Nanjundeswarar Karamadai

Most of the temples in Coimbatore area are beautifully maintained, well funded and clean and Nanjundeswarar Karamadai seems to be no exception. Sculpturaly rich and historically old temple Nanjundeswarar Karamadai presents a beautiful picture. The temple is east facing with an entrance on the west through a 5 tiered Rajagopuram. The shrines are arranged in the Somaskanda form. A large temple pond common to the nearby Aranganathar temple is present west of the temple across the main road. The locals call Nanjundeswarar Karamadai the Madurai of Kongu Nadu owing to the beauty of the sculptures and similar to that 6 feet elephants are gaurding the shrine of Lord Nanjundeswara. Muruga, Yama, Vinayaga, Kali, Dandapani, Vishnu & Mahalakshmi, Chandrasekarar are all beautifully carved below the elephant sculptures around the sanctum sanctorum. Vishnu durga is present in the outer walls of all sannidhis. The sanctum of the Lord is believed to have been carved out of a single stone. The processional deity is unique since the full image of Ganga is depicted on it. Beautiful carvings are found in plenty here – Shiva a a hunter, Parvati as a dancer, Vinayaka, Kali in dancing posture are some of them. Several other carvings of animals, birds, fish, Machavallabha emerging out of a fish, soldier armed with sword and a goat worshipping Shiva are present. Miniature sculptures of Rishabaruda, Balasubramanya, Kali, Brahma and Lakshmi Narayana are also seen.