Tirukoilur also spelt as Tirukkoyilur or Tirukovilur (Originally called as Koval, Kovalur or Tirukovalur ) is a Town and the Headquarters of Tirukoilur taluk in Kallakurichi district, Tamil Nadu, India. This town is located on the southern bank of Thenpennai River and famous for the Ulagalantha Perumal Temple, the Veerateeswarar Temple and the Kabilar Kundru. Tirukoilur is located on the highway connecting cities of Tiruvannamalai and Vellore with Southern Tamil Nadu. The town is served by Tirukoilur railway station (formerly, Arakandanallur Thirukovilur railway station).
Vanavan Mahadevi, the mother of Rajaraja Chola I, was born as a Tamil princess of Chera dynasty in Tirukoilur.
Demographics India census, Tirukoilur had a population of 60212. Males constitute 49% of the population and females 51%. Tirukoilur has an average literacy rate of 78%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 83%, and female literacy is 73%. In Tirukoilur, 10% of the population is under 6 years of age.
Transport Tirukoilur is well-connected by road and rail. Many state highways pass through this municipality.
State Highway 9 Tamil Nadu Cuddalore-Thirukovilur--Vellore
SH-7 Thirukoilur-Villupuram
SH-211 Thirukoilur Bye-Pass Road -Kandachipuram
State Highway 68 Tamil Nadu Cuddalore-Thirukovilur-Sankarapuram
SH-137 Thirukoilur-Elavanasurkottai-Asanur-Trichy
MDR-1014 Thirukovilur-Manalurpet-Tiruvannamalai
MDR-812 Thirukoilur-Veerapandi-Vettavalam
MDR-784 Thirukoilur-Rishivandiyam-Thiyagadurugam- Kallakurichi
MDR-785 Thirukoilur - Thagadi
Religious significance Tirukoilur is famous for the Ulagalantha Perumal Temple. This temple has a very big raja gopuram and is the 3rd longest gopuram in Tamil Nadu. The statue of Vishnu is so beautiful with varnakalapam. There is a sanathi even for Vamana. As per legend, Vishnu appeared to the mudhal Alvars (first three Alvars) at Thirukkoilur. The temple plays a special part in Vaishnavism as it is where the first three Alvars sang the first three Thiruvandadhis compiled in Naalayira Divya Prabandam, the Sri Vaishnava canon. Thirumangai Alvar, another Alvar saint also revered the deity in his verses compiled in Nalayira Divya Prabandam . Ashta Veeratanams, Ashta – eight Veeratanam – Place of Bravery. As per legends, Shiva is believed to have destroyed eight different demons namely Andakasuran, Gajasuran, Jalandasuran, Thirupuradhi, Kaman, Arjunan, Dakshan and Taaragasuran. There are eight temples built signifying each of his victories in the war, and also as places where he is believed to have performed with fury.Madhavan 2014, p. 145
The eight temples are: Tiruvadigai Veerattaaneswarar Temple at Thiruvadigai Tirukkovilur Veerateshwarar Temple at Tirukoilur Veerateswarar temple at Korukkai or Thirukkurukkai Amirtagateswarar Temple at Thirukadaiyur Vazhuvur Verateswarar Temple at Vazhuvoor Keelaparasalur Veerateswarar Temple at Tirupariyalur Kandeeswarar Temple at Thirukkandiyur Tiruvirkudi Veerataneswarar Temple at Thiruvirkudi. Shiva in all these temples are described to have used bow and arrow, trident and spear.
