Murugan Temple, Saluvankuppam

Murugan Temple, Saluvankuppam
Front view of the Murugan Temple
Religion
Affiliation	Hinduism
District	Chengalpattu
Deity	Lord Murugan
Location
Location	Saluvankuppam
State	Tamil Nadu
Country	India
Architecture
Completed	Sangam era

The Murugan Temple at Saluvankuppam, Tamil Nadu, India, is a shrine dedicated to Tamil Hindu deity Murugan. Archaeologists believe that the shrine, unearthed in 2005, consists of two layers: a brick temple constructed during the Sangam period (the 3rd century BCE to the 3rd century CE) and a granite Pallava temple dating from the 8th century CE and constructed on top of the brick shrine making it the oldest temple in India. The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) team which conducted the excavation believe that brick temple could be the oldest of its kind to be discovered in Tamil Nadu.^[1][2]

The temple was discovered by a team of archaeologists from the ASI based on clues found in a rock inscription left exposed by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. Initially, excavations revealed an 8th-century Pallava-era shrine. Further excavations revealed that the 8th-century shrine had been built on the brick foundation of an earlier shrine. The brick shrine has been dated to the Sangam period.

The temple faces north, unlike most Hindu temples. Artefacts from two phases, the Sangam phase as well as the Pallava phase, have been found. The temple is Tamil Nadu's oldest shrine to Murugan.^[2] It is also believed to be one of only two pre-Pallava temples to be discovered in the state, the other being the Veetrirundha Perumal Temple at Veppathur.^[2]

On the night of 3 May 2018, the site was vandalized by unknown persons who uprooted the Stone Vel and broke it into two pieces.