have heard a legend asscoiated with the Nellaiappar Temple - there is a tunnel behind the Ravana sculpture in the temple corridor that connects Thirunelveli and Madurai. This tunnel was supposed to have been used by the Pandya kings & their spies on secret missions.
could this be what inspired kalki/oomai rani mandakini finding the entrance and trying to seal it....more likely as it was used by pandya spies!!
In the days of royal rule, there existed a secret tunnel between this temple and the Thanjavur palace, to enable the king and his family to worship Lord Nageswaran in privacy. The passage is now blocked due to the roads dug up for construction.
Tanjore big temple?
legend that there was a underground tunnel from the temple to palace.
Madurai Sundareswar Temple
In the northwest corner is Kasi Visvanath. There is a tunnel in this enclosure which is said to have once been connected to the Thirumalai Nayak Palace.
Recently, officials of the Department of Archaeology have found a tunnel within the fort.
vellore fort
There is supposed to be a tunnel deep below the fort leading to a temple in a village known as Virinjipuram exactly 12 Kms away. the king used that in order to escape if there were any major attacks. The tunnel still exist but its been closed due to some problems, the mouth of the tunnel in Virinjipuram temple can be seen. It is placed near mother goddess(AMMAN).Its remained closed for years since there might be dangerous gas or reptiles inside.Some people say that some archeologists have tried exploring that but didn't return.
Amber fort ( jaipur)
to water palace. There is apparently a tunnel connecting this with the Fort and would have been used by the Maharaja and Maharani to keep themselves away from the public and/or assassins..
Thalessery fort
It is said that the fort has a secret tunnel that opens out to the sea through which the inhabitants used to escape in case of an attack.
Inside St.Angelo's fort,many people believe that there is a secret tunnel in this fort. This tunnel was built underneath the sea to the Thalassery Fort which is 21 km from Kannur fort. This under passage is said to be used by soldiers to escape.Grilled off from the general public, the percieved entrance is located 10 metres form the shore within the walls and is understood to be able to provide a potential escape route to horse-mounted soldiers with channels at regular points to provide air circulation.
Vattakottai ( kanyakumari)
It is said that there is a subway or tunnel about four feet width, supposed to connect the padmanabhapuram palace. Now the tunnel has been closed.
this is the best
Red Fort
The Red Fort also conceals a secret tunnel built by the Mughals. This tunnel connects the Mughal establishment at Fatehpur Sikri, the Agra Fort, The Red Fort and the Mughal establishment at Lahore, which is now in Pakistan.
kannur fort ( kerela)
It is also believed that there is a secret underground tunnel in the fort that passes through the sea and leads to the Thalessery Palace, positioned 21 km away.
There is a legend about Pulithevan, that he escaped the british, by escaping through a secret tunnel in a temple at Nerkattanseval, and never to be caught by the brits or seen after that.
The Madambakkam Sivan Kovil of which there was mention a few mails back :) also has a secret passage way..
But unlike most others, it is placed close to the entrance of the temple, not near any of the statues of the deities. It is sealed. and I havent had the chance to look into it.
But people say it leads to Kancheepuram! That's a loooong way to walk!!!
There is also a dilapidated room at one end of the temple compound, it looks pretty old(made of the same karunkal the temple has been constructed with). Dont know whats in it, I dont think they have opened it for centuries!!!