Yanaimalai known as Elephant Hill is a great monument that attracts the tourists from all over the world. It is situated in Tamil Nadu’s (TN) Madurai. This mountain contains Jain sculptures, a marvelous Shaivite temple, and also a Vaishnavite temple, namely the Narasingam Yoga Narasimha Perumal Temple. Elephant Hill is a hill located in the village of Othakadai in Madurai district. It is located a few kilometers away from Madurai city.

The mountain derives its name from the Tamil word yaanai, which means elephant, and malai meaning hill. The hill looks like a gigantic holy female elephant in a sitting position. It is also believed that those who visit this place would get married soon, and their life partners would be healthy. One must worship Sri Ganesa and Ma Ganesini (Female Shakti form of Bhagwan Ganesa), while visiting this temple. This place has been popular since the Sangam period.

This Yanaimalai (Elephant Hill) is also called Narasinghamangalam. The names of two Jain monks, “Eri Arithan” and “Athuvayi Aratakkayipan”, are found in the stone inscriptions. This inscription tells the story that two Jain monks had set up their abode on the top of the mountain and performed penance in this area, which was prosperous two thousand years ago.

Narasingha Perumal Kudaivara Temple

In 770 CE, the Pandya king who ruled Madurai was Maranchadayan Parantaka Nedunchadayan. Marankari Kalikuda Vaidyan, also known as Moovenda Mangalap Perathayan, served as the minister of the Pandya king. He decided to build a temple dedicated to Narasimha Perumal, north-west of the Yanaimalai, and started the preliminary work. When the temple was about to be completed, he fell ill and died.

An inscription found here says that his younger brother Panda Mangala Viziya Athayan, also known as Maran Einan, took over as the minister and renovated the temple and consecrated it. After this, the Elephant Hill was called Narasinghamangalam. There are Grantha, Vatthelethu and Tamil inscriptions in this temple. These inscriptions indicate that the early Pandyas, Cholas, Chola Pandyas, later Pandyas, and the Vijayanagara kings made many renovations to this temple at various times.

Murugan cave temple called Ladan Temple

There is a temple in the Yanaimalai called Ladan Koil , dedicated to Bhagwan Murugan. The sculptures of the Tirthankaras Mahavira , Parswanath and Bahubali are found at Yanaimalai. It is properly preserved by the Archaeological Department of the Government of Tamil Nadu. The Vijayanagara kings who ruled Madurai mentioned Yanaimalai as Gajagiri in Sanskrit in the inscriptions belonging to their period. We can also find few YouTube Videos which mentions about the Yanaimalai Trekking indicating that Yanaimalai is also a favoured trekking site.