Temples in Srimushnam

There are two important temples at Srimushnam, which is in the Chidambaram taluk of the South Arcot district; one is the Bhuvaraha or Adi Varaha temple, about which there is no epi-graphical evidence prior to the Vijayanagar adays. However, the other (Siva) temple, called that of Tirumuttam-udaiya Mahadevar in the inscriptions and currently named Nityesvara temple, seems ascribable to the Later Chola period. Inscriptions here contain cross-references to the Adi Varaha temple.

Nityesvara (Tirumuttam-udaiya Mahadevar) temple

On the west wall of the central shrine, there is a record of the 30th year of Rajakesarivarman Kulottunga Chola (I), which appears to be the earliest record on the existing structure of this temple. This registers a gift of the villages of Sungantavirttasola-nallur (named after Kulottunga I) and Adivaraha-nallur to the temples of Tirumuttam-udaiya Mahadevar and Srivaraha Alvar respectively, at Mudigondasola-nallur in Vilandaiyir kurram, a subdivision of Irungolappadi, by the king when he was seated on the throne called Sedirajan in his palace at his camp at Tirumaluvadi in Poygai nadu, a subdivision of Geyavinoda valanadu (ARE 231 of 1916). There is another record of the same ruler two years later (32nd year) which mentions that, at the instance of Kulottungasola Sauvarnadhiraja and another, the separation of the above two villages was ordered by the king when he was seated on the throne called Sedirajan in his palace at Ayirattali, which now bore the alternate name of Minavanai-venkonda-solapuram, the later name given to it after his repeated victories over the Pandyas. Confirming the contents of the first inscription, the former village is described as a devadana of Tirumuttam-udaiya Mahadevar at Terrampattu alias Mudigondasolanallur in Vilandaiyir kurram, a subdivision of Irungolappadi, and the latter as a devadana of Srivaraha Alvar (ARE 233 of 1916). Evidently Terrampattu and Mudigondasolanallur were the earlier names of the present town of Srimushnam. There is another Chola record on the walls of the main shrine, relating to the sixth year of Rajaraja (III), which registers a gift of padikaval and other income from certain villages towards worship in the same temple, by Alappirandan Elisaimohan alias Kulottungasola Kadavarayan for the merit of himself and his descendants (ARE 232 of 1916).

These records would seem to indicate that this temple came to be built before the 30th year of Kulottunga I (i.e. a.d. 1100). On the south wall of the raandapa in front of the main shrine is a record of the 44th year of Kulottunga Chola deva I; it mentions a sarvamanya gift of three kasus for three lamps to the temple of Tirumuttam-udaiyar by Anantisan Adavallan of Suravalundur (ARE 236 of 1916). On the walls of the prakara, there are two records of the eighth year relating to Vikrama Chola and a large number relating to the Vijayanagara rulers. We may thus assign the mandapa to the same period as the main shrine of the temple, which, as we have mentioned, had come into existence at the latest before the 30th year of Kulottunga I.