Uthrapathiswaraswamy Temple, Tiruchenkattankudi

Uthrapathiswaraswamy Temple at Tiruchenkattankudi, Nagapattinam district, Tamil Nadu, is dedicated to Shiva but is more famous for its Ganesha icons. The main Ganesha shrine shows him with a human head rather than an elephant's, and a smaller shrine, added later, holds Vatapi Ganapati. The temple was also known as Siruthonda Ganapatishvara, a name that alludes to the legend that Ganesha killed the demon Gajamukhasura and then worshipped Shiva here.

Oral tradition says the Vatapi Ganapati icon was taken as booty from the Chalukyan capital Vatapi, now Badami, by Paranjothi, commander of the Pallava king Narasimhavarman I, after the conquest of 642 CE, and placed in his birthplace here. Paranjothi later became a Shaiva monk, Siruthondar, venerated as a Nayanar. No written record supports the story, but this icon is the subject of the well-known Vatapi Ganapatim hymn.