A Pallava era Siva temple with rare images
Kinar, originally called Thirukannar and Nethrapuram, is a small village near Madhurantakam which has an ancient temple for Siva worshipped as Nethrapurishwarar. The Sthala Puranam (traditional story connected with this temple) mentions that Indra, who was cursed to have a thousand eyes on his body, worshipped God Siva here and the curse was removed by His grace. Therefore, this place came to be called Thirukannar (In Tamil, ‘thiru’ is ‘sacred’ and ‘kannu’ is ‘eye’). It is said that the deity is also known as Viravaranathar and the temple as Viravarmeshwaram, either because it is named after a king called Viravarman or because Indra was referred to as Viran.
The temple has a modern entrance on the south. The large prakaram (enclosure) has a mandapa through which devotees enter to reach the main sanctum enshrining the Siva Lingam named Nethrapurishwarar facing east. On the wall behind the Lingam is a large Somaskanda panel. Most Pallava era Siva temples have the Somaskanda (Siva seated with Parvati by the side and son Skanda either in the middle or on Parvati’s lap) panel on the wall, either as the main image in worship, or seen behind the Siva Lingam. In this temple, the Somaskanda image is larger than in most other Pallava temples. Brahma and Vishnu are on either side of Siva and there is a lady with a chamara (fly-whisk) behind Parvati. Skanda, seated on his mother’s lap, holds his right hand up.
The mandapa in front of the main sanctum has four pillars which are studded with sculptures of various deities and devotees. A large west-facing image of Vishnu in a standing pose holding the sankha and chakra in the upper hands with the lower right hand in varada hasta (boon-giving gesture) and lower left hand in kati hasta (resting on the waist) is in this mandapa, as also Ganesa; Muruga with consorts; a Linga named Kasi Vishwanatha; Bala Muruga with peacock and Bhairava.
The most important feature of this mandapa is an image of Indra on his elephant Airavata, facing the main sanctum. In almost all temples, the vahana of the presiding deity will be directly in front of the main shrine, either in a mandapam or in a prakaram. In a select few temples, the vahana might be a little to the side, connected to the Sthala Puranam of that temple. However, in the Kinar temple, there is an altogether interesting feature. Here, there is an image of Indra on his vahana Airavata directly in front of the main Siva Lingam. Behind Indra, in the outer prakaram, is the Nandi.
Goddess Parvati, known as Kampa Nayaki, is enshrined facing south in the prakaram. The pushkarini (temple-tank) which is called Indra Tirtham, is situated on the eastern side of the temple. The sthala vriksham (sacred tree) is the Sarakondrai (Indian Laburnum) which is the sthala vriksham of many other temples too.