Vettuvan Koil, Kalugumalai, Thoothukudi - Legends
As per
local legend, there was a rivalry between a father and son sculptors on who
would attain the best specimen. The son started to work on the lower rock for
the Murugan shrine, while the father started working uphill. The son claimed
that the father would never finish the shrine, which infuriated the father to
kill the son. It is believed that the son was able to finish the Murugan temple
at the foothills, but the father's work on this temple was incomplete.
Another
variant of the legend states that the father wanted his son to take time to
learn the tricks to start his work. Foregoing the orders of the father, the son
started chiseling in the inner chamber. Hearing the sound and raged by the
disobedience, the father killed the son. There two literal Tamil meanings
to Vettuvan Koil, one of which means "Heaven of sculptors",
while the other means the temple of slayer.
