Tenkasi Kasi Viswanathar Temple.
Most Courtallam visitors come for the waterfall bath circuit (Main Falls + Five Falls + Old Falls + Tiger Falls) and skip the 10km drive to Tenkasi town — yet the Kasi Viswanathar Temple (literally "Kasi of the South") is the 16th-century Pandya-Nayak rebuild of an earlier 8th-century shrine. Its 180-foot gopuram (under 1990s restoration) is the third-tallest in Tamil Nadu.WHY NOBODY KNOWS
16th-century Shiva temple rebuilt by Parakrama Pandya — the name claims Kasi (Varanasi) parity because the temple's Tambaraparani river flows like the Ganga and the deity (Sankaranarayana) is in the same Brahmotsavam tradition as Kashi Vishwanath. 180-foot rajagopuram with intricate stucco work; the inner sanctum has a 9-foot Shiva lingam. The 1,000-pillar mandapam has musical pillars (struck by hand they sound musical notes). Free / open 5.30am-12pm + 4-9pm. Non-Hindus restricted to outer prakaram. Annual Brahmotsavam in Vaikasi (May-June, 10 days) with chariot procession.
