THIRUNANDIKKARI CAVE TEMPLE

Tirunandikkarai is a small hamlet located 12 miles from Kuzhithurai. The palce is known for its Saivaite cave temple on the banks of a brook. This temple is built on huge monolith granite with a base area of seven acres.

A narrow flight of steps, lead the visitor to the temple, which is 15ft, long 10 ft wide and eight ft high. This cave temple resembles to that of the Pallavas and Pandyas. The pillars and the walls of the temple bear inscriptions of the 8th, 9th and 12th centuries. It is considered as the Chera monument excavated by the Ay Kings. The temple has two free pillars in the centre and two half pillars at the ends. There are four inscriptions one on each side of the entrance and one on each of the free pillars.

The temple has a socket on the floor into which the base of the Sivalingam is inserted. The back wall has two plastered partitions.

Built in the 8th century by the influence of Jainism and Buddhism this cave temple is known for its wall paintings. The inner walls of this temple were adorned with 9th century frescoes.
It was Vasudeva Poduval who discovered them in 1933. Seven years later, Sarkis Katchadurian an Iranian artist visited Travancore. Hearing the new discovery he visited the spot and ignoring the highly offensive ambience in the cave, his trained eyes traced the fragments which when put together yielded suggestive patterns. Even the vestiges were impressive. He donated these works to the Sree Chithra Art Gallery. The ceiling of the mandapa has geometrical patterns and it reveals a lotus pond akin to Sittanavasal of the Pandya period.


Early inscriptions in this temple in vattezhuthu and Tamil show that Nambi Ganapathi and Narayana Sivakaran were given land to provide naivedya and to light the perpetual lamp. Rajaraja Chola made the grants for the celebration of the festival on his birthdays. The date of the record is given as the year in which the ships at Karaikandiswaram were destroyed.

There is a structural monument in the south of this hill, which is considerably old. Between the hill and this temple is a fine grove of trees and a fresh water tank adding grandeur.

The center shrine is round and adorned with a row of Bhutaganas. There are dwarapalakas, at both side of the entrance and a small shrine of Ganesa at the left side. The temple has a detached mandapam, a spacious court yard, and a chuttambalam. The Mandapam has a hollow in its centre with in which a Nandi is installed. The ceiling of the mandapa has 25 square panels. It has Ashta
dikpalakas, 16 lotus motifs and in the centre there is an idol of Brahma.

The oldest stone images unearthed later were installed under a fig tree in front of the temple. This temple is one among the 12 sivalayams where devotees visit as part of sivalaya ottam.