Other significance include following: Ulagalantha Perumal Temple or Trivikrama Temple is a Hindu temple dedicated to Vishnu located in Tirukkoyilur, Tamil Nadu, India. As per Hindu legend, Vishnu appeared to the mudhal Alvars (first three Alvars) at Thirukkoilur. The temple plays a special part in Vaishnavism as it is where the first three Alvars sang the first three Thiruvandadhis compiled in Naalayira Divya Prabandam, the Sri Vaishnava canon. Thirumangai Alvar, another Alvar saint also revered the deity in his verses compiled in Nalayira Divya Prabandam. Kabilar Kundru (or Kabilar rock) is a hill rock in the middle of the Ponnaiyar River in Tirukoilur. It is known for Tamil poet Kapilar did Vadakirrutal (fast unto death) here, after his friend Vēl Pāri was killed in a battle. It is one of the protected monuments in Tamil Nadu by the Archaeological Survey of India. Shri Raghuttama Teerthar was one of the greatest saints of Shri Uttaradi Matha. Shri Raghuttama Teerthar entered the Brindavana at Manampundi, near Tirukoilur Gnananandagiri Swamigal, established his modest ashram "Sri Gnanananda Thapovanam", which is a quiet place, situated on the northern banks of Pennar river, near Thirukovilur in Tamil Nadu. Thapovanam meaning "forest of penance" is today a place of pilgrimage.
History The history of Tirukoilur is attested at least as early as the Sangam era, and has been continuously inhabited since then. The city was for most of its record ruled by the Malayaman princes as their capital of Miladunadu as a kingdom and later as vassals under different empires and regimes. The city was originally known as Kovalur in the Sangam period.
The Velir Warring period The earliest recorded attestation is from the Tamil Sangam literary canon, circa 300 BCE-300 CE. From about circa 106 CE Malayaman Thirumudi Kari of the Malayaman dynasty ruled from his capital of Tirukovilur then, over the lands of Miladunadu, In 118CE Kari is said to have waged war upon the ruler of Thagadoor, Athiyamān Nedumān Añci, another Velir prince, this was due to his desire to become an Imperial ruler similar to the Muventhar (Three crowned kings), however Kari would loose the war and Kovalur would be captured by Athiyamān Nedumān Añci, Kovalur then turned to be ruled under Athiyaman, and Kari would only being able to regain it much later.
In 120 CE, the Chera Emperor Paalai paadiya Perum Cheral Irumporrai, struck a deal with Kari, that if he conquered Kollimalai, the Kingdom of Valvil Ori, a Velir King, then Perum Cheral Irumporrai would avenge Kari and conquer Thagadoor for him, and soon Kari had killed Valvil Ōri, and took control over Kollimalai, in return the Chera emperor sacked Thagadoor, and Kari was able to regain Kovalur, as Athiyamān Nedumān Añci's power over the city weakened and he was killed by Perum Cheral Irumporrai. The sack of Thagadoor was later recorded in the lost Sangam poetic work of the Thagadoor Yaaththirai.
The Chola Emperor, Killi Valavan, displeased of Kari's rising influence and power, laid siege over Kovalur, the war cost heavy casualties, and on the sixth day of the war, Killi Valavan captured the three-year-old twin son's of Kari, holding them hostage. Fearing for their safety, Kari turned himself over to the Chola Emperor in 122 CE, only to be killed. The emperor also had planned to crush the twin boys by running them over by mad elephant's, this was however intercepted by Kōvūr Kizhār, a court bard and poet, who dissuades the emperor and asks him to adopt the children, they were then raised under the patronage of the emperor and served as generals of the Chola army under Killi Valavan and his son Rasasuyam Vaetta Peru Nal Killi.
Some years later from this period in 145-150 CE, Vel Pari, a Velir king of Parambu Nadu dies, and upon his death, his two twin daughters, now orphaned, Angavai and Sangavai were taken in by the court poet Kapilar who upon finding no one to marry the princesses leaves them under the care of the court poetess Auvaiyar, and goes and kills himself due to the grief of losing Vel Pari, by a boulder on the outskirts of Tirukoilur, the place is still venerated today as Kāpilar kundru (Kapilar's boulder). Auvaiyar later marries both the Princesses off to the twin sons of Malayaman Thirumudi Kari, Prince Deiveegan and Prince Yenadhi Kannan, who by then were reinstated as rulers of Tirukoilur. The wedding took place at Manam Poondi, a village next to Tirukoilur. After the death of Kari, Prince Malayaman Choliya Enati Tirukkannan (Yenadhi Kannan) the husband of Sangavai becomes the King of Tirukoliur and Lord of Mullur earning the title Choliya Yenadhi due to being general of the Chola army.
