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A Siva temple, perhaps
the most beautiful of its kind in Salem District. Parts of it existed
as early as the tenth century: as it stands now, it is the product
of the Gatti Mudhali dynasty of the seventeenth century. Reconstruction
and elaboration of the old temple was begun by Mummudi, continued
by Siyazhi, and was brought near completion by Vanangamudi.
This west facing temple is enclosed by a massive stone wall measuring
306' by 164' reportedly built in the thirteenth conceived as a chariot
on wheels, drawn by elephants and horses. The huge entrance doors,
made
of vengai ( pterocarpus marsupium) wood, are studied with untrusting
iron knobs each of a different pattern. Their panels are decorated
with wooden carvings depicting incarnations of Vishnu.
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