Sattainathar Temple, Sirkazhi

Sattainathar Temple, also called Brahmapureeswarar or Thoniappar temple, is a Shiva temple in Sirkazhi, Mayiladuthurai district, and a Paadal Petra Sthalam. It holds three forms of Shiva on three levels: the lingam Brahmapureeswarar on the lower level, a large image of Uma Maheswarar as Thoniappar in the middle, and Bhairavar as Sattainathar above, reached by a flight of steps. Thoniappar takes his name from the legend that Shiva carried the 64 arts on a raft, a thoni, through a great flood.

The temple is closely tied to the story of Sambandar. As a three-year-old, the boy is said to have been fed milk by Parvati beside the temple tank, and when his father asked who had fed him, he replied by singing Todudaya Seviyan, which opens the Tevaram. The complex has vast courtyards and high enclosure walls with two sets of seven-tiered gopurams, and 22 water bodies are associated with it. It was enlarged under Kulothunga I and later Chola kings, and is maintained by the Dharmapuram Adheenam.