Punnainallur Kothandarama Temple

Punnainallur Kothandarama Temple

Punnainallur Kothandarama Temple is a Hindu temple located at Punnainallur near Thanjavur in the state of Tamil Nadu.This temple is believed to be in existence for the past 300 years.The temple is under the control of the Tanjavur Royal family.

It is a temple with a five tier Gopuram The dwajasthambam is covered with copper plate with inscriptions giving the details of the development works done in this temple by the various rulers. The vimanam above the Lord’s shrine is of a very rare design called Soundarya Vimanam. The Sthala Vriksham is Punnai and Sri Rama Padukas are installed below this tree.

History

Once, the Tanjavur king Pratapsingh was presented with 4 big saligramas by the King of Nepal who was his son in law. (Generally Saligramas are found on the Gandaki river). The recipient was wondering as to how to worship these Saligramas. Then he had a brain wave- he decided to make Sri Rama and his entourage out of these Saligramas. The artisans made beautiful murthis of Sri Kothandarama, Shri Seetha Devi,Shri Lakshmana along with Sugreeva.The fourth saligrama was used to make the idol of Sugreeva, the monkey king, who was a devotee of Sri Rama. This is believed to be in recognition of Sugreeva’s help in tracing Seetha and conducting the Lanka war. This is perhaps the only temple where Sri Rama is present without Shri Hanuman. (This perhaps may be the one of the temples where the Moolavars are made of Saligrama stones as getting stones of this size is very rare).

However, Lord Hanuman is among the Utsava Murthis. It is reported that these Utsava Murthis were not made to order, but were unearthed from a village called Poovanur near Needamangalam. These Murthis are one of the most exquisitively designed Panchaloha Vigrahas in the entire Tanjavur District. They are believed to be at least 1400 years old and when they were unearthed, it was unanimously decided that they were the most suitable for this temple of Kothandarama.