Though I have travelled to many hill stations and tourist spots before nothing has tempted me to write about them because everybody knows many things about them already. Kolli Malai is a unique place less travelled and explored and it gave me new experiences thats why it made me to write about it.
Historical References
The Kolli hills are featured in several works of classical Tamil literature such as Silappathigaram, Manimekalai, Purananuru and Ainkurnuru. The region was ruled by Valvil Ori around 200 A.D., who is praised as one of the seven great philanthropists of ancient Tamil Nadu. His valor and marksmanship are sung by several poets, and his exploits are a popular part of folklore. Ori is said to have killed a lion, bear, deer and a boar with a single arrow.
The hills are said to be guarded by Kollipavai or (ettu kai amman), the local deity. According to legend, the sages chose Kolli hills when they were looking for a peaceful place to do their penance. However, the demons invaded the hills to disrupt the penance when the sages began their rituals. The sages prayed to Kollipavai, who according to the myth, chased away the demons with her enchanting smile. The Kollipavai is still worshipped by the people here and her smile is revered. The mountains have several mythological legends associated with them, and often come across as an eerie place in contemporary tales due to the unexplored and less traveled terrain.
Travel Experience
Our Trip travel time was like this
Friday night 10 PM bus from Chennai to salem.
Reached salem by Saturday morning 6.15 AM
From Salem to Namakkal another 1.30 hours of travel.
Then From Namakkal to kolli malai 3 hrs travel in government bus.
The last bus stop in kolli malai is Arapaleeswarar Koil stop. We reached there by saturday 12 PM noon.
So it is recommended to take travels vehicle from namakkal to go to kolli hills that would be much comfortable and less time consuming. Transportation in kolli hills is the big problem. If we have a bike or a travels vehicle we can go to most of the places there with the help of a local area person with in a day or two. If we dont have our own transportation its difficult to travel to different places on top of the hills.
Main Attractions in Kolli Malai are
1. Arapaleeswarar Kovil
2. Agayagangai water falls
3. Ettukai amman kovil or Kolli Pavai Kovil
Other places are
9 th century Shivan temple, Korakkar Kugai . . .and list of places shown in picture below
These locations are less travelled in kolli hills because only the local hill dwellers know where those places are. Seeing all these places in the list needs little search on the hills.
Our Stay at Kolli Hills
Places we visited are Arapaleeswarar Kovil, Agayagangai Water falls . . .
As I have told above we reached the top of kolli hills near arapaleeswarar temple by saturday noon 1 PM. After reaching there the first search was for the place were we are going to stay that night. In kolli malai there is a place called Semmedu where there were few places for lodging apart from that the other place is the Youth Hostel near the Sivan temple where we stayed that night. The price of a room there for one day is Rs 110/- per head. Seven person can stay in a single room, the room wll actually be like a hall with seven beds in it. We were 5 members so our lodging cost was 550 Rs. Apart from these two places there is no other place in hills where you could stay. After we got the room to stay we dumped all our bags in the room and started our journey towards the falls.
The way to the water falls has approx. 1000 steps down the mountain starting from near the Arapaleeswarar temple. The steps were very steep at certain places, on the way down to the falls there is view point which gives a nice scenary for your camera. As we continue down we were able to hear the flow of water gradually even before we reached the falls. We finally reached the falls took a nice bath and climbed up to the temple. We visited the Arapaleeswarar temple and settled in our rooms by evening 6.30 PM
That evening it started to rain . . .The power system in kolli malai is so poor that if it rains they cut the electricity supply . . .There was no power so we were jus hanging on inside the dark room waiting for the rain to stop so that we can go and get some food for dinner but rain didnt stop. Before coming to the room we ordered for food in the canteen there . . .So we have to go and collect it the time was around 8 PM everybody were hungry we dont know what to do . . . We had a umbrella with us so we thought of getting a torch light from the room maintenance person and go to the canteen to collect our food . . .We got the torch and started our walk towards the canteen its near the shivan temple and our hostel is some 1 km distance from that place. The path way was very beautiful in the morning . . .but in the night accompanied by rain, lightning and strong wind it was terrific and thrilling. Me and one of my friend walked to some distance throught the path way holding the torch there were no street lights nothing it was full dark only two feet ahead of us could be seen. We somehow managed and walked for some distance . . . then came the turning point after some distance the two sides of the path was just a valley suddenly a very heavy thunder and lightning flashed the entire surrounding jus flashed before eyes with a black and white effect and the entire path way was silverish in colour when the lightning flashed. We were shocked by that sight so we stopped proceeding further and returned back to room. Later one of our neighbour having a car were crossing us so we got into the car and went to that canteen and collected the food. Since there was no power we had a candle light dinner totally different eperience. Then somehow manged to get some sleep. Next morning again we planned to go down to the falls to take photographs since it rained the previous night water was gushing out through many places on the mountain. The falls was very violent such nobody could go near it and take bath. So we stood some distance away and took photographs and returned back.
If it rains in kolli malai then the force and amount of water in the falls will be very violent and huge . . . in that case there is another small falls just a few steps down besides the temple. we can take a quick bath there. So we took bath in there. That was also superb.
Then we took the bus down to namakkal and visited the namakkal anjaneyar temple and yoga narasimhar temple. Finally the namakkal fort. Then took the same route back to chennai.
Thats a short story of our trip . . .
