Amman Shrine

The Amman temple of Ulagamulududaiya Nachchiyar, now called Brihannayaki temple, is a Pandyan foundation of the thirteenth century; in the early and middle Chola period, there were no separate Amman shrines attached to any temple; the only Devi shrines known in this period are those of Durga (Drau-pati ratha) at Mamallapuram, of Meenakshi at Madurai and of KanyaKumari at Kanyakumari (inPandya country) and perhaps the Kamakoti (Kamakshi) temple of Kanchipuram. In the early Chola period, we have many instances of the installation in the main shrine itself of metal images of Devi as Bhogesvari, Uma Bhattarakior Palliyarai-Nachchiyar as well as of the installation in the srivimana niches of stone images of Durga, Lakshmi and Sarasvati. One of the four inscriptions of Parantaka I found in the Adityesvaram temple at Tiruverumbur refers to the consecration of Uma Bhattarivar; this must refer to either the Bhogasakti Amman or to the Palliyarai-Nachchiyar and not to any deity with an independent shrine for it. The Mangalambika shrine at Tirukkandiyur was originally a Siva temple, re-dedicated later on as an Amman shrine; the Vada-Kailasam and the Ten-Kailasam at Tiruvaiyaru are actually Siva temples and Amman shrines, built in the days of Rajaraja I and Rajendra I respectively; the same pattern was followed in the case of the Gangaikonda-cholapuram temple, where the Vada-Kailasam and Ten-Kailasam temples were originally both dedicated only to Siva; this is evident from the sculptures found on the garbhagriha walls of these two temples; it was only later that the Vada-Kailasam temple there was converted into an Amman shrine (perhaps in the days of the Later Cholas).

Another piece of of evidence adduced in suppoit of the theory that separate independent Amman shrines existed even in the days of Rajendra I is taken to be the mention of the existence of a Sri Bhattaraki icon, besides Durga and other sculptures, in a list of icons enumerated in an inscription of the twenty-sixth year of Rajendra I at Ennayiram (ARE 335 of 1971; also vide The Colas by K.A. Nilakanta Sastri, 2 nd edition, p. 715). There is no separate Amman shrine at all of the age of Rajendra I at Ennayiram. The earliest positive evidence that we have of the construction of an independent, separate Amman shrine different from the main shrine of Siva, is in respect of the Sivakami Amman shrine, otherwise known as the temple of Tirukkamakkottam-Udaiya Nachchiyar in the enlarged campus of the Nataraja temple at Chidambaram; this temple for the Amman was built during the period of the Later Cholas, viz-, Kulottunga I and his successors. In fact, this is the earliest instance of its kind in the whole of the Tamil country.