, the rulers of the region embraced Jainism during their early years. As per local legend, the temple was constructed by the Pallava disciple of the sages Vamana and Mallisena. There are other legends which attribute the construction of the temple by Simhavishnu, the first Pallava king during the last decade of 6th century. The temple is believed to have been built during 8th century around 800 AD during the reign of Pallava kings. It has inscriptions from Pallava king, Narasimhavarman II and the following Medieval Chola kings Rajendra Chola I, Kulothunga Chola I and Vikrama Chola, and the Kanarese inscriptions of Krishnadevaraya. The Chola and Vijayanagar inscriptions indicate large endowments to the temple. Krishnadevaraya helped repaint the 13th century paintings during the 15th-16th centuries. The temple is maintained by Tamil Nadu archaeological department. The temple tower is believed to have been constructed by Sage Pushpasena Vamanarya during 1199. The walls of the temple are believed to have been constructed by Azhagiya Pallavan during the 13th century. There is a musical hall in the temple built by Irugappa, the minister of Vijayanagara king during 1387.
Architecture
The temple is built in Dravidian architecture with a three-tiered gopuram. There are three parallel shrines in the temple with the image ofMahavira occupying the centre. The image of Lokanathar, the 24th Tirthankara is located on the Northern side, while Neminatha housed in the Southern side. All the three sanctums are circular in shape housing the bronze images. The sanctum of Mahavira accommodates Dharmadevi and a Tirthankara on either of his sides. There are painted pillars in the hall leading to the sanctum. As in other South Indian Hindu temples, there is a flag post in between and axial to the entrance and the sanctum. The temple has a large number of paintings on the ceilings that are captioned in Tamil Grantha script. It is believed that Jain scriptures have the life story of Krishna assimilated and most of the paintings depict the life story of Krishna. An Adinatha subshrine is one of its kind found in this temple. The structure of the temple has undergone several changes over the centuries, but the image of Adinatha remains the same from the 16th century.
Culture
Trilokyanatha Temple was originally under the control of traditional trustees for 600 years till 1991. From then, the temple is maintained and administered by Department of Archaeology of the Government of Tamil Nadu as a protected monument. Kanchipuram was once seat of Jainism and a famous centre of learning. As per tradition, the place where the temple is located is called Parutti meaning cotton. The tradition continues in modern times as Kanchipuram is a famous centre of hand-woven silk sarees. The Jain ascetics in the region enjoyed royal patronage and propagated Digambara sect of Jainism.
