1000 year old Chola period temple of Poruvai
Poruvai is a small village located enroute to Pon Amaravathi from Trichy in TamilNadu. It is known for its Ponnar Sankar temple nearby.
In this village a small but historically significant Siva temple lies unnoticed. The name of the Lord here is Naga natha swamy ( which could be approximately translated as King of Snakes). Godess is here is known as Madulambika ( meaning one who is of red hue like the pomegranate fruit Lalitha Sahasranama mentions one of the names of the Goddess as dAdimikusumaprabhA(560) Of the hue of pomegranate flower.dAdima is a kind of pomegranate which bears no fruit but only flowers. The only other well known Naganathaswamy temples are in Tirunageswaram and Keelperumpallam, both near Kumbakonam and are known for their Sarpa Dosha Pujas.
The temple has several inscriptions and sculptures of Adi Chola kings who built the temple. The basic stone structure of the temple is still intact.The temple has shrines for Lord Ganesha, Subramanya, Dakshinamoorthy.
A detailed historical analysis of this temple and its surroundings could provide a wealth of information to historians and archaeologists. If the temple is maintained properly, it could bring a lot of devotees.
A sacred Bilva tree grows inside the temple itself. It must have been a very well known temple in the past since it has an exclusive temple tank and a temple Nandavanam ( a garden for growing flowers for the temple). But both of them are in bad state now.The temple itself was last renovated in 1991 and has seen little maintenance. Fortunately, the old chariot is being replaced by a new one.
Location: Poruvai, Tamil Nadu, India
