When Sundarar, the 8th Century devotional poet and one of the Saivite minstrels, visited Kodiyakkarai, or Point Calimere, in Nagapattinam, he could not bear the sight of Kuzhagar, the presiding deity, residing in the midst of an impenetrable forest. Point Calimere is also a wildlife and bird sanctuary, its shallow waters and marshes providing an ideal feeding site for migratory …
The appearance of Pazhaiyarai, a nondescript village on the banks of the Arasalaru, a tributary of the Cauvery, hardly suggests that it was once the capital of the Cholas, where the royal families lived until the 11th Century even when Thanjavur was the seat of administration. There were four Siva temples — Vada Thali, Keezh Thali, Mel Thali and Then …
