Palani (or Pazhani) is a town and a municipality in Dindigul district, Tamil Nadu, located about 100 km north-west of Madurai and 100 km South-east of Coimbatore and 60 km west of Dindigul. The Palani Murugan Temple dedicated to Hindu war God Kartikeya is situated on a hill overlooking the town. The temple is visited by more than 7 million pilgrims each year. As of 2011, the town had a population of 70,467.
The town derives its name from the compounding of two Tamil words pazham meaning fruit and nee meaning you, a reference to poetess Avvaiyar's song praising Lord Muruga which forms part of the legend of the Palani Murugan temple. Palani is pronounced using the retroflex approximant ɻ (ழ) and is thus also spelt using the 'zh' digraph as "Pazhani".
References exist to the place in ancient Tamil devotional texts. According to Hindu mythology, Sage Narada once visited the celestial court of Lord Shiva at Mount Kailash to present to Him a fruit, the gyana-pazham (literally, the fruit of knowledge), that held in it the elixir of wisdom. Upon Lord Shiva expressing his intention of dividing the fruit between his two sons, Ganesha and Karthikeya, the sage counselled against cutting it. He decided to award it to whomever of his two sons first circled the world thrice. Accepting the challenge, Lord Karthikeya started his journey around the globe on his mount peacock. However, Ganesha, who surmised that the world was no more than his parents Shiva and Shakti combined, circumambulated them. Pleased with their son's discernment, Lord Shiva awarded the fruit to Lord Ganesha. When Kartikeya returned, he was furious to learn that his efforts had been in vain. He left Kailash and took up his abode in Palani hills in South India. It is believed that Karthikeya felt the need to get matured from boyhood and hence chose to remain as a hermit and discarded all his robes and ornaments. He went into meditation to know about himself.
Palani is a state assembly constituency in Tamil Nadu.
Palani was a Lok Sabha constituency in Tamil Nadu. In 2009, after delimitation and redistricting exercise of 2008, Palani constituency was abolished and has been become a part of Dindigul (Lok Sabha constituency) and Karur (Lok Sabha constituency)
Palani Lok Sabha constituency is composed of the following assembly segments:
I'm counting up the tolls
That I have paid for living my life
I'm patchin up the holes
Being gouged by this mass condemnation
But I won't be responsible for the things they've said and done
And I won't be responsible for any battles lost or won
Every person in this world can drop dead except for you
Every person in this world is on their side but you
And wherever you may go
I will go
I've come in from the cold
And I'm so glad that I've found my home
I'm keepin all I hold
It's not often that you get the things you've asked for
But you can't be responsible for the things they'll take away
I won't be opposable
Don't want to fight for every day
The questions you ask me have answers
Plain and clear
I will go and leave forever on the day
They find the boy who loves you half as much as I do
And until that day I will remain and never go away
But I can't be responsible for all the things they've done to you
They won't be held accountable and there's nothing you can do
They depend on the truth
Every person in this world can drop dead except for you
Every person in this world is on their side but you
And wherever you may go