Athmanadhar Temple

The temple is south-facing and, unusually, has no Nandi. Śiva is worshipped here without a lingam: the pedestal alone, the Avudai, bears a bowl held to be the body, its empty space the soul. No lit deepa or camphor is offered to worshippers, and there is no bali pitham or kodimaram at the entrance.

The book praises its architecture, intricate sculpture and detailed paintings. On the ledge of the front wall, figures of a monkey and an iguana face each other, read as the restless mind clutching at the feet of God. The main temple and the Kanaka Mandapa are ascribed to Manikavasagar.

The book sets the building around the 9th century with extensions in the following centuries. The village, some 50 km from Pudukkottai, was a port in olden days known as Thiruperunthurai; its present name comes from the steam of piping hot rice offered to the deity, believed to inhale it. The Thiruvasagam, Thiruvembavai and Thirupalliezhuchi are said to have been composed here. The temple is recorded as having the third-largest temple car after Tiruvarur and Tirunelveli.

Manikavasagar is held to have built the temple. As Vadhavurar, minister to the Pandya king Arikesari Parankusa Maravarman, he was sent with money to buy cavalry horses but, drawn to a Guru-like figure who proved to be Śiva in disguise, he spent the money on a temple instead.

Imprisoned for the loss, he insisted the horses would come, and Śiva arrived as an equestrian leading them; by night the horses turned to howling foxes. The king saw that Śiva had intervened for his minister. Vadhavurar's nectar-like words earned him the name Manikavasagar, one whose sayings are precious as rubies. Here he is carried in procession on a bull and a horse, honoured as Śiva himself.