Agameswarar, Pillamangalam, Sivaganga

Basic information about the temple

Moolavar:	Agameswarar	Ambal / Thayar:	Avudainayaki
Deity:	Siva	Historical name:
Vriksham:		Teertham:
Agamam:		Age (years):
Timing:	to & to	Parikaram:
Temple group:		–
Sung by:		Temple set:
Navagraham:		Nakshatram:
City / town:	Pillamangalam	District:	Sivaganga
Maps from (click):	Current location	Karaikudi (20 km)	Pudukkottai (31 km)
	Tiruchirappalli (84 km)	Madurai (85 km)

Location

Sthala puranam and temple information

This private temple is located in a remote part of Keelasevalpatti, called Pillamangalam. The name of Siva here is itself rather unusual for temples in this area, so there must be some interesting sthala puranam to this temple.

Unfortunately, there was nobody at the temple when we visited. In fact, the temple’s doors were closed, though we took a chance and pushed the gates open, and were inside the premises. Throughout our visit, there was nobody who came – not even a local – to check what was happening. The good part of this was we had an undisturbed visit. The lamentable part was that the garbhagriham and Amman sannidhi were closed.

The temple seems to be a classic Chettinadu temple from the 15^th or 16^th century, or perhaps even later, and wholly constructed by the Nagarathar community. This is evident from the nature of stone used, the architecture, and the design of the various vigrahams.

There is no dhwajasthambam here, however, there is a small Vinayakar vigraham on the ground just before the bali peetham and Nandi mandapam. The maha mandapam itself is fairly spacious, with several uniform pillars. On the right are shrines for Bhairavar and Avudainayaki Amman.

Outside the garbhagriham, to the right, are Sundararaja Perumal along with Sundaravalli Thayar and Alarmel Mangai Thayar, in the open. The three murtis are very well crafted, despite being contemporary.

The koshtams have Dakshinamurti, Brahma and Durga. Interestingly, the koshtam deities are not inside the niches as such, but on a pedestal that juts out from the outer wall of the garbhagriham.

The maha mandapam itself encloses a set of shrines at the rear (sort of like an inner prakaram), which houses shrines for the sthala Vinayakar, Viswanathar and Visveswarar with Visalakshi Amman, Murugan and his consorts, Tirumagal (Mahalakshmi), and Chandikeswarar. In the outer prakaram are shrines for Sani, Bhairavar, Chandran, Suryan, and Navagraham.