Metraleeswarar Temple, Kanchipuram

Metraleeswarar Temple, known too as Kanchi Metrali, is a Shiva temple in the Pillaiyar Palayam area of Kanchipuram. Praised by Appar and Sambandar in the Tevaram, it is one of the 275 Paadal Petra Sthalams. Legend says Vishnu did penance here to gain the form of Shiva and was told to wait until Sambandar came and sang; moved by the saint's devotion, he became Shiva, worshipped in a second shrine as Otarukeesar. The 108 Rudras are also said to have done penance here, giving the names Ananda Rudresam and Maha Rudresam.

No record gives the founding date, but an inscription shows the Later Cholas expanded the temple in the 13th century. The complex has two prakarams and a three-tier rajagopuram facing west, like the granite lingam in the central shrine. Unusually for Kanchipuram, where Kamakshi serves as the common goddess of all Shiva temples, it has its own Parvati shrine, as Metralinayagi.