Kallazhagar Koil is situated 21 kms from Madurai. It is an important Vishnu temple at the foot of a wooded hill. The term 'Azhagu' in Tamil means beauty and true to its meaning, everything here is a thing of beauty and a joy forever.
In this Kallazhagar Koil, the main deity is Paramaswami and the itinerant idol is Kallazhagar. This beautiful idol is made of pure gold. Apart from this and another at Thiruvanathapuram, no other temple has an idol made of pure gold. The ablution water for this idol is brought from Noobura Gangai, which is a perennial waterfall 3 kms up on the hill. Its water contains copper and iron minerals.
The Vimanam of this temple is known as the 'Somaskanda Vimanam' i, e, tower over the sanctum and it is a unique one of its kind. The Kalyana Mandapam of Kallazhagar Koil contains sculptures that rival the one at Madurai. The images of Krishna, Rathi, Manmatha, Garuda Vahana, Trivikrama, Lakshmi and Varaha Avatar are genuine masterpieces in stone. The British wanted to shift the temple to one of the museums in England, but anyhow the attempt was failed.
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