Paridhiyappar (Bhaskareswarar) Temple, Paridhiniyamam (Paruthiappar Koil)

01The sun’s shrine

Paridhi is a Tamil name of the sun, and the Lord here is Paridhiyappar, the sun’s Lord, or Bhaskareswarar in Sanskrit. The temple’s katha says Surya worshipped Shiva at this spot, and a second katha credits Sibi, the just king the Cholas counted as an ancestor, with finding the linga and building the first shrine. The settlement grew around the temple and took its name, Paruthiappar Koil. Mangalanayaki is the Devi. Sambandar’s one padigam on Paridhiniyamam is the reason the village appears among the Paadal Petra Sthalams; little else about the temple’s building has been published.