Moovar Koil, Kodumbalur

The inscription names Bhuti Vikramakesari's two queens as Karrali and Varaguna. Its date has been debated. The epigraphist V. Venkayya, followed by Balasubrahmanyam, assigned the inscription on palaeographic grounds to the 10th century and placed Vikramakesari in the time of the Chola kings Sundara Chola and Aditya II, in the latter half of that century. The editors of South Indian Inscriptions note another view that identifies him with Tennavan Ilangovel, a feudatory of the earlier Chola king Aditya I.

Balasubrahmanyam records that a Kannada inscription on stones in the bund of the tank in front of the Muchukundesvara temple refers to a temple called Vikramakesarisvaram, which he takes to be Moovar Koil, or at least its central shrine. He also notes that the central and southern shrines were in a state of collapse and were carefully restored, without altering their original features, by K. Venkataranga Raju, then curator of the Pudukkottai Museum.

Architecture and sacred features

The three shrines stood in a row, and according to Wikipedia they face west. Each surviving shrine is a compact stone vimana with an attached hall, and a small Nandi shrine stands in front of the maha-mandapa. Wikipedia, drawing on the Tamil Nadu State Department of Archaeology's journal Damilica, notes the circular pilasters on the vimana walls, a feature found in only a few other early temples. The base of the lost northern shrine shows mouldings shaped like a lotus.

The art historian James Harle counted Moovar Koil among a small group of early Chola-period temples that continue the Pallava tradition, being modest in size, built mainly of stone, and having a small porch (ardha-mandapa) attached to the sanctum, according to Wikipedia.