Early medieval · Hindu · India

Karpaka Vinayakar Temple

Pillayarpatti, Sivaganga district, Tamil Nadu · 10.1189°, 78.6681°

Ganesha (Karpaka Vinayakar)PallavaDravidian (rock-cut cave)

Sacred since

600 CE

first attestation / structure

Standing structure

7th c. rock-cut, expanded later

Pallava

History & significance

A rock-cut cave shrine at Pillayarpatti holding carvings of Ganesha, a Shiva lingam and a figure read as Ardhanarishvara or Harihara, attributed to about 650 CE and enlarged with mandapams in later centuries. It is one of the nine ancestral temples of the Nagarathar (Chettiar) community, and 11th-century panchaloha images were recovered during 19th-century restoration.

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