Vayalur on the East Coast Road near River Palar is home for two historic temples for Shiva and for Vishnu. The entrance is via a gopuram seen only upto the doorway level. The spacious courtyard has two shrines, built of granite, situated next to each other. The one on the left is for Siva, worshipped here as Thirupulishwara (Vyaghrapurishwara) and the one on the right is for Vishnu, enshrined as Vaikuntha Perumal.
The Shiva temple is of Chola vintage as seen from the architecture wherein the rear of this shrine is apsidal in shape. In Sanskrit, this design is technically known as gajaprishta which means back of an elephant. The outer wall of this shrine has niches for Ganesha, Dakshinamurti, Vishnu, Brahma and Durga. The Vishnu sanctum has the image of Vaikuntha Perumal with Sridevi and Bhudevi on either side. There is a mandapa from Chola times in front and also a Garuda facing the main deity.
There are other small shrines for Ganesha, Shanmuga and Angayarkani in the temple premises. A multi-pillar Vijayanagara mandapa is seen inside the premises near the entrance. The temple-complex is under the protection of the Archaeological Survey of India.
Many important and historic inscriptions have been discovered in Vayalur in the past. They belong to the Pallava, Chola, Pandya and Rashtrakuta dynasties. A Pandyan epigraph of the 13th Century AD, found on the west and south walls of the Thirupulishwara shrine records the names of three Siva temples while mentioning that the Vishnu image was called Sri Vaikundathu Emperuman. The Rashtrakuta inscription dated 961 AD. belongs to the reign of the famous monarch Krishna II.
Chithra Madhavan
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