Badrakali Amman Temple, Sivakasi

Wikipedia states that the temple is believed to have been built in the 18th century and was expanded in the 19th and 20th centuries. The 1961 Census survey of temples in the Madurai and Ramanathapuram region (Sivakasi was then part of Ramanathapuram district) lists the Badrakaliamman temple at Sivakasi with a reported age of about 300 years, in the section on temples under the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department.

In 1899 Sivakasi was the scene of serious riots. Wikipedia records that the Badrakali temple was closed for several days during the disturbances and that its festivals that year were cancelled; the large temple car kept in the town centre was among the property burnt.

According to the Sivakasi City Municipal Corporation, the temple has been renovated periodically since 1983-84, and its rajagopuram, built over a period of eight years, is believed locally to be the tallest tower of any Kali temple in the state. The corporation also notes that a separate committee, the Devasthanam, supervises the temple's daily worship and festivals.

Architecture and sacred features

The temple is in the Dravidian style and is enclosed by a granite wall. Wikipedia, citing Ambujam Anantharaman's 'Temples of South India', gives the five-tiered rajagopuram as about 110 feet (34 m) high, with a base of 66 by 44 feet. Unusually, the tower is not aligned with the sanctum; instead a large temple tank and a bell tower stand on the sanctum's axis. Smaller shrines of Ayyappa, Murugan and Aghora Murthy stand near the tank.