Amritaghateswarar-Abirami Temple, Thirukkadaiyur

The Amritaghateswarar-Abirami Temple at Thirukkadaiyur in Tamil Nadu is dedicated to Shiva as Amrithakadeswarar and to Parvati as Abhirami, with a shrine also to Vishnu as Amrithanarayana. It is one of the eight Ashta Veeratanam temples marking Shiva's victories, and legend places here his appearance as Kalasamharamurthy to rescue the young devotee Markandeya from Yama. So couples reaching sixty or eighty-one commonly come to worship for long life. The deity is praised in the 7th-century Tevaram, and the saint Abirami Pattar is believed to have composed the Abirami Anthathi in the shrine's front hall.

The masonry temple was built under the Cholas in the 9th century and enlarged by the Thanjavur Nayaks; Chola inscriptions record gifts of paddy and land, including Rajendra Chola's grant for a yearly festival. The complex has two gopurams and several precincts, with the linga in the central shrine, a four-armed bronze of Kalasamharamurthy emerging from a linga nearby, and three tanks. The Dharmapuram Adheenam administers it.