A Shiva temple, said to be at least 500 years old, lies abandoned and on the verge of disintegration. It is built on an acre of land over a a rock formation inside a scrub forest at Chinnaariyapatti near here. “From the stone carvings and the Chola architecture on the temple structure, it looks to be at least five centuries old, but few in the outside world know about its existence,” said S. Ravikumar, an archaeologist who has done considerable research on stone formations and ancient shrines in this district.
Novel architecture
The temple is constructed on rock without any foundation pits. It has a 40-feet single stone pillar at the entrance. “A closer look at the construction of the sanctum sanctorum which holds the main deity of Lord Shiva and the other enclosures that hold idols of Murugan, Bhairavar and Vinayaka, reveal that the shrine was built after levelling the rock.
The delicately cut stones, used to build the walls are laid one above the other with a binding of fine sand, lime and egg white, and not cement that we use in buildings today,” pointed out S. Velusamy, a historian with Veerarajendran Archaeological and Historical Research Centre.
There is also a stone cut tank for water outside the temple boundary. Muthathal from Chinnaariyapatti, who goes there to graze her goats says as far back as she can remember the temple has been deserted. Mr. Ravikumar wished that instead of building new temples, ancient historic shrines such as these should be repaired and preserved.
The temple is constructed on
rock without any foundation pits
