Tirtha Atlas

The sacred geography of the Indic world — every site mapped, dated, storied, and cited.

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Early medieval · Hindu · India

Uthirakosamangai Mangaleswarar Temple

Uthirakosamangai, Ramanathapuram district, Tamil Nadu · 9.3167°, 78.7333°

Mangaleswarar (Shiva) with Mangalambigai (Parvati)PandyaDravidian
Sacred since
800 CE
first attestation / structure
Standing structure
attested by 9th c.
Pandya

History & significance

A roughly 20-acre Shiva temple with a seven-tiered rajagopuram, sung by the 9th-century saint Manickavasagar in the Thiruvasakam and prominent under Pandya rule. It is known for an unusual six-foot emerald image of Nataraja and is administered by the Tamil Nadu Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department.

Sthala katha — the traditional account

What follows is the temple’s own traditional account, transmitted through liturgy and local memory. It is recorded here as tradition, not as attested history.

Shiva is said to have appeared in Ravana's palace as a small child, and when he was lifted a fireball rose from the temple tank, at which 999 of the thousand rishis present immolated themselves while the last survived to preserve the sacred texts.

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Sources

coordinates: wikipedia-2026-08-28 · sources retrieved 2026-08-26 · dynasty page: Pandya