Most of the historical structures in and around our city have braved the vagaries of time or lie in ruins, with mere skeletal structures to speak of their greatness. Aviyur and Kurandi are exceptions. Aviyur lies near Kariapatti village, 20 km from Madurai.
The landmarks of the village appear only in books and lore. The Shiva Temple at Aviyur retains its skeletal structure, whereas the Jain caves at Kurandi, a nearby village, are hard to trace now. Inscriptions in other parts of Madurai and Tamil Nadu speak extensively about Kurandi caves of the Jains. Soon, the Shiva Temple may also go missing.
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Robert Bruce Foote, a British geologist, stumbled upon the prehistoric link in this village with a weird-sounding name - Aviyur. He unearthed a stone tool, evidence that shows human settlement here even five lakh years ago. “This is the first prehistoric evidence collected in Southern districts,” says C. Santhalingam, retired archaeologist.
When the Pandyas lost to Raja Raja Chola I (985 to 1014 AD), he appointed his son Rajendra Chola as the viceroy. Rajendra Chola commissioned a Shiva temple to be built here and the temple’s deity took his name and came to be known as Rajendra Choleeswaram.
The temple still has its garbhagriha and arthamandapa. The superstructure vimana might have been erected but now it is completely collapsed. Only the ruined terrace is seen.
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“Even though the temple was constructed by Chola monarchs, the Cholas followed the Pandya style of architecture,” says Santhalingam. The temple wall is decorated with pilasters and empty niches. The athishtana is very simple with jagathi and thiripattakumutha. The roof of the temple is also simple, without yali or bootha friezes.
Originally, Shivalingam was consecrated in the garbhagriha but because of damage it was taken out and left outside the temple. Now, an old Vinayaka sculpture is found in the garbhagriha and worshipped by the local people.
Inscriptions
The northern wall of the temple has two later Pandya inscriptions belonging to Jadavarman Vikrama Pandya I dated 1246 AD and Maravarman Sundara Pandyan II dated 1250 AD.
In these inscriptions Aviyur is mentioned as a sub-village of Vayalur Naadu, a geographical division, and the temple is called Rajendra Choleeswaram. This inscription reveals a levy collected by villagers for the development and maintenance of the temple. It was collected from small merchants for their head load of merchandise while crossing this village.
Half-a-dozen village officials signed the order about the levy. The names of the signatories are also mentioned in the inscription.
The second inscription has details about a separate shrine built for Thiru Kamakota Nachiyar (Goddess Uma). One Suriyan Pothiyan alias Seithunga Nadalvan erected the shrine. Now, there is no trace of the Goddess shrine.
For this temple, one Alagu Arulala Peruman alias Chola Ganga Devan donated two kaani extent of land. Villagers of Sadayaneri also donated lands to the temple. The inscription signed by three village officials says that 20 per cent of the yield from the temple land should be donated to the temple.
Kurandi
At least the Shiva temple has bits and pieces to string together a semblance of history. The Kurandi caves, on the other hand, have completely vanished.
A journey of just 2 km from Aviyur leads one to Kurandi. When Jainism flourished during the 9 and 10th centuries in the area it housed a famous Jain school known as Paraanthaga Parvatham alias Sri Vallabha Perumpalli or Kurandi Thirukattampalli.
Three or four generations of students of the school were believed to have had Jain sculptures erected at Keezhakuyilkudi, Tiruparankundram, Uttamapalayam, Aiyvar Malai and Kazhugumalai. The teachers employed in the school were also the visiting faculties for Jain schools at Keezhakuyilkudi in Madurai, Kazhugumalai in Thoothukudi and Aiyvar Malai in Palani.
During the later period, the Jain school was demolished and inscribed stones were taken to nearby Thiruchuliyal village. The stones were used to construct the compound wall (16th century) of the Shiva Temple. The wall inscriptions have the words ‘Kurandi Thirukattampalli.’
Now, evidence of the Kurandi Jain School is available only in books and inscriptions.
Next time you chance to go by Kurandi, do remember that it was once a education centre.