Suchindram Thanumalayan Temple

Suchindram, Kanyakumari District, Tamil Nadu Shaiva–Vaishnava tradition

Served from the stored corpus. Last scan Sep 28, 2026. Next scan Oct 28, 2026.

“Sthanu, Mal, and Ayan — Shiva, Vishnu, and Brahma — named together in one shrine.”
Editorial summary of the published name. Not an inscription.

A 2017 journal article describes a seven-storey gopuram.

Documented fact · Medium confidence · Secondary, 2017 · Rajagopuram

Conflicts with the eleven-storey description. Neither is promoted over the other.

Secondary journal article on the Suchindram temple, JETIR, 2017. · Source

A secondary study. It is cited for descriptions that can be checked against the PDF. It is not treated as an archival edition of the inscriptions.

Inscriptions are reported from the early medieval period onward. No text has been read into this corpus.

Unknown · Not established · Reported, not transcribed

Do not infer donors, dates, or building phases from unread inscriptions.

Secondary journal article on the Suchindram temple, JETIR, 2017. · Source

A secondary study. It is cited for descriptions that can be checked against the PDF. It is not treated as an archival edition of the inscriptions.

Lower buildings and a gateway occupy the foreground of the 2007 photograph.

Photographic evidence · High confidence · 2007 · Entrance buildings

The photograph dates their presence in 2007. It does not date their construction.

RajuSaravanan, “Thanumalayan Temple, Suchindram,” photograph, 18 March 2007, Wikimedia Commons. Public domain. · Source

The file page is the rights record for this public-domain photograph. The image shows the gopuram and entrance. It is not a measured survey.

The 1953 monograph is the standard study and has not been extracted.

Unknown · Not established · 1953

Naming the book is not the same as using it as evidence.

K. K. Pillai, The Suchindram Temple (Madras: University of Madras, 1953). Bibliographic reference only.

Standard monograph. Marked as not yet extracted so this corpus does not invent page-level citations from it.

The 2007 photograph shows a multi-storey sculpted stone gopuram with a row of finials.

Photographic evidence · High confidence · 2007 · Rajagopuram

Presence and general form are visible. Storey count is not read off this frame.

RajuSaravanan, “Thanumalayan Temple, Suchindram,” photograph, 18 March 2007, Wikimedia Commons. Public domain. · Source

The file page is the rights record for this public-domain photograph. The image shows the gopuram and entrance. It is not a measured survey.

The 2008 photograph shows the temple tank and a mandapa standing in the water.

Photographic evidence · High confidence · 2008 · Temple tank

The tank and mandapa are visible. This frame does not date the concrete edge.

Vishakrs, photograph of the Thanumalayan Temple pond, 7 September 2008, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. · Source

Shows the tank and the mandapa standing in the water. No changes were made to the file.

The 2021 photograph shows the gopuram and the tank mandapa in one view.

Photographic evidence · High confidence · 2021 · Temple tank

Places the tower and the tank in the same frame. It is not a measured plan.

Balurbala, photograph of Suchindram temple with its pond, 3 January 2021, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. · Source

Wide view of the gopuram and the tank together. No changes were made to the file.

The January 1989 photograph shows the eastern gopuram from the street, with a wooden temple car beside the compound.

Photographic evidence · High confidence · 1989 · Rajagopuram

Presence of the tower and the car is visible. Storey count is not read off this frame.

Ziegler175, photograph of the Suchindram temple and temple car, January 1989, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0. · Source

Shows the gopuram and a temple car from the street. It is not a measured survey.

The journal describes four groups, with the northern groups and southern groups carrying different counts of smaller pillars.

Documented fact · Medium confidence · Secondary, 2017 · Musical pillars

The internal counts conflict with round numbers in other guides. The conflict is preserved.

Secondary journal article on the Suchindram temple, JETIR, 2017. · Source

A secondary study. It is cited for descriptions that can be checked against the PDF. It is not treated as an archival edition of the inscriptions.

The journal describes the Hanuman as over 16 feet, in a posture facing the Rama shrine.

Documented fact · Medium confidence · Secondary, 2017 · Hanuman figure

A second height, recorded because it does not match every other guide.

Secondary journal article on the Suchindram temple, JETIR, 2017. · Source

A secondary study. It is cited for descriptions that can be checked against the PDF. It is not treated as an archival edition of the inscriptions.

The journal describes the temple as east-facing, with the gopuram over the outer gate and halls within the complex.

Documented fact · Medium confidence · Secondary, 2017 · Mandapa frontage

Used for orientation and the existence of halls. Not for dimensions.

Secondary journal article on the Suchindram temple, JETIR, 2017. · Source

A secondary study. It is cited for descriptions that can be checked against the PDF. It is not treated as an archival edition of the inscriptions.

Wikipedia describes a large Hanuman carved from one block of granite and gives a height of about 18 feet in one passage.

Documented fact · Medium confidence · Secondary · Hanuman figure

Height is not treated as settled.

“Thanumalayan Temple,” English Wikipedia, retrieved 27 September 2026. · Source

A compiled secondary article. Useful for locating claims and disagreements. Not a primary inscription or survey.

Wikipedia describes the eastern tower as eleven storeys and about 44 metres (144 feet).

Documented fact · Medium confidence · Secondary, current article · Rajagopuram

Kept as one published measurement, not as a survey.

“Thanumalayan Temple,” English Wikipedia, retrieved 27 September 2026. · Source

A compiled secondary article. Useful for locating claims and disagreements. Not a primary inscription or survey.

Wikipedia places four musical pillars, about 18 feet high, in the Alankara Mandapa.

Documented fact · Medium confidence · Secondary · Musical pillars

No interior photograph is stored.

“Thanumalayan Temple,” English Wikipedia, retrieved 27 September 2026. · Source

A compiled secondary article. Useful for locating claims and disagreements. Not a primary inscription or survey.

Approved interpretations

Do not collapse the tower measurement

The gopuram is photo-verified as a sculpted eastern tower. Its storey count and height remain in conflict between secondary sources. Until a measured drawing or a transcribed inscription is ingested, the diagram must not print one height as fact.

Human · High confidence · Approved for publication because it reports a conflict instead of resolving it.

Suggest a correction

Notes are held for review. They are not published automatically, and a model is not asked to accept them.