Adayapalam, a village near Arni town in Thiruvannamalai District, is home to the Kalakanteshwara and Varadaraja Perumal temples. Both these shrines were constructed by the patronage of a very great scholar named Appaya Dikshita, who at a young age had a commendable knowledge of the Vedas and other Sastras.
This great scholar has been credited with the authorship of a hundred and four works. He was an Advaitin and a devotee of both Siva and Vishnu. According to an inscription in the Kalakanteshwara temple in Adayapalam dated 1582-83 AD, Appaya Dikshita’s patron was Chinna Bomma Nayaka, viceroy at Vellore during the reign of the Vijayanagara King Venkata II (1586-1614 AD). This Nayaka chieftain bathed Appaya Dikshita with gold coins (kanakabhisekam). The great scholar utilised this to construct two temples — the Kalakanteshwara temple for Shiva and the Varadaraja Perumal temple for Vishnu in his hometown, Adayapalam.
There are two entrances to the Kalakanteshwara (Shiva) temple, one from the main road and the other from the inner street. The central sanctum enshrines the Lingam worshipped as Kalakanteshwara. Flanking the entrance from the main mandapa to this central sanctum are the images of Adi Sankara and Appaya Dikshita. A separate sanctum for Appaya Dikshita is also seen in this temple. Many inscriptions are etched on the walls of the principal sanctum.
The small temple for Varadaraja Perumal (Vishnu) is in the midst of paddy fields. Appaya Dikshita was a great devotee of Varadaraja Perumal in Kanchipuram and hence decided to build a temple in Adayapalam. Perumal in the main sanctum is seen in a standing pose, holding the sankha and chakra in the upper hands. The lower right hand is in abhaya hasta (reassuring devotees) and the lower left hand is in kati hasta (resting on the waist). The vimanam above the central sanctum has images of Narthana Krishna, Vittala and Matsya Avatara.
