Village temples – an introduction

There are several thousands of temples in Tamil Nadu, but those that are either referred to in the scriptures, bhakti literature, or otherwise regarded as important or significant, are only a couple of thousand, which itself is a very optimistic figure.

There are a number of more temples which are located in interior places, inside villages or in remote locations, which are visited only by locals, that too in an ideal scenario. Some of these temples continue to be decently maintained – possibly the locals, or individuals / families who support such temples (perhaps because it is their native town, or kula deivam, etc).

However, sadly, many of them have absolutely no visits, and have gone to seed. Some of these temples are also regarded as special for one reason or another – maybe they are prarthana sthalams, unique for a particular deity, architecture, or special iconography.

Many, if not most, of these temples have their own local sthala puranams, which are often equally or more interesting than those of larger temples.

Because there is so little known about these temples, it is nearly impossible to obtain and collect sthala puranam or other historical information about most of these temples. Therefore, the descriptions these village temples on this site will largely be factual, covering the location, about the area, the deities in the temple, etc.

Visiting these village temples will provide religious, spiritual, social and economic impetus to the village, and also help create awareness about these temples. It will also help keep the temple in a reasonably good state of upkeep, and generate income for the ecosystem of priests, flower sellers, etc, which would be a very noble outcome.

Temples on this site which are classified as village temples are tagged as such. Do visit them if you are in the region. You can also find an updated list of such temples in the link-grid below.

Thank you!