The Nageswaraswamy Temple is older and smaller than the more famous temples in Kumbakonam, but for many visitors it is the most rewarding. Built in the ninth century during the early Chola period — when the dynasty was rising and its temple architecture was at its most refined — it is dedicated to Shiva in the form of Nagaraja, lord of serpents.
The sculpture on the outer walls of the central shrine is the reason to come. Slender, lifelike figures of Pradosha (the deities of the twilight hour) and donors look out of niches between the pilasters, regarded by art historians as some of the very finest stone carving in Tamil Nadu. The temple is also said to be precisely aligned so that on a few days in April the morning sun strikes the inner lingam directly.