Temples in Chennur

Chennur is a small village in the Gudur taluk of the Nellore district in Andhra Pradesh. It is about 6 km. from Gudur town in a westerly direction on the road leading to Saidapuram. There is a local temple dedicated to Chennakesava.

Chennakesava temple

During the 13th century, the Pottapi Chola Chiefs held sway over this region and were virtually independent of the Chola central authority. On a round pillar in the south-western corner outside the central shrine in this temple is a short Tamil inscription (ARE 72 of 1963-64) dated in Saka 1176 (=A.D. 1254-55) recording the grant, of dry and wet lands irrigated by a tank, evidently the one behind the temple, for food offerings to god Chennagopala by Hageraya Singaradevan for the merit of Pottapichcholan alias Manumasittaraisar. From the date of the record, ‘Manumasittar-aisar’ should be none other than Manumasiddharasa II alias Viragandagopala (acc. A.D. 1250). There is an image of Venu-gopala in a niche very near the pillar on which the inscription is engraved. The sculpture is in high relief, carved on a single slab and depicting a four-armed Krishna playing on the flute with his two consorts on either side. The image is not under worship any longer, being damaged, and may be dated prior to a.d. 1254—55, both on stylistic and on epigraphical grounds. The Chennakesava temple bears the alternate name of Chittirameli vinnagaram alias Kesavapperumal koyil in two other inscriptions found in this temple (ARE 70 and 71 of 1963-64). The temple was evidently built by the well-known merchant-guild ‘Chittirameli’.

This must be a foundation of the days of Rajaraja III or Raje-ndra III and Viragandagopala, the Telugu Choda chief of Nellore.