Sri Alathoor Jain Temple , Tirupur

Address

Sri Alathoor Jain Temple Karuvalur, Kanur, Mondipalayam Puliampatty Road, Alathur, Tamil Nadu 641655

Diety

Tirthankara

Introduction

A nearly 1,100-year-old Jain temple found abandoned on a 20 cents land at Alathoor village, near here, is on the verge of a collapse due to lack of conservation. Though the inscriptions point to a rich historical importance for the temple, it looks that the eyes of the authorities are yet to fall on the structure. A portion of the side walls of the temple has already fallen down after the construction was shaken by the roots of the trees that had grown wildly around as well as inside the shrine.

Puranic Significance

The ceilings as well as the wall that makes the rare elevation are in a dilapidated state looking to give in at any time owing to absence of maintenance. This holy place was originally named as Veerasangathapperumpalli Aniyathazhaki temple (lady deity), attained the name of Amaneasar temple over the years. The word ‘palli’ in its original name indicates that the shrine has also been used as a ‘padashala’ (school) for teaching Jain principles and general ancient philosophies. The temple is located in the ancient trade corridor that passed through the North Kongu divisions. Study of inscriptions indicate that Jains, who selected this merchant guilds to settle here, have built the shrine with the contributions from the traders and renovations been carried out periodically with help coming from even rulers of Kongu divisions. The last of the Jain families left the area many years back and since then the structure was lying in an abandoned state. Unless some restoration works were carried out immediately, the temple structure would fall.