Palani
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.
Etymology
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".
History
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.
