Temples in Tiruppalaitturai

Tiruppalaitturai is in the Papanasam taluk of the Tanjavur district, 1.6 km. northeast of Papanasam town. There is a temple here named that of Kshiravanesvara or Palaivananathar. There is an Amman shrine to the south of this temple.

Palaivananathar temple

Appar has sung the praise of this Lord (seventh century a.d.). The Dharukavana rishis (the sages of the Dharuka forest) according to local legends, set up a tiger to attack Lord Siva, who, however, killed the tiger and wore the skin.

There are ten inscriptions on the walls of this temple. The earliest of them (ARE 434 of 1912) is one of the 43rd regnal year of Rajakesarivarman alias Tribhuvana-chakravartin Kulottunga deva I (a.d. 1113). This record registers that at the request of Madhurantakap-paravainattu Muvendavelan, the king granted the remission of antaraya-pattam and other taxes in respect of the devadana village of Tiruch-chirrambalanallur belonging to the temple of Mahadevar of Tiruppalaitturai in Nallur nadu, a subdivision of Nittavinoda valanadu. An inscription of the 10th year of Vikrama Chola (a.d. 1128) mentions a gift of jewels to the temple of Mahadevar at Tiruppalaitturai. There is an inscription (ARE 440 of 1912) of the 12th year and 264th day of Parakesarivarman alias Tribhuvana-chakravartin Rajaraja II (about a.d. 1150). It records a gift of land in the grove called Kunjiran alias Bhuvana-mulududaiyal, under the new name of Rajagambhira-nallur (after a surname of Rajaraja II), for worship in the temple and for maintaining a flower garden. Reference is also made in this inscription to the revenue survey (nila-alavu) of the 16th year of ‘Sungam-tavirtta-devar’ (Kulottunga I).

There are three inscriptions of Kulottunga III. One, of his 4th regnal year (ARE 439 of 1912), mentions that a person called Periya-devan Nambi of Pennagadam, who had proprietary rights in the devadana villages of Tiruch-chirrambalanallur and Rajagambhira-nallur, consecrated the shrines of Periya devar and Nachchiyar in this temple, evidently named after the donor, and made a gift of gold jewels. Another, of his 12th year and 93rd day (ARE 441 of 1912), registers the distribution and assignment of lands in the village of Kuladipa-nayaka-puram with the corporate consent of the Saliya (weaver) merchants and this arrangement was engraved on the walls of the temple. The third inscription, which is of the 15th regnal year, is very much damaged. The last Chola inscription, of the 28th regnal year of Rajaraja III (a.d. 1244), mentions that the shrine of Tirujnana-Sambanda-Isvaram Udaiyar was consecrated in the eastern verandah of the temple of Tiruppalaitturai Udaiyar by one Neela Gangaraiyan and it adds that a gift of land by purchase was made in the villages of Tiruch-chirrambala-nallur and Raja-gambhira-nallur to this newly built shrine.