Pundarikakshan Perumal Temple, Thiruvellarai

The Pundarikakshan Perumal Temple stands in the village of Thiruvellarai on the edge of Tiruchirappalli. It is dedicated to Vishnu, worshipped as Pundarikakshan, and to Lakshmi as Pankajavalli, and tradition names Sibi Chakravarthy as its builder. A granite wall encloses the shrines and six water bodies, and the rajagopuram at the entrance was never completed.

Two rock-cut caves on the site carry three inscriptions, two from the time of Nandivarman II and one from Dantivarman, along with Pallava carvings of Narasimha and Varaha. Outside the walls is a swastika-shaped tank made in 800 AD by Kamban Araiyan under Dantivarman. Inside, paintings sponsored by the Vijayanagara and Nayak kings survive, some in their first colours. Garuda, Sibi, the sage Markandeya, Bhoomadevi, Brahma, Shiva, Indra and Chandra are all said to have been blessed by the god here. Worship follows six daily rituals and three yearly festivals, the chief being the chariot festival in Chaitra (March–April), which ends in a shared village feast.