Venkatachalapathy Temple

The main deity is Vishnu as Venkatachalapathy, a standing four-armed figure. Two smaller sub-shrines hold the consorts, the goddesses Alamelumanga and Padmavati. The plan is not as expansive as the great temples at Madurai or Srirangam, but the carving carries the entry.

What distinguishes the temple is a set of forty sculptures of unusual detail, each cut from a single monolithic column, the composite figures seeming to free themselves from the rigidity of the stone block. The stone is the same hard local granite used across Tamil Nadu for centuries, yet the Nāyaka carvers project the figures more freely from the pillar backing and finish them with a fine, smooth polish.

Some of these figures stand larger than life, about 6.5 feet high: warriors in action with swords and shields, dwarapalas, rearing lion-faced creatures, Draupadi with Arjuna and Karna, Rati seated on a divine bird looking into a mirror, and Manmatha firing feathery arrows of love from a sugarcane bow. One much-noticed figure shows a man, perhaps a hunter or kuravan, carrying off a woman. They stand in the Ranga mandapa at the entrance, the Veerappa mandapa in the outer prakaram, and the pillared corridor leading to the main shrine. The pillar tops carry the Pushpa potika, an auspicious banana-plantain motif.

The Nāyaks were at first feudatory rulers appointed by the Vijayanagara Empire who later contributed greatly to art and architecture in a distinct style, from the mid-16th century to about the mid-18th century, the manner seen in this temple.

Inscriptions date the main shrine to the 1560s. The name of the Veerappa mandapa in the outer prakaram may refer to the son of King Krishnappa Nāyaka, who ruled 1564 to 1572 CE. Slight differences in the basement moulding and the wall pilasters suggest these followed the main shrine, but by no more than about a decade, since they keep the characteristic Nāyaka decorativeness. A Tamil thuthu text is dedicated to the temple. The temple's metal images, among them notably beautiful Alvars, are now kept in a vault and cannot be seen.