There are 3 famous siva temples with Marudham as sthala vriksham.
1. Mallikarjuna in the North at Srisailam
2. Putarjuna in the South also known as Kadai Marudhur
3. The one in between - Idai Marudhu - which is known as Thiru Idai Marudhur - Madyarjunam
( There is one more temple on Trichy Karur Road built by Rajendra - Our Pillayarpatti also has Arjuna tree as sthala vriksham and Siva is known as Arjunavaneswarar/Marudheesar)
Thiruppudaimarudhur is a very old Pandya temple with extensive renovation by Cholas, II Pandyas and Nayaks.
I am checking some known first Pandya temles for Ramayanam images.
I was leaving the temple with slight disappointment as the temple was renovated much and whatever remained was of chola origin.
The temple was pitch dark and i was about to leave and suddenly something struck me. The Chandesvara sannidhi looked very different. There are Vatteluthus also.
Then i find with the help of TVM's book. That lists the following inscriptions on the Chandesvarar shirine.
121 of 1905. (Grantha.) On the east wall of the Chan- desvara shrine in the Putarjunesvara temple. A partly damaged record. Mentions Vira-Pandya (unidentified).
126. 1220/1905. (Vatteluttu.) On the same wall. A record in the twentieth year of the Pandya king Sadaiyamaran. The village is called Tirupadumarudil and the inscription refers also to Pandimattanda-valanadu and to a servant of Vlra-Pandya (unidentified).
127. 123 0/1905. (Tamil.) On the east and north walls of the same shrine. A partly damaged record in the tenth year of the Chola king Rajarajakesarivarman (1,985 1013), "who destroyed the ships at Kandalur-Salai." Records gift of land. Some of the signatures are in Grantha, while the rest are in Vatteluttu.
128. 124 of 1905. (Tamil.) On the west wall of the same shrine. A damaged and incomplete record in the tenth year of the Chola king Rajarajakesarivarman (I, 985 1013), "who destroyed the ships at Kandalur-Salai
One First Pandya structure - fully available safely.
Respected members, There is a Siva temple(Somasundareswarar/Somasundari amman) temple at Authoor in tuticorin district. We have to this temple several times as Authoor is our native place and this is supposed to have been built by Pandyas. I have enquired with locals about the temple, but i could not get much information on the history of the temple.The last time I had visited this temple, I noticed that were were some inscriptions in the Siva shrine. The walls had however been whitewashed(its been whitewashed for a long time i guess).I am not sure, if the inscriptions have been copied. This temple is under aranliyathurai. I did speak to the EO on the inscription. He was new to the temple and said he was also interested in removing the whitewashing. Does any of our respected members know about this temple? Does anybody know if the inscriptions in the temple have been copied? I would be very interested in knowing the details if anyone is aware.
they have been copied. 2 insciptions are of8th/9th C Pandyas.remeber as- Maranchadayan and Virapandyan. can confirm once i am back home - after 2 weeks.Lot of RRC also. I remeber this because this must be touched for Ramayanam series. By the By did you see any panels there?
Thanks a lot sir. I havent seen any panels there. I havent absorbed very careful. We always go to this temple in a hurry as they close very early. The next time i go i will surely check. Please let me know the details of the inscriptions if possible whenever you have time.
No panels. But beautiful images on the vimana - Indra on the east, Narasimha on west, brahma on the north. The dakshinamoorthi on the south was taken away by river Tamprabarani when she flooded the temple for 7 days.
beautiful boothavari where gandhrvas are depicted. excellent dwarapalakas. other moortis are under worship. A sayana vishnu too.