Gangaikonda Cholapuram

An excavated mound about 3 km from the Gangaikonda Cholapuram temple where the Tamil Nadu State Department of Archaeology unearthed the remains of the imperial Chola royal palace, built in burnt brick with flat-tiled roofing. It served as the administrative seat from which Rajendra I and later kings such as Virarajendra and Kulottunga I issued royal edicts, corroborated by inscriptions dated between 1031 and 1119 CE. Excavations from 1980 onward recovered iron nails, ivory objects, Chinese ceramics, coloured bangles, gold foil and copper coins.

A large irrigation tank excavated by Rajendra Chola I beside his new capital and fed from the Kaveri and Kollidam, hailed in inscriptions as a liquid pillar of victory commemorating his northern campaigns. It lies close to the Gangaikonda Cholapuram temple.

The main town and gateway to Gangaikonda Cholapuram, named in the Chola tradition (Jayamkonda) and serving as the commercial hub for the northern part of Ariyalur district.

A Chola-era Vishnu temple whose presiding deity Veeranarayana Perumal, also called Vedanarayana, is enshrined with his consort Maragadhavalli Thayar. Built in Chola architectural style and attributed to the Chola dynasty, the temple gives the village of Kuruvalapparkovil its name. It is a notable Vaishnavite pilgrimage stop in the northern part of the district.

A Shiva temple at Andimadam where the deity Agastheeswarar is enshrined with the goddess Dharmasamvardhini. It is one of the principal ancient temples of the Andimadam area, in the northern reaches of Ariyalur district near the Kollidam. The temple is a local Shaivite pilgrimage centre with Chola-period roots.

A historic palayam (zamindari) town, once the seat of the Udayarpalayam Palayakarars whose fort and estate made it a regional power centre. Today it is a taluk headquarters in northern Ariyalur district; the old palace survives as its landmark.

An earthen irrigation dam in Udayarpalayam taluk with a bund about 5 km long and a maximum height of roughly 7 metres, fed as part of the Marudaiyaru basin system. It supplies irrigation to surrounding farmland in a largely agricultural district. The reservoir and its long bund make for a quiet local waterscape.

A Chola Shiva temple at Sendurai whose epigraphy places it in the reign of Rajaraja I (985-1014 CE), with about five stone inscriptions and two copper-plate grants attesting its antiquity. It is locally believed to predate the great Thanjavur Brihadeeswarar temple and preserves a Nataraja Sabha within its inner prakaram. The temple anchors Sendurai, one of the four taluk headquarters of Ariyalur district.

A Chola Shiva temple at Sennivanam whose inscriptions place it in the reign of Rajendra Chola I (1012-1044 CE), with the presiding deity worshipped as Thirthapurishwarar. It forms part of the cluster of dated Chola shrines in the district alongside the temples at Sendurai and Sripurandan.

An early Chola Shiva temple at Periyathirukkonam, listed among the district's historically important temples of the Chola period, with its deity worshipped as Adimadyarjunar (Adhimoolanathar). It is a modest but old heritage shrine reflecting the dense Chola temple-building activity across Ariyalur.

The Kallamedu Formation is a Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) rock unit of the Ariyalur Group, laid down in a river (fluvial) setting of siltstones, clays and sandstones. It has yielded dinosaur remains and petrified wood, and the area near Kallamedu village is the reported find-spot of Bruhathkayosaurus, a titanosaur that may have been among the largest land animals ever. The formation is a key terrestrial-dinosaur locality that complements the district's better-known marine fossil beds.

A Vishnu temple at Kallankurichi where the presiding deity Kaliyuga Varadaraja Perumal, popularly called Kaliyaperumal, is worshipped. Local tradition holds that the temple was built roughly five centuries ago by a cowherd at the spot of a post believed to hold miraculous powers, though the deity itself is considered far more ancient. It is one of the better-known Vaishnavite shrines of the district and lends its name to the limestone-rich locality around it.