Place · rock-cut Hanuman temple · India
Anjaneya, Namakkal
Also known as Anjaneya, Anjaneya (colossal open, Anjaneya (colossal open-air Hanuman), Namakkal, Namakkal Anjaneya, air Hanuman)
The Anjaneya (Hanuman) temple at Namakkal in Namakkal district, Tamil Nadu, 55 kilometres from Salem — a 7-century Pallava-Pandya rock-cut temple carrying an 18-foot standing monolithic Hanuman image in granite, facing the Lakshmi Narasimha temple on the opposite side of the same rock. The two temples form a rock-cut pair facing each other across the Namakkal Rock. The Anjaneya image is one of the tallest standing monolithic Hanuman images in India, carved from the natural rock without a roof — Hanuman is said to require 'the sky as his roof' (vanaveedu, 'forest home'). The deity is paired with the Narasimha deity on the opposite rock face in a continuous darshan line. The temple's foundation is 7-century Adhiyaman chieftains and later Pandyas; the current structure retains most of the original rock-cut form. ASI protection since 1927.
- Function
- Sacred site & pilgrimage
- Confidence
- Established / referenced
- Location
- 11.219, 78.166
Connections (1)
- Site adjacencyNamakkal Narasimha Temple
Namakkal's fort-rock carries an eighteen-foot open-air Anjaneya facing a Pallava cave temple cut into the base, where Narasimha is carved in one of the finest panels of its period. Hanumān stands uncovered because tradition says he is waiting on Rāma, and no roof has ever been put over him. The cave temple below carries a Varāha panel as well, and the two together are among the earliest surviving Vaishnava rock-cut sculpture in the Tamil country.
Sources
Wikipedia, “Hanuman”. Archaeological Survey of India and State Archaeology monument records, and the standard regional literature.
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