Rare Temple in ruins uncared for - Somanatha Swamy Temple, Poundarigapuram, Tamilnadu

Somanatha Swamy Temple is a Hindu Temple dedicated to Lord Shiva located in Poundarigapuram Village near Kumbakonam in Thanjavur District of Tamil Nadu. Poundarigapuram is also known as Enathimangalam in ancient times.

Legend is that Lord Yama, god of death, worshiped Lord Shiva of this Temple.
History

The Temple is believed to be built during Kulothunga Chola I, one of the famous Later Chola Emperor based on the architectural style. In fact, the village derives its name from Poundarika, a special type of Yaga. Ayya Kumara Tata Desika, who was the Rajaguru to the ruler of Thanjavur, performed this special Yaga in Vennar Bank near Thanjavur, about three hundred years ago. This village was set up and named Poundarigapuram, in commemoration of this special Yaga.

The Temple

This is an ancient east facing Temple in dilapidated condition. The Temple does not have compound wall. Nandi housed in a Mandapam and Balipeedam can be found in the prakaram facing the sanctum. The Sanctum Sanctorum is having Artha Mandapam, Maha Mandapam and Sanctum. Presiding Deity is called as Somanatha Swamy. He is housed in the sanctum in the form of Lingam. He is facing east. There are stairs im the sides to reach Maha Mandapam.

Dwarapalakas can be found at the entrance of the sanctum. Vimana over the sanctum is of brick construction. There are about 22 Koshta Idols located around the Mahamandapam and Sanctum. Vinayaga, Dakshinamoorthy, Lingodbhava and Brahma are the Koshta Idols located around the sanctum walls. Other interesting Koshta Idols are Rishabaroodar, Arthanareeswarar, Saraswathi, Lakshmi, Gangadhara Moorthy, Chandrasekarar, Bikshadana and Bhairavar.

You can scroll through Images in the Carousel Below :

Chandikeswarar Anugraha Moorthy can be found in the Mahamandapam Deva Koshta similar to Gangai Konda Cholapuram Temple. Only difference is Lord Shiva without Mother Parvathy is gracing the Chandikeswarar. Almost all the Deva Koshta Idols are vandalized. There are interesting sculptures of Lord Shiva gifting Pasupatha to Arjuna and Adhikara Nandi at the entrance of Maha Mandapam. Also, sculptures of Gangavisarjanar and Chandala Roopa Moorthy can also be found in the Maha Mandapam.

There is a south facing shrine in the Maha Mandapam for the consort of Somanatha Swamy. Mother is having four hands. Upper two hands are holding Akshara Mala and Lotus Flower and Lower two hands are showing Abhaya and Hastha posture. Her shrine is in total ruins and can be collapsed at any time. There is a shrine for Lord Vinayaga at the south west corner of the Temple premises

There is a unique stone called Soolakal at the entrance of the Temple. Mostly these stones are installed on the lands belonged to Shiva Temple. This Soolakal has carvings of Trisula with Chandra & Surya above it and pig below it. Please be noted that Vijayanagara and Chalukya Kings had pig as their royal insignia. There are no inscriptions available in the temple except an unclear inscription in the Adhistana of Vinaya Shrine.

Connectivity

The Temple is located at about 8 Kms from Kumbakonam, Thanjavur Dist., Tamil Nadu.

Ruins allowed to deteriorate

Spiritualists and those who are earnest lovers of Temple architecture and heritage are advised to read no further of this article, which will pain them a lot.

The Temple does not have any compound wall. On the top of the mandapams, trees have grown, which threaten to break the structure. There are broken idols of deities in the 22 sanctums. Having looked at the beautiful sculptures that adorn different parts of the Temple, one tends to imagine how great this Temple would be if this Temple was cared for and properly renovated. We get to know that This Temple is considered as a sub temple of Kumbakonam Kasi Viswanathar Temple as per the records of HR&CE Dept. of the Govt. of Tamil Nadu. We do not understand what that classification really means as this rare Temple has been left in ruins and allowed to deteriorate further by the uncaring Govt. of Tamilnadu.

We leave the place with a sense of heaviness in our hearts and hopelessness, when considering how in those ancient days, the sculptors and workers would have sweated out to bring the stones from very far off and had carved a beautiful Temple with life like idols and structures.

9 July 2020

This article has been written by Ramanan P Ranganathan, a Chartered Accountant and a Member of Temple Worshippers’ Society. He is thankful to the following author for his blog, based on which this article has been written.

Blog of Mr. Ilamurugan:

https://tamilnadu-favtourism.blogspot.com/2019/09/somanatha-swamy-temple-poundarigapuram-thanjavur.html?m=1