Friday, July 7, 2017

Sundareswarar Temple, Periya Kothur, Thiruvarur

Sundareswarar Temple, Periya Kothur, Thiruvarur
Sundareswarar Temple is dedicated to Hindu God Shiva located at Periya Kothur Village in Thiruvarur District of Tamilnadu. The original name of the temple was Thiruvidaikadudaiya Mahadevar temple as per the Inscriptions.



The Temple
Presiding Deity is called as Lord Sundareswarar is found in the sanctum sanctorum and Mother is called as Goddess Soundaranayagi. The idols belonging to the temple are all exquisite. Right from the beautiful Nandi found in a separate mandapa outside the temple, to the Narthana Ganapathy, the Pancha Ganapathy, Dakshinamurthy, Bhairava, Subramanya and Chandikeswara each a specimen of the rich sculptural beauty of the Cholas.



An inscription at the temple states that the temple complex for Thiruvidaikadudaiyar was constructed by a merchant group called the Kulothunga Chola Perilamaiyaar, through the instructions of the King Kulothunga III in the 12th century CE.


A very interesting inscription of a total of 97 lines belonging to the time of King Rajaraja III (1227 CE) speaks about the people of the village of Urangudi who have joined hands with the enemies. The inscriptions says that the village council had appealed to the revenue officer not to allow them to come back and also not to collect the taxes that were due from them for temple festivals and based on his acceptance the order was being inscribed on the temple wall.


According to an inscription from Kulothunga III period (1183 CE)A person called Thirunavukkarasu son of Kandhamangalamudaiyan Putridangondan has gone around collecting alms for installing the idols of the Devaram authors, Saints Appar, Sundarar and Gnanasambandhar in a separate shrine in the temple. He has also donated lands for the daily offerings to the lord. Today only the idols of Gnanasambandhar and Sundarar are found. Appar is nowhere to be seen.


Another inscription reconfirms this information and mentions the name of the sculptor of this temple as Sokkakootha Sirpasari. A couple of inscriptions speak about village resolutions on the methods of harvesting the temple lands and handing over the produce collectively by the villagers is also recorded.


Connectivity
The Temple is located at about 3 Kms from Vadapathimangalam, 10 Kms from Koothanallur, 10 Kms from Thirukollikadu, 20 Kms from Thiruvarur, 27 Kms from Thiruthuraipoondi and 114 Kms from Trichy. Nearest Railway Station is located at Thiruvarur and Nearest Airport is located at Trichy.

References