CHENNAI: Kanchipuram, which is one of the seven Mukti Sthalams in India and the only one in South India, is well known as the town of temples. While the most famous ones here are the Kamakshi Amman, Varadaraja Perumal, and Ekambareswarar temples, there are scores of other shrines in this place. Kanchipuram has as many as five Padal Petra Sthalam or Siva temples which have been eulogised by the Nayanmars (important devotees of Siva), but there are many other temples for this deity which many people who visit Kanchipuram do not know of.
One of these is a small Siva temple wherein this God is worshipped as Thanthondrishwara. This tiny east-facing shrine does not have a gopuram at the entrance and the prakaram (enclosure) which has a bali-pitham and a Nandi mandapam is also small. The Siva Linga, enshrined in the central sanctum worshipped as Thanthondrishwara is said to be self-manifest (Svayambhu in Samskrit and Thanthondrishwara in Tamil). Behind the Lingam is an image of Somaskandamurti (Siva with Parvati and son Skanda), not seen on the rear wall of the central sanctum as in the Siva temples of the Pallava age, but as a separate image.
This temple has been modernised, with slabs of polished granite stuck on the walls of the mandapa in front of the main shrine. The niches found on the outer walls of the principal sanctum enshrine the images of Ganesha, Dakshinamurti, Lingodhbhava, Brahma and Durga. In the prakaram are shrines for Maha Ganapati, Subramanya, Chandikeshwara, Nataraja, Kala Bhairava, Surya and Navagraha, most of them being of recent times.
Some sculptures on the walls of the mandapam are of sandstone, which belong to the Pallava era. Scholars have opined that these carvings depict scenes from the Samskrit play Mattavilasaprahasana authored by the royal scholar, King Mahendravarman I Pallava (c.600-630 AD). They are much older than the present temple structure and depict men and women wearing clothing and ornaments of the Pallava times.
The Thanthondishwara temple is on the main road leading to the Ekambareshwarar temple.