Kalabhra interregnum & rise of Chola dominance A mention of the Malayaman Velir Prince Thervann Malaiyan battling against the successor to Perum Cheral Irumporrai, Emperor Yanaikatchai Mantaran Cheral Irumporai is recorded as happeing in the later half of the 2nd century BCE.
Not much is known of the city post the late Sangam period during the Kalabhra era, as the Kalabhra dynasty swept across Tamilakam, toppling the original rule of the Three crowned kings, there appears to have been a dark age. Shortly afterward, In the 6th century CE, a record of the Malayamān King Meiporul Nayyānar of the Velir royal house, is known to have ruled Tirukoilur styling himself under the titles of. Miladudiyar and Cedirayar, the latter of which was done to claim validation as descent from the kingdom of Chedi. Meiporul Nayyānar was a religious devotee of the god Sivan and was charitable, while also known for his military strength and so could not be conquered. A neighbouring King Muthanathan, wanting to take over Tirokilur is said to have disguised himself as a sage of Sivan in order to see Meiporul Nayyānar and so approached and stabbed him, killing him. King Meiporul Nayyānar thus, for his religious piety became one of the 63 Nayyanar (codified saints of Sivan) and was mentioned in the Periyapuranam. The Veerateeswarar Temple in Tirukoilur was built then.
In about 940 CE, a marriage alliance between the Velir Princess Vannavan Māhadevi of the Malayamān family of Tirukoilur and Sundara Cholan was made, after which she became Empress. She was the mother of the famous Chola Emperor Raja raja I, Crown Prince Aditya Karikalan and Princess Kundavai pirāttiyār who were all born in Tirukoilur, according to inscriptions. Around the same time, in the early mid 9th century, Princess Siddhavadavan Suttiyar of the Malayamān house from Tirukoilur, marries Prince Uttama Cholan, becoming Queen when he was reinstated as Emperor in 971CE. Throughout the reign of Rajaraja I, the city of Tirukoilur became highly decorated and both Rajaraja cholan I and his son, Rajendra cholan I invested highly in the temples and donated and restored many of them, the ruler of Tirukoilur then was Miladudāiyar Prince Raman Siddhavadāvan, who also adopted the style of Chedirayar. The sovereignty over Tirukoilur and Miladunadu however, came under the suzeranity of the Chola empire, and became a vassal state.
Around 985 CE the ruler of Tirukoilur was the Malayaman Prince Rama Devan, and the city soon shifted from being a capital, to becoming a grand and powerful fortified citadel due to the advances of the Chola Empire. During the same period, the Ay-Vels of the Ay kingdom, had weakened after the siege of Rajaraja I upon Vizhinjam in 988 CE and following sacks by Rajendra cholan I and Rajadhiraja cholan I, this fragmented the kingdom and the lineal descendants of the last Ay king Vikramaditya Varaguna who was the son of King Karunandadakkan, moved to Parthivapuram, the south eastern outpost of the declining Ay kingdom, and in 1145 CE fled the city as their kingdom collapsed and they moved eastwards and northwards into Tondaimandalam, marring into the old Malayamān branch of Tirukoilur who belonged to the branch of Yenadhi Kannan and Vannavan Mahadevi, doing so in order to stop Chola persecution. Thus creating a cadet branch of Ay-Malayamān, this house restored the name Pari again as they were descendants of Vel Pāri through his daughter Sangavai. In 1058 CE Prince Narasimavarman of the Malayāman house, along with Emperor Virarajendra Chola is said to have restored the Ulagalantha Perumal Temple in Tirukkoilyur.