Rajagopalaswamy Temple

The Rajagopalaswamy Temple stands at Mannargudi in the Tamil country south of Nagapattinam, and is dedicated to Rajagopalaswamy, Krishna as the royal cowherd; Hindus also call it Dakshina Dwaraka, the Southern Dwarka, and rank it first among the 108 Abhimana Kshetrams.

A stone inscription credits the original shrine to Kulothunga Chola I, who reigned from 1070 to 1122. Later Chola kings, including Rajaraja III and Rajendra III, enlarged it, and Hoysala inscriptions and Vijayanagara grants record continued patronage.

The Thanjavur Nayaks made it their dynastic shrine: Vijayaraghava Nayak, who ruled from 1634 to 1673, built the present temple, its thousand-pillared hall, the 47-metre main gopuram and the granite enclosure wall. The vast Haridra Nadhi tank beside it is among the largest temple tanks in India, and Maratha records show the shrine remained richly endowed in later centuries.