Kripapureeswarar Temple information

Krupapureeswarar Temple
Religion
Affiliation	Hinduism
District	Villupuram
Deity	Kripapureeswarar(Shiva) Mangalambigai(Parvathi)
Location
Location	Thiruvennainallur
State	Tamil Nadu
Country	India
Location in Tamil Nadu
Geographic coordinates	11°51′37″N 79°21′59″E / 11.86028°N 79.36639°E / 11.86028; 79.36639
Architecture
Type	Dravidian architecture

Kripapureeswarar Temple (கிருபாபுரீஸ்வரர் கோயில்)^[1] (also called Arutkondanathar or Thiruvennainallur temple) in Thiruvennainallur, a panchayat town in Villupuram district in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu, is dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva. The presiding deity is revered in the 7th century Tamil Saiva canonical work, the Tevaram, written by Tamil saint poets known as the Nayanmars and classified as Paadal Petra Sthalam. The temple is closely associated with Sundarar, the saivite saint of the 8th century, who started composing his Tirumurai starting with "Pitha Piraisudi" verse in this temple.

Constructed in the Dravidian style of architecture, the present structure of the temple is believed to have been built during the Cholas period in the 10th century. The temple has received gracious endowments from the Chola queen Sembiyan Mahadevi. Shiva is worshipped as Kripapureeswarar and his consort Parvathi as Mangalambigai. A granite wall surrounds the temple, enclosing all its shrines. The temple has a five-tiered rajagopuram, the gateway tower.

The temple is open from 6am - 11 am and 4-8:00 pm on all days except during festival days when it is open the full day. Four daily rituals and many yearly festivals are held at the temple, of which the Aadi star day celebrated during the Tamil month of Aaadi (June - July) for Sundarar and Panguni Uthiram festival during Panguni (March - April) with a float festival being the most prominent.

The temple is maintained and administered by the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department of the Government of Tamil Nadu.