Vettuvan Koil, Kalugumalai, Thoothukudi - History
The
temple is believed to have been built during 8th century around 800 AD. According
to scholar K.V. Soundararajan, the octagonal shikara was the early
architectural style or feature of the southern Pandyan kingdom and the Vettuvan
koil could be the 'oldest in the series.' 'Any Pandyan architectural activity
with Chalukyan indebtedness, aside of Pallava influence in the homeland itself,
would essentially be of post Mamalla phase.
The
earliest structural temples of the Pandyas with octagonal and square ‘sikhara,'
in that order, would suggest that the Kazhugumalai temple, which has an
octagonal ‘sikhara,' would have been part of a viable earlier phase of temple
design when the octagonal ‘sikhara’ held the field. All these would seem to
help in the circumscription of the incidence of the rock cut temple mode of
southern dynasties – notably the Pandyas – almost securely between c. A.D. 675
and c. A.D. 860.'
However
the name of the ruler who was instrumental in commissioning this monolith and
why this structure was left incomplete remain as mystery. Some wild guess
by scholars indicate the name as the celebrated Pandya king, Parantaka
Nedunchadayan, who had patronized and over-generously gifted for both
Brahminical and Jain religious orders and promoted their temple construction.
The Jain monument located on a somewhat raised area of the same hill too
carries his inscriptions.
The hill
was under the control of Ettaiyapuram Zamindar until 1954. The Raja gifted the
village to the Kalugasalamoorthy Temple and formed five streets around the
temple to enable the temple car to pass easily. He also allocated a middle
street for the temple priests. During the Panguni Uthiram festival procession,
the elongated conflict between two castes in the region, namely, Nadars and Maravars resulted in riots, popularly called Kalugumalai
riots of 1895.
A total of ten people were killed, many
injured and the temple car and other property in the region were destroyed. The
sculptures in Vettuvan Koil and the Kalugumalai Jain Beds were not affected during the riots.
