Tamilnadu > Namakkal > Arthanari Isvarar Koil
The only Siva temple in Tamil Nadu dedicated to the Halfed-woman lord. The temple is situated on the Thiruchengode mountain at a height of 465 metres. The chief deity is a statue of 5' high and is believed to have been created by siddhars out of a herbal compound. The temple also contains shrines for Murugan (Chengottu Valavar) and Vishnu.
It is a large temple whose outer walls measure 260' east-west by 198' north-south. The temple itself is 170' long and 95' wide. the main structures of the temple date back to the seventh century. Some of them (Artha Mantapam Maha Mantapam, NariGangapathy Mantapam, Sabha Mantabam, and Thandava Pathirai Vilasa Mantapam) were constructed in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The north gate tower. Built in the 1550s was renovated in the 1880s. The stone images of Kumarasamy Kangayam (who built the halls of Nari Ganapathy and Thandava Pathirai) and his four wives are on two pillars. Local traditions claim that these pillars cure the ague of worshipping sufferers.
The traditions also claim stone Nandhi in the dance hall came to life and ate grains on hearing the songs of Sivaprakasar, a visiting Saiva saint.
The stone window facing the main shrine lets in the rays of the evening sun for three days year. The fall first on the feet of the deity and slowly move upwards to the head as if in a devotional act of caressing.
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