Thiruvengaivasal (‘Sacred place of gate of the Tiger’) is a well-known and ancient place of worship. Mythologically linked to Gokarnesvara temple (கோகர்ணேஸ்வரர் கோயில்) of Thirugokarnam (திருக்கோகர்ணம்), the temple has both Chozha and Pandya styled structures. The sculptures of Gnana Dakshina-moorthi (ஞான தக்ஷிணாமூர்த்தி) and Yoga Dakshina-moorthi (யோக தக்ஷிணாமூர்த்தி) are of iconographic interest. There are a number of important inscriptions here.
Thiruvengaivasal is about 10 kilometers from Pudukkottai town and 2 kilometers from Pudukkottai-Tiruchirappalli (புதுக்கோட்டை-திருச்சிராப்பள்ளி) highway.
The monument: Vyaghra-purisvara temple
Thiruvengaivasal is a well-known and ancient place of worship. The name means the ‘Sacred place of gate of the Tiger’, and refers to the story of the God Gokarnesvara (கோகர்ணேஸ்வரர்) of Thirugokarnam (திருக்கோகர்ணம்) who here took the form of a tiger, to terrify and finally grant salvation to a cow that daily brought the sacred water for his ablution. (See: Gokarnesvara Temple for the story)
The main shrine, which has been renovated, perhaps in the thirteenth-fourteenth centuries, must have been originally an early Chozha (9th – 10th century AD.) structure. The earliest inscription in the temple is dated back to reign of Raja Raja Chozha I (முதலாம் ராஜராஜ சோழன்) (1011AD). The present structure is of Pandya style of the 13th-14th centuries. Thiruvengaivasal had both a Sabha (சபா), or Brahmin assembly, and an Ur (ஊர்), or common village or town assembly, during the centuries of Chozha and Pandya rules.
There are 15 inscriptions in this temple; six are Chozha inscriptions, seven Pandya, one of the Vijayanagara period and one of the Pallava-rayar-s (பல்லவராயர்).
At the entrance to the temple is a mandapam with massive pillars supporting carved lions. The base of the gopuram is of the late Pandya style, but the upper part has been reconstructed in first half of 20th century.
To the north of the antarala mandapam (அந்தரால மண்டபம்) is the shrine of the Goddess Sri Brahadambal, which is a late Chozha or early Pandya structure with square pilasters, simple idols, square palagai (பலகை) and tenoned corbels (போதிகை). The southern part of this mandapam contains modern bronze idols now carried in the temple-processions. The maha-mandapam (மஹாமண்டபம்), in which are kept some old bronzes, is a Chozha structure with pilasters supporting large palagai-s and corbels with tenors.
The main shrine, which faces east, has lost its original Chozha features having been renovated subsequently. The present structure is of the Pandya style of the 13th-14th centuries. The pilasters are polygonal in section with square bases having nagapadam-s (நாகபடம்); the padmam-s (பத்மம்) are drawn out into idhazh-s (இதழ்), and the corbels are of the puspa-podigai (புஷ்ப போதிகை) type with rudimentary buds.
The idol of Gnana Dakshina-moorthi (ஞான தக்ஷிணாமூர்த்தி) in the southern prakaram has rare iconographic features. The figure is seated in the utkutikasana posture-a posture suitable for concentration. Within the cloister in the southern prakaram, there is an old idol of Yoga Dakshina-moorthi (யோக தக்ஷிணாமூர்த்தி).
In the southern prakaram there is a shrine facing west containing an interesting sculpture of Subrahmanya in bas-relief in the virasana pose; the upper right hand holds a rosary, and the upper left a sakthivel or spear; the lower right hand is in the abhaya-mudra and the lower left hand rests on the thigh. Another old sculpture of Subrahmanya kept in this prakaram has only two arms.
Near the southern entrance is a shrine built in the reign of Raja Ramachandra Tondaiman (இராஜா ராமசந்திரத் தொண்டைமான்) in which is kept a mutilated idol of the Amman. It is said that when a new idol was installed, the old mutilated one was about to be thrown into the tank to the south of the temple, and that the Amman appeared before the Raja in a dream and directed him not to cast it away but to preserve it in a shrine, which the pious Raja did.