Famous Temples in India

Architecture

The temple is facing West direction and built in Chola style of architecture has a 5-tiered Raja gopuram. Lord Vinayaka in the West tower (gopuram) entrance tossed with one leg a demon woman who attempted to kill Lord Sri Rama. The temple has separate flag posts-Kodi Maram for lord, Ambica and Lord Vinayaka. The marriage of Lord Shiva with Parvathi is depicted as a stucco image behind the main Sivalingam inside the sanctum sanctorum. There is a koneru named as Veda theertham and Manikarnika theertham. The Lingam is made of Maragatham (Emerald). This temple is also known as Sri Thirumaraikadar Temple.

The recorded history of Vedaranyam is found from the inscriptions in Vedaranyeswarar Temple. The inscriptions date from the reign of Aditya Chola (871–907 C.E.) Rajaraja Chola-I (985–1014 C.E.) Rajendra Chola-I (1012–1044 C.E.) and Kulothunga Chola-I (1070–1120 C.E.) indicating various grants to the temple. Paranjothi Munivar, a 13th-century saint, who wrote the book Thiruvilayadal puranam, was born at Vedaranyam. An inscription dating back to Parantaka Chola mentions the gift of 90 sheep by a merchant to the temple for the maintenance of a perpetual lamp. Vedaranyam continued to be a part of the Chola Empire and the Chola region emerged as a centre of Saivism during the reign of Kulothunga Chola-I (1070–1120 C.E.). After the fall of Cholas during the reign of Rajendra Chola-II in the 13th century C.E. the erstwhile Chola region was caught under a power struggle between Pandyas and Hoysalas. The royal patronage continued to the temple during the rule of the Nayaks. The Negapatam region (modern day Nagapattinam district) was briefly captured by French troops led by Lally (1702–66 C.E.) in 1759 C.E. The Tanjore district was annexed by British after the French failed to subdue the king of Tanjore. In modern times, the temple is maintained and administered by the Hindu Religious and Endowment Board of the Government of Tamilnadu.