Site Name:
Date: ca 990 CE
Subject: Bhutamala
CENTER FOR ART AND ARCHAEOLOGY
The Samavedisvara temple is dedicated to Parsuram who according to local tradition worshipped the lord of Tirumnagalam and obtained his axe (parasu). One of the sixty-three saints, Aanaaya Nayanar of the Aayar kulam lived here and he was a great devotee of the Lord of this place. This temple is in a good state of preservation with the inscriptions and sculptures intact. In the rear or the west facing divinity niche (devakoshta) there is an image of Hariharar (Sankaranarayanar) that was unusual for Chola temples of this period. Even in the niches of the half hall (ardhamandapa), there is a Bhikshatanar figure in the south niche where usually the image of Ganpati is found. These features were peculiar to the temples of Aditya I. So perhaps this temple was built in the days of Aditya I though epigraphs are found from the fifth regnal year of Rajaraja I (990 CE) onwards. Another interesting feature of this temple is the presence of a series of three groups of sculpture panels in miniature corresponding to each pilaster - one series is below the basement (adhistanam) and the second series is found between the varimanam and the vari and third is over the vari (parts of the pillar). References: S.R. Balasubrahmanyam, 1975, pp. 128-132 and M.W. Meister and M.A. Dhaky, 1963, pp. 189-190.