The proposal of the Tamil Nadu government to declare an early Pandya period rock-cut temple in Kurathiarai in Kanniyakumari district as a protected monument has shed some light on its history. While the locals continue worship the deity as Avvayar Amman, the poet of the Sangam age, Kavimani Desikavinayagam Pillai, who was also an epigraphist, had written that it was the image of the Lord Vishnu, carved out of the rock.
In his article published in Kerala Society Papers, Kavimani in 1928-29 writes that, “two brass breast caps and a few other female ornaments found adorning the image at the time of my visit clearly show that it has undergone a complete metamorphosis at the hands of its pious worshippers in recent times.”
