Kalugumalai is a panchayat town in Kovilpatti Taluk of Thoothukudi district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu.

[1] The place houses the rockcut Kalugasalamoorthy Temple, monolithic Vettuvan Koil[2] and Kalugumalai Jain Beds.

Some of the epigraphies in the site mention a palace for the Pandya official called Ettimannan.

[4] Opposite to Kalugasalamoorthy Temple is a small palace that served as local residence of Raja of Ettaiyapuram.

[5] The place was the scene of Kalugumalai riots of 1895, when ten people were killed in caste clashes.

The other figures were caused to be made by the followers of Jain faith from a number of villages nearby.

[7] A number of others were high ranking persons bearing the titles of Enadi, Etti, and Kavidi.

From different epigraphies it is found that they belong to different era and the place became extinct after the 13th century due to loss of patronage after the Pandya kings.

[8] Vettuvan Koil (English: a Sculptor's paradise) is a Hindu temple built between the 8th and 9th century.

Kalugumalai is a priceless unfinished Pandyan monolith cave temple, part of the iconographic richness that helped chronicle the burgeoning richness of the Tamil culture, traditions, and sacred centres containing religious art.

[9] About 7.5 meter of the mountain is excavated in a rectangular fashion and in the middle the temple is sculpted from a single piece of rock.

At the top of the temple beautiful sculpture of Uma Maheswarar, Dakshinamoorthy, Vishnu and Brahma can be found.

The temple complex also has shrines of Shiva, Akilandeswari, Vinayakar and many lesser deities.

[citation needed] There are hundreds of small scale industries involved in this trade, supported by the dry climatic condition and skilled labor available.