Tiruchendur

The complex runs about 299 feet north to south and 213 feet east to west, with a nine-tiered gopuram rising some 157 feet. The main entrance is on the south, and two prakarams, the enclosed courtyards a visitor circles, are bordered by yalis, the carved lion-like figures that guard South Indian temple architecture.

In the sanctum Murugan is shown as a young ascetic rather than a warrior, carved in granite, which is worth sitting with: this is the temple of the victory, and the image at its centre is a slight, still figure.

About a hundred metres to the south is the Nali Kinaru, a well whose water stays sweet despite the sea. Pilgrims draw from it as part of the visit.

The sthala puranam, the temple's own account of itself, is the end of a war. Three asura brothers had been granted near-invulnerability and had made the heavens unlivable. Murugan met them in battle, and after Tarakasura and Simhamukha had fallen, faced Surapadman himself on this shore.

In the telling, Surapadman took the form of a vast mango tree, and the vel, the spear Murugan carries, given by Shiva and understood as an embodiment of Shakti's power, split the tree in two. The halves did not die. One became the peacock that Murugan rides and the other the rooster on his banner, so that the defeated adversary ends the story carrying and announcing him.

That turn is the whole moral weight of the story, and it is why Surasamharam is enacted rather than merely narrated.

The documented history of the site begins, awkwardly, with an occupation. Dutch forces held the temple between 1646 and 1648, during their conflict with the Portuguese on this coast, and were evicted on the orders of Thirumalai Nayak of Madurai.

On leaving, the Dutch took two utsava murtis, the processional bronzes carried in festival, and tradition holds that heavy seas made them throw the images overboard. They were recovered in 1653 through the efforts of Vadamalaiyappa Pillai. Paintings in the temple record the episode, which is unusual: most temple art shows sacred narrative rather than recent local history.

The temple is administered by the Tamil Nadu HR&CE Department, and in 2016 became one of the few Hindu temples in the state to receive ISO certification for its administration.

Two adornments alternate through the day here, and knowing which is which changes what you plan for. Santhana kaappu, a covering of sandal paste, holds the deity at the opening of the day and at its close, the four o'clock opening, the dawn services, and the night.

The thanga kavasam, the golden armour, is worn for the three principal services between: Kalasandhi in the morning, Uchikkala at noon and Sayaraksha in the evening. If you want to see the armour, you are planning around those three; if you want the sandal, you are coming before dawn or staying until the doors close.

The shrine is counted among the Vaippu Sthalams sung by the Nayanar saint Appar, and Arunagirinathar composed here in the Thiruppugazh.

Skanda Sashti, six days in Aippasi ending in Surasamharam, is the festival that fills the town and the shore. Vaikasi Visakam and Thaipusam are also kept. Festival opening hours here are published separately and are dramatically longer than ordinary days, the temple has opened as early as one in the morning, so a festival visit and an ordinary visit are genuinely different journeys.