A Chozha Temple in ruins at Sikaraja Puram- Kambarajapuram near Ranipet District, Tamil Nadu.

10^th March 2019.

After the Sri Vishwamithriswarar Temple visit, we went to this Chozha period temple in ruins at Kambaraja Puram, about 2 km from Thiruvalam on the banks of the river Neeva (Ponnai). There is no approach road/path to this temple. We have to walk on the boundary or the bund of the paddy fields. Since the stones are black, the local people call this temple as Black Temple (Karuppu Kovil - கருப்பு கோயில்). The temple land was completely encroached upon by the farmers, and the structure alone is left. The temple is about 4 feet below the outer ground level.

The temple is facing east. The original temple had with sanctum, an antarala, and an artha mandapam. Due to vegetation growth, the sanctum was completely destroyed. We could see that the mandapam is still standing to date, but it may also collapse shortly. On the west side, fragments of statues are strewn around. The Dakshinamurthy statue is lying in pieces without the head. Muyalakan looks cute. On the way to this temple, we had seen some broken pieces of the temple. It was said that some statues are also buried under the earth.

The antarala side niches have the makara toranas. In the dancing scene, Rishis, A King worshiping Lord Shiva, beating of a drum, etc, sculptures are in the makara torana. Inch sculptures are also seen on the pilasters. We couldn’t move around the temple due to high vegetation growth. The Rishaba was moved to the sanctum side to give way for the field activity. Along with the fragmented stone, we see an inscription stone that belongs to 12^th 12th-century Vikrama Chozha (1118 to 1135 CE), which is recorded in "The Inscriptions of Madras Presidency (Volume-I)". The Mandapa pillars are simple,  round in shape, and the capital looks similar to the Pallava style. The temple might have been built during the 10^th to 11^th Century.

In the Thiruvalam Shiva Temple inscription, Ganga King Vijyanthi Vikramavarman's name is mentioned. Hence, this place, Kambarajapuram, might have been called "Ganga Rajapuram" and later turned into the present name of  Kambarajapuram.

Another sad part is that the mandapam is being used for doing Black Magic / Pillisunyam / Eval, etc.

HOW TO REACH:

The temple in ruins is on the banks of the river Neeva (Ponnai), about 2 km from the Thiruvalam. (Very near Brick Kiln)

Thiruvalam is about 20 km from Vellore and 12 km from Ranipet.

LOCATION OF THE TEMPLE: CLICK HERE 
Latitude 12.96 4472 and Longitude 79. 26 1545

Inscription

---OM SHIVAYA NAMA---