Temples in Pullamangai (near Pasupatikoyil) (3rd to 6th year)

The Brahmapurisvara temple, called in the past the temple of Tiru-Alandurai-Mahadevar at Pullamangai is the best and the most well-preserved among the temples of the days of Parantaka I.

The temple might have existed as a brick structure during the period of the Devaram hymnists (7th century) but it must have been converted into a stone temple in the early years of Parantaka I. An inscription of the third year of a Parakesarivarman mentions that the village assembly met in the mandapa in front of the temple of Tiru-Alandurai Mahadevar and made a grant to the temple of Kala Pidariar at Naduvirchcheri.

The temple faces the east. It is a tri-tala structure. The garbhagriha and the ardhamandapa are the oldest parts of the temple. The plinth has several mouldings, kumudam, kandam, kapotam with a yali frieze above. There are five devakoshtas housing Ganesa, Dakshina-murti, Lingodbhavar, Brahma and Durga. Each niche has a torana above it. The cornice is adorned with kudus at the edges and with scroll work in the centre and at the ends. At the base of the pancharas and below the pilasters, there are fine panels of miniature-sculptures. Between the devakoshtas there are pancharas in two talas.

There are two storeys over the garbhagriha, and these are adorned with miniature shrines, salas and kutas.

Above the third tala, we have the griva. There are koshtas with figure-niches crowned with kudus having simha heads. The sikhara and the stupi are four-sided and curvilinear, though covered heavily with recent stucco-work.

There are panels of miniature-sculptures on the base of the temple—about 65 in number—depicting Gayaswra-Samharamurti, Kalarimurti, Andakasura, Varaha-Vishnu, the Tandava figure of Siva etc. which are almost unsurpassed in the field of delicate miniature plastic art. Like the sculptures of the Nagesvara, the Kilur, the Punjai and the Muvarkoyil temples, this holds the pride of place in the field of plastic art of the 10th century (Pis. 32-42).