Koranganatha Temple, Srinivasanallur

Koranganatha Temple stands in Srinivasanallur, a village on the Trichy–Salem highway about 50 km from Tiruchirappalli. Built by the Medieval Cholas, probably under Parantaka I, it is dedicated to Vishnu as Ranganatha and is in the care of the Archaeological Survey of India. The historian Harle counts it among the four early Chola temples still standing, alongside Moovar Koil, the Nageswaran temple at Kumbakonam and the Brahmapureeswarar temple; like them it follows Pallava models, is modest in size and built mostly of stone, with its porch and sanctum set slightly below ground level.

The temple is 15.3 m long, and its shikhara rises just as high. A square sanctum, 3.7 m across, with a vimana above it, leads through a small vestibule to a four-pillared hall. Its sculpted figures are more heavily ornamented than others of the period and include Dakshinamurthy and Bhikshatana. Several Chola inscriptions survive, none saying how the temple came to be built; one on the south wall records a gift of garden land for a lamp.