Prananatheswarar Temple, Tirumangalakkudi

01The minister’s life

The temple’s katha tells of a minister of a Chola king who spent the tax revenue of this country building the temple. The king ordered him put to death. The minister’s wife prayed to the Devi, and the Lord restored his life, so he is Prananatheswarar, Lord of the breath of life, and the Devi Mangalanayaki is prayed to by married women for the long life of their husbands. The minister’s body, the katha says, was brought back here for the rites, and he rose. Appar and Sambandar sang the shrine.

02The grahas’ shrine

The temple stands a short way from Suryanar Kovil, the Surya temple of the Navagraha circuit. The grahas, the temple says, were cursed for granting a boon without leave and did penance here to be freed, and pilgrims doing the Navagraha round come to Prananatheswarar first. The oldest masonry is Chola work of the ninth century, with additions up to the Thanjavur Nayakas; inscriptions of Kulottunga Chola and of Vijayanagara kings are on its walls.