You can see the slide show of pictures taken by us below . . .
Click on the picture to view the album in picasa web albums.
Historical References
The Kolli hills are featured in several works of classical Tamil literature such as Silappathigaram, Manimekalai, Purananuru and Ainkurnuru. The region was ruled by Valvil Ori around 200 A.D., who is praised as one of the seven great philanthropists of ancient Tamil Nadu. His valor and marksmanship are sung by several poets, and his exploits are a popular part of folklore. Ori is said to have killed a lion, bear, deer and a boar with a single arrow.
The hills are said to be guarded by Kollipavai or (ettu kai amman), the local deity. According to legend, the sages chose Kolli hills when they were looking for a peaceful place to do their penance. However, the demons invaded the hills to disrupt the penance when the sages began their rituals. The sages prayed to Kollipavai, who according to the myth, chased away the demons with her enchanting smile. The Kollipavai is still worshipped by the people here and her smile is revered. The mountains have several mythological legends associated with them, and often come across as an eerie place in contemporary tales due to the unexplored and less traveled terrain.
Travel Experience
Our Trip travel time was like this
Friday night 10 PM bus from Chennai to salem.
Reached salem by Saturday morning 6.15 AM
From Salem to Namakkal another 1.30 hours of travel.
Then From Namakkal to kolli malai 3 hrs travel in government bus.
The last bus stop in kolli malai is Arapaleeswarar Koil stop. We reached there by saturday 12 PM noon.
So it is recommended to take travels vehicle from namakkal to go to kolli hills that would be much comfortable and less time consuming. Transportation in kolli hills is the big problem. If we have a bike or a travels vehicle we can go to most of the places there with the help of a local area person with in a day or two. If we dont have our own transportation its difficult to travel to different places on top of the hills.
Main Attractions in Kolli Malai are
1. Arapaleeswarar Kovil
2. Agayagangai water falls
3. Ettukai amman kovil or Kolli Pavai Kovil
Other places are
9 th century Shivan temple, Korakkar Kugai . . .and list of places shown in picture below
These locations are less travelled in kolli hills because only the local hill dwellers know where those places are. Seeing all these places in the list needs little search on the hills.
Our Stay at Kolli Hills
Places we visited are Arapaleeswarar Kovil, Agayagangai Water falls . . .
As I have told above we reached the top of kolli hills near arapaleeswarar temple by saturday noon 1 PM. After reaching there the first search was for the place were we are going to stay that night. In kolli malai there is a place called Semmedu where there were few places for lodging apart from that the other place is the Youth Hostel near the Sivan temple where we stayed that night. The price of a room there for one day is Rs 110/- per head. Seven person can stay in a single room, the room wll actually be like a hall with seven beds in it. We were 5 members so our lodging cost was 550 Rs. Apart from these two places there is no other place in hills where you could stay. After we got the room to stay we dumped all our bags in the room and started our journey towards the falls.
The way to the water falls has approx. 1000 steps down the mountain starting from near the Arapaleeswarar temple. The steps were very steep at certain places, on the way down to the falls there is view point which gives a nice scenary for your camera. As we continue down we were able to hear the flow of water gradually even before we reached the falls. We finally reached the falls took a nice bath and climbed up to the temple. We visited the Arapaleeswarar temple and settled in our rooms by evening 6.30 PM
That evening it started to rain . . .The power system in kolli malai is so poor that if it rains they cut the electricity supply . . .There was no power so we were jus hanging on inside the dark room waiting for the rain to stop so that we can go and get some food for dinner but rain didnt stop. Before coming to the room we ordered for food in the canteen there . . .So we have to go and collect it the time was around 8 PM everybody were hungry we dont know what to do . . . We had a umbrella with us so we thought of getting a torch light from the room maintenance person and go to the canteen to collect our food . . .We got the torch and started our walk towards the canteen its near the shivan temple and our hostel is some 1 km distance from that place. The path way was very beautiful in the morning . . .but in the night accompanied by rain, lightning and strong wind it was terrific and thrilling. Me and one of my friend walked to some distance throught the path way holding the torch there were no street lights nothing it was full dark only two feet ahead of us could be seen. We somehow managed and walked for some distance . . . then came the turning point after some distance the two sides of the path was just a valley suddenly a very heavy thunder and lightning flashed the entire surrounding jus flashed before eyes with a black and white effect and the entire path way was silverish in colour when the lightning flashed. We were shocked by that sight so we stopped proceeding further and returned back to room. Later one of our neighbour having a car were crossing us so we got into the car and went to that canteen and collected the food. Since there was no power we had a candle light dinner totally different eperience. Then somehow manged to get some sleep. Next morning again we planned to go down to the falls to take photographs since it rained the previous night water was gushing out through many places on the mountain. The falls was very violent such nobody could go near it and take bath. So we stood some distance away and took photographs and returned back.
If it rains in kolli malai then the force and amount of water in the falls will be very violent and huge . . . in that case there is another small falls just a few steps down besides the temple. we can take a quick bath there. So we took bath in there. That was also superb.
Then we took the bus down to namakkal and visited the namakkal anjaneyar temple and yoga narasimhar temple. Finally the namakkal fort. Then took the same route back to chennai.
Thats a short story of our trip . . .
You can see the slide show of pictures taken by us below . . .
Click on the picture to view the album in picasa web albums.
