Sri Ayyarappar Temple, Mayiladuthurai

Sri Ayyarappar Temple in Mayiladuthurai, like the Gangaikonda Cholapuram Temple, is of archaeological importance. While the Gangaikonda Cholapuram Temple built by the Chola King Rajendra and has copper plates with inscriptions about the Chola dynasty on the temple walls, Sri Ayyarappar Temple has numerous stone inscriptions about the Kulothunga Chola period. The Kulothunga Chola kings were famed for their festivals. Every year, 12 festivals were conducted with great pomp and circumstance, one every month of the year.

The presiding deity in the temple is Dharmasamvardhani, which literally translates into the upholder of Dharma. The stone inscriptions in the temple of the Kulothunga Chola period are not very clear, they do, however, convey broken images of the resplendent age that the Kulothunga Chola lived in. Being in places of age and character, like temples, tend to connect an individual to nature, like pieces of a long-lost puzzle.