Eri-Katha Ramar Temple

Eri-Katha Ramar Temple in Maduranthakam is dedicated to Rama, shown with Sita and Lakshmana in stucco images, the standing Rama about 8 feet tall and facing east. Dating from the Pallava era, some 1,600 years ago, it is one of the oldest Rama temples in South India, and inscriptions record gifts from the Chola king Parantaka I. It is one of the 108 Abhimana Kshethrams, linked with Thirumalisai Alvar and with Ramanuja, who was initiated here by his teacher Periya Nambi.

The temple lies near the shore of the vast Maduranthakam lake. Its name comes from a legend about Colonel Lionel Blaze, Collector of Chingleput in the 1790s, who wanted stones gathered for a shrine to the goddess Janakavalli to mend the lake's breached bunds. During heavy rain in 1798 he is said to have seen two archers guarding the bund, whom he took to be Rama and Lakshmana; the bund held, he had the Janakavalli shrine built, and an inscription naming him as benefactor survives in the temple.