Pic Courtesy : My Travelogue

Defying the logic that pillars that have a deep foundation provide support to a structure, here are pillars that have been providing support for more than 2000 years without even touching the ground.

The 12 pillars of the Kalyana Kamatchi Amman Temple near Dharmapuri are suspended in mid-air and hang from the top. Each ‘gravity pillar’ weighs 2.5 tonnes and the whole temple is supported by these 12 pillars.

There is no scientific explanation behind the concept of these pillars, but devotees believe that the pillars are suspended due to “divine intervention”.

Each pillar is hexagonal, filled with several images on all sides. On one side in this hanging pillar is a depiction of the story of sacrifices. Earlier, when warriors sacrificed themselves by falling on a Trishul from a height, Goddess Kamakshi willed it that the humans be replaced with lemons. So there is the scene of a man falling upside down towards the pointed Trishul and Goddess Kamakshi closing the edge of the Trishul with her hand to save the man. Hence the name ‘Thaduthatkonda Nayaki’.

The temple, also called Dharmapuri Kottai Koil is considered a tribute to womanhood. This is a unique temple in Tamil Nadu, where the main idol Lord Shiva, goes around his wife Parvati, signifying the importance of womanhood.

The temple priest Selvam Muthu Kumaraswamy said that Lord Shiva had to climb 18 steps to see Parvathi. He also added that the entire Ramayana was engraved from the bottom to the top.

Another exclusive feature here was that both men and women are allowed to go up the 18 steps to the sanctum sanctorum, unlike Sabarimala temple where only men were allowed.

The “Pancha Pandavas” were supposed to have visited the temple.

A similar pillar can be found in the Channakeshava temple in Belur, Karnataka