This little known temple in Sellur on the outskirts of Madurai is a lovely small Sivan temple. We liked it a lot. Small but elegant it still retains its Pandian origins. Originally built by Pandian kings it was later renovated by the Sethupathy kings of Pudukkottai. The architecture is still very Pandian. Look at the clean simple granite pillars or columns. The later Vijayanagara and Nayakkan pillars were more elaborate. It does not have a rajagopuram. The gopurams came later.
Appu means wedge in Tamil. The legend is that an ancient king was tired at the end of the day's hunt and was looking for a lingam to do his evening Siva Pooja. A woodcutter lent his wedge as a makeshift lingam and then it would not move and a temple had to be built around it.
It is the 246th Paadal Petra Sthalam and the 2nd one in the Pandian country. Sampanthar composed the Pathikam.
Visited August 2019. Base Madurai
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