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