town because of the presence of the temples they are home to.
The richest and the most visited pilgrimage site of south is Tirumala Venkateshwara Temple popularly known as ”the temple of seven hills. The temple deity is the Lord Vishnu in the form of Lord Venkateshwara. An annual festival known as Brahmotsavam also celebrates every year at Tirumala Venkateshwara Temple.
Rameshwaram Temple Also known as Ramanathaswamy temple and located in Tamil Nadu. it is one of the 12 Jyotirlingams and the holy ‘Char Dhams.’
Rameswaram is a small island visited by a large number of devotees every day. It is known for its architectural beauty pillars and carvings.
Lingaraj Temple –
Lingaraj Temple is located in Bhubaneswar (also known as Temple City) in Orissa. This oldest and biggest temple is devoted to Lord Harihara. The notable feature of this temple is that it has a height of around 180 feet.
Sabarimala Temple – This temple is located on the hill of Kerala and circumambient with a chain of mountains and heavy forest.
This hindu temple is devoted to Lord Ayyappa. Around 40 – 50 million of pilgrims visited this temple every year.
Meenakshi Amman Temple – located on the bank of Vaigai River, Madurai the state of Tamil Nadu.
This temple is dedicated to Meenakshi Amman (Shiva and Parvati) and in the top 30 nominees of World’s New Seven Wonders .the temple is a great example of marvelous architecture. A festival name Meenakshi Thirukalyanam is celebrated every year in this temple.
Gomateshwara Temple– A great centre for Jain culture popularly known for its 17 meter high
colossal statue of Shri Gomateshwara also known as Lord Bahubali situated at Shravanabelagola. Apart from this statue, there are several Jain temples and monasteries in Sravanabelagola.
Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple – situated in a beautiful tiny village Sri Rangam(the temple village) of Tamil Nadu.
It is the most functioning temple in India.
Thillai Nataraja Temple – Thillai Nataraja Temple is situated at Chidambaram in Tamil Nadu,
this temple is dedicated to Lord Nataraja (The God of Dance) a form of Lord Shiva. This temple is considered as the ‘Home of Lord Shiva’ on the earth.
ISKCON Temple– ISKCON temple is located at Hyderabad and dedicated to Lord Krishna.
This temple is popularly known as Shri Shri Madana Mohana(ISCKON) Temple. In south India this temple is the base of ISKCON.
Chamundeswari Temple – this temple is nestled at the Chamundi Hills (3000 feet high) of Karnataka and dedicated to Maa Shakti.
The amazing thing is that the doors of this temple are made up of silver and gold.
Mahabalipuram the historic city of South is also famous for its historical temples like Temples of Cave, Arjuna’s Penance, Shore Temples, Krishna Mandapa and sculpted relief, Monolithic Rathas, and structural temples. Kanchipuram, also known as “City of Temples” some well renewed temples are Kamakshi Amman Temple, Devarajaswami Temple, Vaikuntha Perumal Temple, Kailasanatha temple etc.
Apart from all these temples and monasteries, south India is blessed with several famous churches; one of famous church is “The Santa Cruz Basilica” in Kerala built by the Portuguese.
There are a number of South Indian holy places to visit. So come and enjoy a spiritual and religious tour of South India.
