A Holy Anthill at Mandaikadu Temple, Tamil Nadu

The Mandaikadu Bhagavathi Amman Temple, situated in a small coastal town in the Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu on the Nagercoil-Colachel Highway, is known as a Sabarimala for women. This very important temple is built in traditional, simple Kerala style.
A 15-ft tall anthill is the Bhagavathi amman. Women visit the temple with the irumudi (a bundle containing puja items for the Goddess), in the same manner that men go to Sabarimala.

The temple is backed by an awesome legend that one day Sri Sankaracharya was performing Srichakra Puja with his Kerala disciples here the chakra did not turn back as usual after the puja was over. So the Acharya stayed here itself and attained samadhi. It is on this spot where the Srichakra existed that the anthill began to grow. Apparently, if children playing around here hit the anthill, they would be injured.

The temple was built by Kerala king Marthanda Varma who came to know of these developments. He would regularly come to pujas here. Today the temple attracts lakhs of devotees, from Tamil Nadu and Kerala, who particularly throng here during the Kodai festival, which falls in March.