The Rockfort is a hill fort in the town of Tiruchirappalli in Tamil Nadu, India. It is constructed on a 273-foot high rock.[1]There are two Hindu temples inside the Rockfort, the Uchchi Pillaiyar Koil and the Siva Temple. Geologically the 83m high[2] rock is said to be one of the oldest in the world, dating over billion years ago.
The name rock fort comes from the fact that the place was used for military fortification first by the Vijayanagar emperors and later by the British during the Carnatic wars.
The temple complex is composed of two parts: a Shiva temple (Thayumanaswamy) carved in the middle of the rock and a Pillayar (Ganesh) temple at the top portion of the rock.[2] The Shiva temple is the bigger one, housing a massive stone statue of Shiva in the form of Linga along with a separate sanctum for goddess Parvati.