A large and ancient temple for God Siva, worshipped as Vriddhagirishwarar stands tall in the heart of Vriddhachalam town, which is located on the banks of River Manimukta, a tributary of Vellar river. Vriddhachalam is also known by its Tamil name Pazhamalai and Vriddhagirishwarar is known as Pazhamalai Nathar too. In ancient inscriptions, this deity is called Thirumudukunram Udaiyar and Vriddhachalam is known as Nerkuppai.
This temple is a Padal Petra Sthalam (temple sanctified by the Tamil verses of the Nayanmars or important Siva devotees) since Nayanmars like Appar, Thirugnanasambandar, and Sundaramuti had visited this place and sung in praise of Vriddhagirishwarar. This temple would initially have been a small brick structure which was built of stone by King Gandaraditya Chola’s wife, Queen Sembiyan Mahadevi in the 10th century, during the reign of her son Uttama Chola (c.973-985 CE). This queen gave donations for building the central sanctum (Srikoil), the covered verandah (suttrulai), and shrines for other deities in addition to giving generous donations to this temple.
It is interesting to note that this big temple has five gopurams, five prakarams (enclosures), five large mandapams, five Nandis, five dwajastambams (flag-posts), five bali-pithams, five pushkarinis (water bodies), five Vinayanas, five Murugas, five ritual pujas, and other significant features in sets of five. The presiding deity, Vriddhagirishwarar, is a Swayambhu (self-manifested) Lingam in the innermost prakaram with two huge stone dwarapalakas of the Chola era guarding the entrance. Goddess Parvati is worshipped as Vriddhambika in the third parakaram with three pairs of dvarapalikas guarding the entrances to Her shrine. There is also another shrine for Goddess Balambika. A traditional story associated with this place is that Sage Vipachit who originally built this temple after years of tapas (penance), attained mukti (salvation) here. His image is placed underneath the Vanni tree which is the Sthala Vriksham (sacred tree) of this temple.
The main entrance is on the east where there is a majestic gopuram, studded with dance sculptures in stone on the inner side of the entrance. Further inside is another gopuram, called Gandaradittan gopuram, the inner walls of which are covered with inscriptions. Between these two gopurams are a few mandapams, the most eye-catching being the Chitra mandapam with yali pillars and intricate carvings on the ceiling. It is shaped like a ratha (chariot) with wheels on both sides and horses pulling them, closely resembling the Rajagambhira mandapa in the 12th century Airavateshwara temple in Darasuram (near Kumbakonam) of the Chola era. Additions were made to the Vriddhagirishwara temple in the Pandya and Vijayanagara times including the outer North, South, and West gopurams with the dance sculptures.
Vriddhachalam in Cuddalore District is about 25 km from Ulundurpet and approximately 60 km from Villupuram.