14th
October 2019.
The
second visit to this Kundrapureeswarar Shiva temple was on 14th
October 2019. During my first visit, this Kundrapureeswarar Temple, was under
renovation and preparing for the Kumbhabhishekam. As per the inscription this
place was called as Kuruppa Nattu Kundrathoor ( குன்றத்தூர் ), during 13th Century
and latter corrupted to the present name of
Kunnathur. Kuruppa Nadu was one of the sub division of 24 Nadus of Kongu
mandalam during Kongu Chozha period.
Moolavar
: Sri Kundrapureeswarar.
Some
of the important features of this temple are..
The
temple is facing west. The Deepasthambham/ Vilakku Thoon or Garuda thoon in
front of the temple. There is an entrance arch on the west side.
Balipeedam, Dwajasthambam and Nandhi are in front of sanctum sanctorum. The
sanctum is on an elevated level. In
koshtam, Durgai, Brahma, Lingothbavar, Dakshinamurthy and Vinayagar. In
prakaram Chandikeswarar, Vinayagar, Navagrahas, Chandran and Suriyan.
ARCHITECTURE
The
temple consists of sanctum sanctorum, antarala and artha mandapam. Amman is in a
separate sannadhi facing west. As per the inscriptions the temple might have
been built before 12th Century. But this was completely changed and
the temple looks like recent period temple. There is no trace of the old
structure now and inscriptions are also not available.
HISTORY AND
INSCRIPTION
As
per the Tamil Nadu archaeological Department’s report, the temple had 15 inscriptions
of Hoysala King Veera Vallalan-III (14th Century ), Vikrama
Chozha-III ( 1275 CE ), Veera Pandiyan (13th Century ), Sundara Pandyan
( 1291 CE ) and Mysore Wodeyar king Nanjara Raya wodeyar (18th Century
) As per the inscriptions this place was called as Kun(d)rathur and Lord Shiva
was called as Kundramudayar.
As
per the inscriptions the renovations were carried out in 13th
Century for the same, maha mandapam, artha mandapam door jambs / frame and steps
are donated by Kangeya nattu Vellakkal merchant Punniyathevan and Siruvalur
Vellalar caste ( sathanthai sub sect ) Kesan’s wife Anthiyuraandi.
The
Mysore wodeyar’s inscription states that Kettimudali’s descendent Thamba
Mudaliyar was given power in this area, who was thrown out of power during
Madurai Nayaks period. A 13th
century inscription speaks about sharing proportion of income from the temples by
Bhattar, Thanathar ( Donors ) and ThirumuRRa Nambiyars.
The
inscriptions also speaks about donation of money in terms of Achu for burning
Sandhya Deepam and Perpetual lamps. If
anybody looks for these inscriptions will get disappointed, since all the inscriptions
were lost during recent renovations. Hope moolavar and Nandhi are original.
TEMPLE TIMINGS
The
temple will be kept opened between 06.30 hrs to 12.00 hrs and 17.00 hrs to
20.00 hrs
HOW TO
REACH :
This
temple is on the Kunnathur to Nambiyur
road.
Kunnathur
is on the junction of Tiruppur to Gobichettipalayam and Erode/ Perundurai to
Tiruppur via Perumanallur.
Kunnathur is 40 KM from Erode, 21 KM from
Gobichettipalayam and 28 KM from Tiruppur
The nearest railway station of Tiruppur.
LOCATION OF
THE TEMPLE : CLICK HERE
---OM SHIVAYA NAMA---
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