Beyond Cholapuram: Forgotten Chola temples of Tamil Nadu echo a glorious past

Whenever Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits a place, it gets a boost in popularity. Remember him on a Lakshadweep beach, post which folks suddenly began to think of it as an alternative to the Maldives? His most recent visit has been to a destination that is both spiritual and historic, the Shiva temple at Gangaikonda Cholapuram, in Tamil Nadu.

While the Brihadeeshwarar Temple, to use the shrine’s real name, is magnificent and has been one of the ‘Great Living Chola Temples’ on the Unesco World Heritage list since 1987, there are numerous smaller Chola shrines too that deserve a mention.

Around 143 kilometres west of Chennai and about 235 kilometres north of Gangaikonda Cholapuram lies the tiny town of Melpadi. It is a tranquil place, with few pilgrims seeking divine blessings and no Instagrammers looking for exciting content for their online followers. It wasn’t always this quiet, though. More than a thousand years ago, Melpadi lay at the boundary of the jostling southern powers, with the Chola empire on one side and the Rashtrakutas on the other. Later, the Western Chalukyans replaced the Rashtrakutas.

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In the first half of the 10th century, the area came into the control of Parantaka Chola I (reign 907–955 CE), who renamed the place ‘Virnarayanapuram’ after his own title of ‘Vir Narayana’. This was not mere renaming of a place but territorial marking by a ruler. And Parantaka wasn’t the last Chola ruler who did that at Melpadi. His descendant, the famed Rajaraja Chola I (reign 985-1014 CE), built the Somanatheeswarar Temple here around the year 1000 CE—the same time that he was building the majestic Brihadeeshwarar Temple at Thanjavur. Some believe that it was Parantaka who built the original shrine here, in bricks, and Rajaraja rebuilt it in stone later. In the footsteps of his ancestor, Rajaraja also renamed the place after his own title. Goodbye Virnarayanapuram, enter Rajasrayapuram!

Standing behind two layers of high walls, the Somanatheeswarar Temple looks rather plain from the outside. Sitting atop its outermost wall are Nandi icons, placed at regular intervals. The inner wall is punctuated by a lofty gateway. Entering this, a visitor finds himself in an innermost courtyard that has the main shrine as well as multiple mandapas. A mukha mandapa has elegant, rounded pillars. In another mandapa are various carved icons, including Ganesha, Saptamatrikas, Veerabhadra, and more. Several architectural elements here come from later eras, including additions made by the Vijaynagara rulers.

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The main shrine, dedicated to Shiva, is topped by a stone vimana, an engineering achievement of the Chola era. In various niches are icons depicting Dakshinamurthy, Vishnu, Brahma, etc. With inscriptions carved on almost every inch around them, these tiny ancient shrines resemble living history. One of the most historically significant inscriptions found here is of Rajaraja Chola. It is in the form of a royal eulogy recounting his military successes. Specifically, a victory over the Pandyas and conquest of the Kudamali region find mention.

Reading more inscriptions is akin to going through a history book. Another one mentions a nobleman titled ‘Pallavayan’ (indicating Pallava lineage) in Rajaraja’s service, and his donation here suggests the integration of former Pallava elites into the Chola administration. Inscriptions mention Rajaraja’s direct patronage of the shrine, his land grants to it, and his renaming the town—all showing how the Cholas had turned this contested border area into part of their core kingdom. The inscriptions also mention Rajaraja building a new temple in the vicinity, which is considered a ‘Pallippadai’ or a memorial shrine.

This new shrine was the Choleeswarar Temple, which still stands. No ordinary shrine, the Choleeswarar was built on the mortal remains of Rajaraja’s grandfather, Arinjaya Chola (reign 956–967 CE), who died in war. In terms of its structure, this is a very simple shrine and lacks many of the signature elements of other Chola temples—the Rajagopuram, the sacrificial platform, and the ceremonial stambh outside. Nor is there a shrine to Amman or the goddess and consort of Shiva, or subsidiary shrines to Ganesha and Chandikeshwara. But set amidst paddy fields, with the Ponnai River close by, its setting is idyllic.

The temple is compact in design, with a single granite structure containing an ardha-mandapam, a mukha mandapam, and the inner sanctum. Though much smaller than the Somanatheeswarar, the Choleeswarar is also a repository of inscriptions that tell us about its past. One of them reveals that this Shiva temple was originally called Arinjigai-Isvaram. Going by this name, in effect, Rajaraja Chola attempted to transform his grandfather into a form of Shiva—a customary posthumous honour for kings deemed worthy of worship. Perhaps there was also a political reason—that of reinforcing the Chola claim over this border territory and adding more legitimacy to Rajaraja’s rule by venerating his lineage. There are icons within niches here, but the lack of depth in the niches reveals that they may have been added much later, possibly by another dynasty.

It appears that the people of Melpadi knew and acknowledged that a Chola royal was buried here. And this may have caused the temple’s popular name to change to Choleeswarar, meaning ‘Chola’s Ishwara’. Unlike the Somanatheeswarar, which remains in worship—subject to Archaeological Survey of India rules about its timings—the Choleeswarar is a monument where prayers are not conducted.

The locals still feel an attachment to the Somanatheeswarar, but the Choleeswarar is more a royal site. There is one aspect of the latter temple that the locals are quick to point out. It is believed that, around equinox days—March 21st and September 21st—the rising sun’s rays travel through the east-facing entrance and shine directly on the Shiva linga for a brief while at dawn. The black granite Linga glows in hues of gold, and local folks look upon this almost as if the sun had come to pay homage to the buried Chola king.

The Melpadi shrines may not have the grandeur of the Brihadeeshwara temples of Thanjavur and Gangaikonda Cholapuram nor the intricate craftsmanship of the Airavatesvara Temple at Darasuram, but they form an important part of the larger Chola narrative and are representative of the large number of lesser-known shrines built by that illustrious dynasty.

The author is a heritage explorer with a penchant for seeking obscure sites. A brand consultant by profession, he tweets @HiddenHeritage. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost’s views.