Pasupatiswarar Temple, Pandanallur

Pasupatiswarar Temple is a Shiva temple at Pandanallur, a village of Thanjavur district in Thiruvidaimarudur taluk. Shiva is worshipped as Pasupatheeswarar in the form of a lingam, and his consort as Mangalambika. Both the village and the deity take their names from a legend about Parvati: she played with a ball here, which gave the old name Pandanainallur, and then worshipped Shiva in the form of a cow, which gave the deity his. The temple appears in the 7th-century Tevaram and is counted among the 275 Paadal Petra Sthalams.

The oldest parts of the masonry date from the 11th-century Cholas, with later additions. Inscriptions begin in the reign of Rajaraja I and continue under Vikrama Chola, Rajadhiraja II, Kulothunga III and Rajaraja III, and further records note donations from the Vijayanagar Empire. They call the deity Pasupathy Devan and the village Pandanainallur. The temple is entered through a three-tiered gopuram, and it has its own dance traditions in Bharatanatyam.