Ammai Nathar Temple, Cheranmahadevi – The Temple
The east
facing temple has a recently renovated simple five-tier tower and it is 63 feet
high. The usual stucco images are not found in the tower. It is located at the
outskirts of Cheranmahadevi amidst banana fields. Vimana is made up of brick.
The Temple is full of beautiful relief and bas-relief images. Theertham (Holy
water) is River Thamirabarani and the place is considered as Thingal Sthalam
(Moon).
The area
that connects the main shrine and the tower has its roof covered and has many
pillars. The Bali peetha, Nandi mandapa and flag staff are located in this
hall. Unlike other regions, some of the temples in this region have flag staff
between Nandi and the main shrine. In this temple too, the flag staff is
positioned similarly.
The main
shrine has slightly bigger Shiva Linga named as Ammai Nathar or Kailasanathar.
Lord is Swayambumurthy. The entrance of
ardha mandapa has a Ganesha idol in addition to Dwarapalas. The Nandi idol in
maha mandapa is slightly moved from the center. In the flag staff, the bas
relief image of Nandanar is found. The pillars in the exterior
mandapa of the main shrine are carved with beautiful sculptures. It is built as
per 'maada kovil' architectural style. The walls of main shrine are artistically
brilliant and intricately decorated.
The
Goddess Aavudai Nayaki is found in a separate shrine on the right
side of the main shrine. It is equally bigger in size with all the three
sections and even Nandi facing towards the Goddess. Mother is also called
as Oppila Nayagi Amman (the one with no comparison).
The
inner prakara has Dhakshinamoorthi sculpture as the niche image. Apart from
that the sub-shrines of Ganesha, Subramanya-Valli-Devasena and Chandikeswara
are located. Some of the idols that are found in the inner prakara include
Sapta matas, Jwara Deva, Viswanathar, Natarajar, Karaikkal Ammaiyar, Nava
kanniar Nalvar, Vishnu, Gaja Lakshmi, Surya, Chandra and Adhikara Nandi.
Bhairava
sub-shrine and Shasta sub-shrine are located in the outer prakara which is full
of trees and plants. There was no Navagraha shrine in this temple since the Navakailasam
represents the 9 Navagrahas. However a Navagraha shrine has been constructed
recently.
