CHENNAI: Thiruppalaivanam, a village near Ponneri, has an ancient temple for Siva worshipped as Thirupalishwarar. The traditional story of this temple is connected with the churning of the ocean of milk for nectar (amrita). It is said that the devas took a small portion of the amrita and made a Siva Linga out of it. Manikkavachakar, the important Siva devotee, has sung about the greatness of this deity. The inscriptions here record the ancient names of Thirupalishwarar as Thiruppalaivanam Udaiyar, Thiruppalaivanam Udaiya Nayanar and Paleshwarasvamin. This place was once full of Palai trees (Wrightia hexandra) and hence this name.
This old temple has a five-tier gopuram on the east side, in front of which is a large sixteen-pillar mandapa on the outside, the pillars of which have various forms of Siva chiselled on them. The temple tank, called Amrita Pushkarini, is near this mandapa. On entering through the gopuram, there is a spacious outer circumambulatory passage (prakaram) with a large mandapam leading to a smaller one which enshrines God Nataraja and his consort Sivakamasundari.
In the central sanctum facing east is the Linga worshipped as Thirupalishwara. The structure of this shrine is of a rare type, with the rear portion in an apsidal shape called gajaprishta in Sanskrit. The walls of this sanctum are etched with numerous important inscriptions. The sanctum of Goddess Parvati, now worshipped as Lokambika, and in earlier times as Yendrumpiriyada Nachiyar, is in the outer prakaram. Both Thirupalishwarar and Lokambika face east, which is a rare feature.
The inscriptions here belong to the Chola, Pandya, Vijayanagara and other dynasties. There are also epigraphs of smaller chieftains such as the Telugu Choda ruler Vijaya Gandagopala. There is even an inscription of the reign of Prataparudra, the famous Kakatiya ruler, whose capital was Warangal (Telengana). These inscriptions are mostly donative in nature — gifts of gold, land, lamps, livestock and others poured into this temple.
