English: Kilaiyur (Keezhaiyur)Twin Temples- Avanikandarpa Isvara-grahm (AgastisvaraTemple)

Keelaiyur Agastisvara and Cholisvara- Ariyalur District The Agastisvara temple at Kilaiyur is a Paluvettaraiyar building of c. A.D..884; the snapana- mandapa facing the ardhamandapa seemingly was added a few years afterwards.The stone of the main building is granite;that of the hall is a corrosive yellow stone.On the outside this hall has little decoration except for ornamented Brahmakanta pilasters on the side facing the ardhamandapa.The details of these resemble Tiruvaiyaru and certail other temples of Cola affiliation.Inside there are Simhapada pillars with the upper portions designated Indrakanta.These Simhapada pillars remind one of a pillar in the Pundarikaksa temple at Tiruvellarai where the portion above the simha is designated after Visnukanta.The pillars at the eastern end which face the ardhamandapa entrance have lion figures which face each other. The parivaralayas around the main shrine also seem to date from this period.They are constructed of similar yellow stone and now are all destroyed and no evidnece of them found(2014).The sabhakara shrine of the Saptamatrs is interesting because of its rare form is completely destroyed now (2014)

Though the kilaiyur temple comes under Paluvettaraiyars the main shrine belongs to the cholas of tanjavur .

About 30 miles to the southeast of Trichirapalli lie the twin townships of Kilaiyur and Melappaluvur.Known in the early Cola Period as Perumpaluvur,that ancient town was the seat of local chiefs who styled themselves Paluvettaraiyar and were among the most loyal and favoured vassals of the Cola Kings.Some evidence suggests that they had connections with Kerala.

 We find our earliest  references to the paluvettaraiyar family in two inscriptions engraved ont he walls of the Agastisvara temple in Kilaiyur town.The first one Dated in the 13th year of Rajakesarivarma (Aditya I; A.D. 884), mentions  one Palluvettaraiyan Kumaran Kandan; the second,dated in the 22nd year of the same king (A.D. 893),refers to Nakkan Bhuti Paluvettaraiyan Kumaran Maravan.The two chiefs apparently were related to blood,and very possibly were brothers.A princess of the Palluvettaraiyar household was married to Cola parantaka I whose inscription of the 12th regnal year (c.A.D. 919) registers a gift to Paluvettaraiyar Kandan Amudnar (Possibly a son of Kumaran Kandan) in recognition of the Valorous part he played in the historic battle of Vellur against the joint armies of the Panyas and the Ceyloneses in c.A.D. 915.What is next known of the Paluvettaraiyar house is the name of Maravan Kandan (perhaps a son of Kumaran Maravan) Whose ten inscriptions range in date from A.D. 961 to 984, then the name of his son Kandan Maravan whose five inscriptions fall between A.D. 984 and 1000.After Kandan the Paluvettaraiyars appear to have declined in importance and are rarely mentioned in subsequent inscriptions.

Temples at Kilaiyur The temples probably built by them number only three;but a distinctiveness of idiom is clearly seen only in the earliest and most major of their undertakings, the twin temples at Kilaiyur known in inscriptions as " Avanikandarpa-Isvara-grham." These must be counted among the finest early buildings in Colanadu style.

This complex consits of two westward-facing Saiva Vimanas standing side by side.The southern one ( the larger and the main shrine of the group) is now called Agastisvara and the northern smaller one is called Colisvara.The agastivara has an astaparivalaya entourage, a snapanamandapa palced slightly away to the front and a prakara with a small gopura co-axial with the main shrine.