01Kaleeswarar of the Tevaram
The place was known in Sangam times as Kanapper; a poem of the Purananuru praises its fort. In the ninth century Sundarar sang of its Lord, and it is one of the 275 Paadal Petra Sthalams. The temple has three shrines, to Swarna Kaleeswarar, Someswarar and Sundareswarar, each with his Devi, and a large tank called the Aanai Madu, said to have been made by Indra’s elephant Airavata. Its rajagopuram, about 46 m high, is ascribed to the Marudhu brothers, the ministers and later rulers of Sivaganga. The car festival falls in Thai, the Vaikasi Brahmotsavam honours Someswarar, and Aadi Pooram is kept for the Amman.
021772 and 1801
On 25 June 1772 a Company and Arcot army under Colonel Joseph Smith marched on Kalaiyar Kovil, where the Raja of Sivaganga, Muthu Vaduganatha Thevar, had withdrawn. He was killed in the fighting, the temple was plundered of jewels valued at 50,000 pagodas, and Rani Velu Nachiyar escaped to the Dindigul hills, returning in 1780 to retake her kingdom. In 1801 the Marudhu brothers joined the great southern rising against the Company and fell back on the Kalaiyar Kovil forest. The story told in Sivaganga is that the British threatened to pull down the temple tower they had built unless they surrendered. The forest was cut through, the brothers were taken, and they were hanged at Tiruppathur on 24 October 1801. Their gurupuja is kept here every October.
The life of this place
- 25 June 1772Raja Muthu Vaduganatha Thevar is killed; the temple is plundered.
- 1780Velu Nachiyar and the Marudhu brothers retake Sivaganga.
- 1801The Marudhu brothers make their last stand in the Kalaiyar Kovil forest.
- 24 October 1801The Marudhu brothers are hanged at Tiruppathur.
About 18 km east of Sivaganga; the Marudhu brothers’ gurupuja falls in late October.
