Palani

Palani is a town and a municipality in Dindigul district, Tamil Nadu, located about 100km north-west of Madurai, 100km South-east of Coimbatore, and 60km west of Dindigul. The Palani Murugan Temple dedicated to Hindu war God Kartikeya is situated on a hill overlooking the town. The temple is visited by more than 7 million pilgrims each year. As of 2011, the town had a population of 70,467.milEtymologyThe town derives its name from the compounding of two Tamil words pazham meaning fruit and nee meaning you, a reference to poet Avvaiyar's song praising Lord Muruga which forms part of the legend of the Palani Murugan temple. Palani is pronounced using the retroflex approximant ɻ (ழ) and is thus also spelt using the 'zh' digraph as "Pazhani".