The sacred geography of the Indic world — every site mapped, dated, storied, and cited.
Ithiyapuram, Kanniyakumari district, Tamil Nadu · 8.3076°, 77.2218°
A sacred-grove shrine (kaavu) on the Kanyakumari-Thiruvananthapuram highway about 30 km from Nagercoil, where Vana Sastha and Vana Durga are the chief deities alongside Bala Ganapati, Nagaraja and Krishna. A copper plate said to have been granted by the Travancore ruler Marthanda Varma is kept there.
What follows is the temple’s own traditional account, transmitted through liturgy and local memory. It is recorded here as tradition, not as attested history.
Devotees hold that Vana Durga came here from the deep forest of Pechiparai, followed by troops of serpents, to stand guard over Vana Sastha.
coordinates: wikipedia-2026-08-28 · sources retrieved 2026-08-26 · dynasty page: Undetermined
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