01The guru under the kurundam
Tiruvadavurar was the chief minister of the Pandya king at Madurai. Sent to the coast with gold to buy horses, he came to Tiruperunturai and found a guru seated under a kurundam tree with his disciples, and knew him for Shiva. He gave up everything, received diksha, and spent the gold on a temple. The Tiruvasagam, his book of hymns, returns again and again to this place. The temple keeps the memory in its form: the sanctum holds only the avudaiyar, the pitha, with no linga on it, and in front of it are a pair of sandals and the guru’s seat. There is no Nandi and no flagstaff, and the offering of steamed rice is made on a stone slab.
02Stone that looks like wood
The mandapas of Avudaiyarkoil are famous among sculptors. Their roofs have stone eaves carved thin and ribbed like wooden rafters, with hanging stone chains cut from a single block, and the pillars carry life-size figures of dancers, warriors and deities. Most of this work dates from the Nayaka and Sethupati period, when the temple was richly endowed. Every year in the month of Ani and again in Margazhi the festival of Manikkavacakar is held, and the Tiruvasagam is recited in full.
The life of this place
- 9th century (traditional)Manikkavacakar receives diksha here and builds the first temple.
- 16th–17th centuryThe great carved mandapas are added under Nayaka and Sethupati patronage.
Avudaiyarkoil is about 45 km south of Pudukkottai, near Aranthangi. Look up at the mandapa eaves before you go in.
