Thiruparankundram Dargah

The Thiruparankundram Dargah is an Islamic monument on the top of the Thiruparankundram hill, near Madurai in Tamil Nadu, India. The monument was built in the 17th to 18th-century over the 14th-century grave of Sikandar Shah – the last sultan of Madurai Sultanate. It is a major pilgrimage site for Tamil Muslims of the region.
Location.
The Thirupparankundram Dargah is located in Thiruparankundram town on its landmark rocky hill that towers to a height of and has a circumference of over . The town is about southwest of Madurai city. Thiruparankundram hill is also home to many Hindu and Jain monuments that date between the 2nd-century BCE and the 16th-century. The Muslims call it Iskandarmalai ("hill of Sikandar), while the Hindus call it Skandamalai (lit. "hill of Skanda (Murugan, Kartikeya) – the god of war"). The dargah is near much older Kasi Viswanathar cave temple that is also near the top but on the south side. The trails to both on the south and the east of the hill go together uphill.
History.
The town of Thiruparankundram was likely the capital of the short lived Madurai Sultanate. This South Indian Sultanate was formed after the army of Ala al-Din Khalji of Delhi Sultanate raided the Tamil country in 1310 under the pretext of helping Sundar Pandya, with Madurai as one of the primary targets. The Muslim army devastated the Madurai region looting towns and demolishing temples over a year, states Mehrdad Shokoohy. Before returning to Delhi after this social and political chaos, they had established a Muslim rule controlled from Madurai-Thiruparankundram. 
After the Khalji era came the Tughluq era of the Delhi Sultanate, when Jalal al-Din Ahsan governed the Madurai Sultanate. About 1334 CE, Ahsan rebelled and broke away from the Delhi Sultanate. He declared himself as Sultan Ahsan Shah, according to the memoirs of Moroccan traveller and scholar Ibn Battuta who visited the Madurai region. This was the start of the separate Madurai Sultanate. The Sultans who succeeded Ahsan Shah took the name "Shah". Islamic historians of the 14th-century refer to their 1334–1377 Muslim rule as the "Ma'bar sultanate". These Sultans had lost the direct support of the Delhi Sultanate and struggled to rule the local population. The Madurai Sultanate armies "brutally repressed" the local Hindu populations, states Shokoohy, and found themselves in constant wars with neighboring Hindu kingdoms. 
Ahsan Shah and several sultans who succeeded him were slain in these battles, or assassinated by their own nobles. In 1372, Ala al-Din Sikandar Shah became the Sultan of Madurai Sultanate. To the north in Karnataka, the Vijayanagara Empire had been founded and its large army joined the war against Sultan Sikandar Shah. They surrounded and closed in on Thiruparankundram in 1377 CE. Sikandar Shah, his court officials and soldiers moved to the top of the Thiruparankundram hill. The Vijayanagara forces pursued them and killed them. Several other Muslim graves are found along the trail to the hilltop, some with large tombstones. These are of soldiers and officials of the Madurai Sultanate. Sikandar Shah died on Thiruparankundram hill in his last battle, and the Hindu general allowed the Sultan's grave to be built there. Till the 17th-century, the hilltop had only the grave. The Muslim community of the region then built a larger monument and a regional Muslim pilgrimage site called the Thiruparankundram Dargah.
Description.
The Thiruparankundram Dargah has Sultan's grave with a tombstone and a large rock diagonally placed on top. Over this grave is a more modern shrine consisting of a square tomb chamber, and to its east is an attached mosque. The hall of the mosque is about above the level of the tomb chamber. Mehrdad Shokoohy has published detailed plan and sectional drawings of the Thiruparankundram Dargah. 
The Thiruparankundram Dargah mosque has a front colonnaded porch and leads into an ante-chamber. This is connected to the prayer chamber via a single door. The floor is uneven and at different levels, likely reflecting the contour of the rocky hill underneath. Most of the architecture uses stone blocks and the pillars in the hall have the "Nagapadam" carving style and lotuses found in Tamil Nadu monuments that predate the Madurai Sultanate. The monument's roof is made of stone slabs. The mosque has no distinct "mihrab", and it opens into the tomb chamber of Sikandar Shah.
Folklore and pilgrimage.
The regional Muslims consider Sultan Sikandar Shah as a martyr and saint. Their folklore states that Sikandar Shah arrived here in late 12th-century (died in late 14th-century). He performed miracles such as magically giving vision to blind people. When the Sultan died, according to this legend, rocks of the hills rose on their own, flew in the air and covered the grave of Sikandar Shah. His miracles continue to this day and helps the Muslim pilgrims, states the dargha information board. The Dargah plaque reflects this mythistory.
The anniversary Urs Santhanakoodu festival of Sultan Sikandar Shah is commemorated on the 17th night of the Islamic month of Rajab every Hijri year. Thousands of people visit the dargah at the hill top on this day. Arrangements are made by the dargah committee and the local police for the welfare of the pilgrims.