ABOUT

Pillaiyar patti Pillaiyar temple is an ancient rock-cut cave shrine dedicated to Ganesha, located at Thiruppatthur(1 km from Thiruppatthur, Sivaganga district in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. In the cave temple, there are rock cut images of Siva and other gods as well as several shrines. The Āgama texts found on stones in the temple help date the temple between the years 1091 and 1238. A unique Tamil image of Pillaiyar found in the temple helps to verify this dating. The presiding deity of the temple is Karpaka Vinayak. This temple is the only one in Tamil Nadu which contains a 6 feet rock-cut Pillaiyar deity. The Thumbikai of Lord Pillaiyar is curled towards his right side and so the God is also known as Valampuri Pillaiyar. The chettiyar community (Nagarathar - This temple is one of the nine important temples for Nagarathars) has kept the temple clean. Chettiars are the only community now whose subcastes are divided based on Sivan Temples. e.g. subcastes like Pillayarpatti, Elayatrankudi