Basic information about the temple

Moolavar:	Kasi Viswanathar	Ambal / Thayar:	Visalakshi
Deity:	Siva	Historical name:
Vriksham:		Teertham:
Agamam:		Age (years):
Timing:	– to – & – to –	Parikaram:
Temple group:		–
Sung by:		Temple set:
Navagraham:		Nakshatram:
City / town:	Adichamangalam	District:	Thanjavur
Maps from (click):	Current location	Kumbakonam (9 km)	Thanjavur (36 km)
	Tiruvarur (37 km)	Mayiladuthurai (44 km)

Location

Sthala puranam and temple information

Located between Chandrasekharapuram and Valangaiman is the village of Adichamangalam. The lone temple here is a Siva temple, said to be well over a thousand years old, however, no records exist to support this.

There is no recorded sthala puranam for this temple, except that Aditya Chola is said to have worshipped at this temple.

The temple faces east and has a large eastern entrance with an entrance arch (no raja gopuram here). However, the operational entrance is from the western side. There is no bali peetham or dhwajasthambham. There is a large, newly constructed mandapam straight ahead, which houses the garbhagriham and the south-facing Amman shrine.

Inside the mandapam is a bali peetham followed by a very old Nandi. A small Vinayakar and two dwarapalakas guard the entrance to the garbhagriham. The Amman shrine has two dwarapalakis. On the southern inside wall are bas relief images of Kannappa Nayanar, Kunkiliya Kalaya Nayanar, Sambandar, Tirumoolar, Mangayarkarasi and Kochchenga Chola. Presumably, all of these people could have been associated with this temple’s history and sthala puranam.

Given the size of the lingam, which is moderately large, it is unlikely to be an original Kasi Viswanathar (typically, Siva lingams named Kasi Viswanathar are diminutive in size, since they are all said to have been brought from Kasi). In the mandapam is also the lingam said to have been worshipped by Aditya Chola, along with an image of the king worshipping the lingam.

As one comes outside, there are Dakshinamurti, Lingodhbhavar and Durga, in the koshtams. Brahma is conspicuously absent here. In the prakaram are Vinayakar, Murugan with his consorts Valli and Deivanai, Gajalakshmi, Chandikeswarar, Bhairavar, Suryan and Chandran. There is no navagraham shrine, which adds credence to the assumption that this may have been a very old temple (the practice of navagraham worship as a separate shrine in Siva temples, is about a thousand years old).

Other information for your visit

Contact

The temple is maintained and managed by a family who live in the street to the south of the temple. They are extremely gracious and help visitors to the temple to visit, if the temple is otherwise closed.

Gallery