Site Name: Tiruchirapalli (Uraiyur)
Date: ca 851-875 CE
Subject: Vimana, view
CENTER FOR ART AND ARCHAEOLOGY
The Tirutantonisvara temple at Tiruci can tentatively be assigned to Aditya I's reign (871 - 907 CE) though it could as well be assigned to Vijayalaya's time (850-871 CE). The displaced inscriptions on the temple suggest rebuilding of the temple. While the inscriptions do not date before the late tenth century, the temple architecture and associated sculpture belong to earlier time period. For example, the door guardians (dvarapalas) inside seem archaic and their hand gestures do not commonly occur in early Chola examples. However, the figures in the divinity niches (devakosthas) are somewhat of a later period. References: M.W. Meister and M.A. Dhaky, 1963, p. 153.