Thenupuriswarar Temple, Patteeswaram

Thenupuriswarar Temple at Patteeswaram is dedicated to Shiva as Thenupuriswarar, with Parvati as Nyanambikai, or Somakamalambigai, and is praised in the 7th-century Tevaram. Its best-known legend concerns the child-saint Sambandar: when he set out for Patteeswaram in fierce summer heat, Shiva sent his attendants to cover the streets with a canopy of pearls, and so that the boy could see the deity from outside, he told Nandi to shift aside. The Muthupandal festival recalls this. The place is named after Patti, daughter of the divine cow Kamadhenu, who worshipped here.

The temple covers about four acres within concentric granite walls and is entered through a seven-tiered gopuram, with the shrines of Thenupuriswarar, his consort and Durga the most important. Founded by the Cholas, it was rebuilt in masonry in the Nayak period of the 16th century, when Govinda Dikshitar, minister of Raghunatha Nayak, lived at Patteeswaram and took a special interest in it. The Brahmotsavam in Chittirai (April–May) is the main festival.