page_title: Papanasanathar temple
section_title: Architecture
hierarchical_section_title: Papanasanathar temple / Architecture
caption_attribution_description: English: Pagoda of Papanassum (1800) — now in Papanasam, Tirunelveli district in India
context_page_description: Papanasanathar Temple in Papanasam, a village in Tirunelveli district in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu, is dedicated to Hindu god Shiva. It is located 60 km from Tirunelveli. Constructed in the Dravidian architecture, the temple has three precincts. Shiva is worshipped as Papanasanathar and his consort Parvathi as Ulagammai.
  A granite wall surrounds the temple, enclosing all its shrines. The temple has a seven-tiered gateway tower. The temple was originally built by Chandrakula Pandya, with further additions by the Vijayanagar and Nayak kings during the 16th century. The temple has artistic sculptures representative of Nayak art.
  The temple is open from 5.30 am - 12 pm and 4.30-7:30 pm on all days except during festival days when it is open the full day. Six daily rituals and three yearly festivals are held at the temple, of which the Brahmotsavam festival during the Tamil months of Chittirai and Thaipoosam during Thai being the most prominent. The temple is maintained and administered by the Hindu Religious and Endowment Board of the Government of Tamil Nadu.
context_section_description: A granite wall surrounds the temple, enclosing all its shrines, pierced by a seven-tiered gateway tower. The image of Papanasanathar in the form of Lingam is housed in the sanctum. The shrine of Ulagammai is housed in a west facing shrine.The shrine also houses the images of Vinayaka, Subramanyar, Dakshinamurthy, Durga, and Navagrahas on the walls. The west facing shrine adjacent to the flagstaff has a hall with yali pillars, where Nataraja is housed. Natarja is routed in Ananda Thandava posture and also called as Punugu Sabapathy. The temple tank in the temple is called Papanasa Theertham, while two other tanks namely Agasthya Theertham and Kalyani Theertham are also associated with the temple. There is a pounding stone in front of Ulagammai shrine where ladies grind turmeric. The turmeric is used during sacred ablution and also used by the devotees after the worship.
caption: Historical image of the temple
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