Oragadam, an ancient village, is home to two historic temples, one for Rama and the other for Siva. The Vadamallishwarar (Siva) temple is situated on a small hillock which has about a hundred steps leading to the top. It is said that this deity was worshipped with ‘vadamalli’ flowers and hence the name ‘Vadamallishwarar’. Another explanation given is that the flowers which were once offered to Siva here never faded (vada malli in Tamil).
Visitors can immediately recognise the antiquity of this small east-facing shrine because of the shape of the main vimanam, enshrining the Siva Lingam worshipped as Vadamallishwarar. It has a rounded back, which in technical parlance is called Gajaprishta Vimanam (‘gaja’ in Samskrit is ‘elephant’ and ‘prishta’ is ‘back’), a fairly common feature of Chola temples in north Tamil Nadu. The devakoshtas (niches) on the outer walls of this sanctum enshrine Ganesha, Dakshinamurti, Mahavishnu, Brahma and Durga. Above the devakoshtas are small stone carvings of each of these deities with makara-toranas (decorations) on top
There is a small mandapam in front of the main sanctum which has a Nandi and a bali-pitham. The entrance to the central shrine is flanked by images of Ganesha and Subramanya with consorts, while the stone frame around the door has small, well-wrought carvings, albeit weatherworn, of a Siva Linga, Ganesha, Vyaghrapada (a devotee of God Siva who had the legs of a tiger), a cow pouring milk over a Linga and many others. A four-pillar mandapa, again with many sculptures, including donor-devotees, is seen in front and also another Nandi, bali-pitham and deepa-stambham (lamp-post).
Next to the main sanctum is a modern shrine for Goddess Parvati worshipped as Amritavallishwari, facing east, with devakoshtas and a Simha (lion) in front. Enshrined in the prakaram (enclosure) are Bhairava and Surya.
Two Chola epigraphs have been found on rocks to the south and west of this temple. Both mention the ancient name of this place as Pallavamalla Chaturvedimangalam. Pallavamalla refers to the Pallava king Nandivarman II of the 8th century CE, in whose reign the famous Vaikuntha Perumal temple in Kanchipuram was constructed. Chaturvedimangalam indicates that this place had many scholars learned in the four Vedas. The inscription on a rock to the west of the temple, which is dated 1016 CE and belongs to the reign of Rajendra Chola I, gives the additional information that Pallavamalla Chaturvedimangalam also had the name Urogadam and that it was a village in Kalattur Nadu which was a subdivision of Kalattur Kottam, a district in Jayangonda Chola Mandalam.