The Vijayalaya-Colisvara temple, although a Muttaraiyar foundation, represents an early stage of Chola art. The temple is a structural stone temple having a main shrine in the center with six sub-shrines all round facing the main shrine. The basement of a seventh sub-shrine can be traced. Originally there must have been eight sub-shrines. There should also have been a wall of enclosure surrounding the whole group with a gateway in the east.
An inscription records that this temple was originally built by Sembudi Ilangodi Araiyan but was destroyed by lightning and reconstructed again by Tennavan Tamiladi Araiyan in the reign of Vijayalaya (850 - 871 CE). The temple was named after the Chola king.
The temple is unique in many respects. It is four tiered and is the earliest and grandest of the early Chola structural temples. The sub-shrines around it are indicative of the beginning, albeit on a small scale of the early Chola style. The sanctum sanctorum is circular in form - perhaps intended to represent the Pranava or Omakara, the mystic spiritual symbol of the Hindus. Though there are now no idols in the sub-shrines, their style and their position in the general layout are clearly brought out. A number of sculptures of this temple are now in the Government Museum at Pudukkottai.
References: M.W. Meister and M.A. Dhaky 1963, pp. 133-135, S.R. Balasubrahmanyam, 1966, pp. 44-52.
CENTER FOR ART AND ARCHAEOLOGY 
