Thiruvannur Sree Mahadeva Temple Thiruvannur,Kozhikode,Kerala

The Thiruvannur Siva Temple is a beautiful example of the Chola architecture with its characteristic pilasters, ‘vyalimukhas’, its ornate pillars as well as ‘panjaras’. The apsidal sancto sanctorum or ‘garbha griha’ of the temple is very well preserved. It carries an inscription that details the grant of land given to a certain official named Thiruvannur Patarakar sometime during the eight years of the reign of Raja Chera. This inscription is one of the clues to the level which literacy had risen during those times in these parts of the country.

History

There is a large body of evidence to suggest that this temple had originally been constructed in honour of one of the Jain Tirthankara. This evidence is in the form of a citation of the rules that had been advocated and formally laid down for the Thirukkunavaya, which is among the foremost among Jain shrines in all of Kerala. Even though it began as a Jain Temple it was much later converted into the Siva Temple at some part of the eleventh century A.D. The architectural features of the inner sancto sanctorum are typical of the Jain temples of that period while the construction outside the ‘garbhgriha’ is a fine example of the architecture of the eleventh century South Indian schools of art and architecture.