Thiruparankundram, also spelled Tirupparankundram or Tiruparangundram, is a neighbourhood in Madurai city in Tamil Nadu, India.

The town's landmark and fame is the huge monolithic rock hill that towers to a height of 1,048 feet (319 m) and has a circumference of over 2 miles (3.2 km).

[1] One of the early Shaivism-tradition cave temple at the northern foot of the hill was greatly expanded in stages with mandapas and additional shrines over the 7th to 15th century by various Hindu dynasties, to include a feeding house, a Vedic school and for traditional performance arts.

[2] Some Hindu pilgrims circumambulate around the entire Thiruparankundram hill given the many religious monuments and history here.

[1] A steady flight of stone stairs and walkway from the north end, as well as another from the south end, lead to the top of the hill on the western side where there is another rock-cut pre-9th century Kasi Viswanathar temple – named after the one in Varanasi – with a natural water tank and an overview of the rural scenery around Madurai.

The Vijayanagara rulers allowed the Muslim community to build a graveyard memorial for Sikandar Shah in the late 14th to early 15th centuries on the top of the Tirupparaṅkuṉdṟam hill on the northeastern side.

In the 18th century and after, the Murugan temple's mandapas and infrastructure were used as civic hospitals by Hindus and as a second outpost of Madurai where soldiers gathered during times of war.

Later, the European regiments aided by Haider Ali and Yusuf Khan targeted controlling the temple during the British and French campaign to form what later became the Madras Presidency.