Tiruvetkalam Pasupatheswarar Temple

Tiruvetkalam Pasupatheswarar Temple is a Shiva temple inside the Annamalai University campus at Chidambaram, Cuddalore district. Shiva is worshipped as Pasupatheswarar, with his consort as Satgunambal and Nalla Nayaki. Legend says Arjuna was doing penance here when a wild boar charged him; he shot it at the same moment as a hunter, and in the quarrel that followed the hunter flung him aside with his toe, and Arjuna realised it was Shiva in disguise. Shiva and Parvati then gave him the weapon Pasupatham, which gave the deity his name. The Periyapuranam records the saint Sambandar coming here after visiting the Thillai Nataraja Temple.

The temple covers two acres within concentric walls. It was first built by the Cholas and was renovated in stone in 1914 by A. Pethaperumal Chettiar of Kanadukathan. Three daily rituals are held, and Tamil New Year in Chittirai (April) is the principal festival.