Kalayanallur

Shiva as Amirthakadeswarar

Consort அமிர்தவல்லி, அமிர்தவல்லிநாயகி

lingam

Shaiva temple

View of the temple|thumb|200x200px|left As per Hindu legend, the essence of creation arrived at this place in a pot during deluge. Since the pot (locally called kalayam) arrived here, it was called Kalayanallur. Sambandar in his works in Tevaram mentions that this place was originally occupied by Buddhists (Calukkiyar) and hence it came to be known as Cakkiyarkkottai, which with time became Cakkottai. Another legend states that Nayanmar saint Sakya was a staunch devotee of Shiva. He used to wear in Sakya style, which was not typical of Saivism. He used to worship Shiva at this place and even did puja for a stone he crossed. In his devotion, he used to forget that he was adorning the image of Shiva with stones instead of flowers. One day he forgot to do his austerities and started consuming food. He suddenly realised his mistake and ran to the place where he usually worships Shiva to find stones from Kailash started falling at his feet, with Shiva and Parvathy appearing before him. It is believed that as Sakya worshipped Shiva here, the place used to be called Sakkottai.

Architecture

Dravidian architecture

First attested

7th century

Details are compiled from Wikimedia projects and published temple sources. Send a correction if something is wrong.

• Wikipedia, Paadal Petra Sthalam
• Wikipedia, Amirthakadeswarar Temple

More links

• HRCE Tamil Nadu
• English Wikipedia
• Google Maps
• Tamil Wikipedia