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Erode is a city on the Kaveri river in western Tamil Nadu, India, famous for its turmeric, handloom and knitwear and as the hometown of the reformer Periyar. Its top sights are the hill temple of Thindal Murugan, Periyar's memorial house, Vellode Bird Sanctuary and the river confluence temple of Bhavani Sangameswarar.
Erode formed part of the Kongu Nadu region ruled by the Cheras in the Sangam period, and later by the Cholas, the Vijayanagara Empire and the Nayaks. After the Anglo-Mysore Wars it was annexed to the Madras Presidency in 1799. Its name may come from the Tamil Eeru Odai, two streams, after the water courses that run through it.
Erode became the capital of its own district in 1979 and grew on textiles and farming, and Erode Turmeric is now a Geographical Indication. The district reaches west to the dams of Kodiveri and Bhavanisagar and the forests of the Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve, while the Kaveri carries pilgrims to the temples of Bhavani and Kodumudi.
Thindal Murugan Temple, also called Arulmigu Velayuthaswamy Thirukovil, is a temple of Lord Murugan on the Thindalmalai hillock near Erode, about 8 km from Erode Junction. The temple keeps a golden chariot used to carry the images of the gods in procession and is reached by local buses.
Thanthai Periyar Memorial House in Erode is the former home of Periyar E. V. Ramasamy, the social reformer born in the city in 1879 who founded the Self-Respect Movement. One of Erode's major attractions, it honours the man seen as the architect of Dravidian politics and a campaigner against caste.
Vellode Bird Sanctuary is a small reserve around Periyakulam lake, about 12 km from Erode, and a protected Ramsar site since 2022. More than 20,000 birds visit from November to March, among them spot-billed pelicans, Eurasian spoonbills, bar-headed geese and woolly-necked storks.
Erode Turmeric, or Erodu Manjal, is the turmeric grown around Erode, a leading producer of the spice in Tamil Nadu. Recognised as a Geographical Indication in 2019 and known for its high curcumin, it is sold at four regulated markets in the district and exported to Malaysia, Singapore and the UK.
Bhavani Sangameswarar Temple is a Shiva temple at Bhavani, 15 km from Erode, set where the Kaveri and Bhavani rivers meet the mythical Amutha, a confluence known as Dakshina Triveni Sangamam. Praised in old Tamil literature as Thirunana, it is where pilgrims perform last rites for their ancestors.
Kodumudi Magudeswarar Temple is a large Shiva temple on the bank of the Kaveri at Kodumudi, about 40 km from Erode, praised in the Thevaram hymns. Measuring 640 by 484 feet, it has shrines of Shiva, Vishnu and Brahma, which give it the name Trimurthy Kovil, and is linked with the sage Agastya.
Bannari Amman Temple, near Sathyamangalam in Erode district, is the temple of the goddess Bannari Mariamman, revered as a goddess of rain, and one of the most prominent Mariamman temples in South India. Its Kundam festival in the Tamil month of Panguni, in March or April, draws lakhs of devotees.
Chennimalai Murugan Temple crowns the hill above the handloom town of Chennimalai, about 25 km from Erode, where Murugan is worshipped as Kurinji Andavar. The Kandha Sasti Kavacham was staged here; pilgrims climb 1,320 steps or drive up, and Valli and Deivanai have a temple of their own above.
Kodiveri Dam is a masonry dam on the Bhavani River in Erode district, about 15 km from Gobichettipalayam, first built in 1125 CE by the Kongu chieftain Jayankonda Chola Kongalvan. Its huge stone blocks, quarried near Sathyamangalam and moved by elephants, were bonded together with iron and lead.
Bhavanisagar Dam, also called Lower Bhavani Dam, is an earthen dam on the Bhavani River in Erode district, 16 km west of Sathyamangalam. The first major irrigation project begun in India after independence, it was started in 1948, opened in 1956, and is 9 km long and 40 m high.
Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve covers about 1,408 km2 of forest in Erode district where the Western and Eastern Ghats meet, a key wildlife corridor of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve. Declared in 2013 as Tamil Nadu's fourth tiger reserve, it saw its tigers rise from 25 in 2011 to 80 in 2018.
Kalingarayan Canal is a 90 km irrigation canal in Erode district, built between 1271 and 1283 by the Kongu chieftain Lingaya Kalingaraya Gounder. Starting at the Kalingarayan Anicut near Bhavani, it links the Bhavani and Noyyal rivers and was laid out in a wave pattern to protect its banks.
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