Today I visited Tirukoilur . I chose the Arasur road crossing from NH 45 from Villupuram so that I could visit this ancient Shiva temple
How to reach:
Take the right turn on NH 45 at arasur crossing on the Villupuram bypass while proceeding to Chennai. The road leads to Thiruvennainallur enroute to Tirukoilur, After about 10 kms on the left side in a village called Graman we can see this ancient temple
Today when I went there there was nobody except two old ladies drying ela vadaams in the courtyard! at about 8:30 AM.
Legends and stories of the temple:
The dwarapalakas of Shiva Thindi and Mundi worshipped the lord here. Thindi worshipped the lord at Thindivanam and at this place Mundi worshiped the lord the original name of the place was mundishwaram..
The Lord offered a bag of Vibhuti (Pokkalam) to king Veerapandian, so he is known known as Pokkalam Kodutha Nayanar.
King Chokkalingam is supposed to have built this temple. Once he saw some strange variety of Lotus in a tank since he could not reach it, he let go an arrow and the entire pond was filled with blood as the arrow had wounded the Shivalingam here A startled king realised his folly and prayed to Shiva and built this temple on the bank of the pond. The Shivalingam of this temple carries a scar on the head till today. The place came to be called Thiru mouli gramam( Lord’s crowned Head village) and now only Gramam remains!!
The temple is built in the somaskanda pattern that is Lord Murugan sannidhi is between Lord Shiva and mother Parvathy sannidhi
As you enter you see the Nandi and the East facing Main Shivan sannidhi
The small spaces you see on either side has Vinayaka on the left and Murugan on the right side OF Shivalingam which is the reverse of the usual arrangement in Shiva temples.
The main entrance is from the south direction where the are statues for the Nayanmars and the small ante room where Thindi and Mundi are shown
This leads to the main sannidhi where the Shivalingam is resplendent
Behind is the sannidhi for Vinayaka seen on the right below
The Koshta Vigrahas are Ganapathy and an unique Vrishaba Dakshinamurthy without the usual Tree canopy 
The Murugan Sannidhi is behind the main sannidhi and the Amman sannidhi is to the left of the main sannidhi
The other koshta vigrahas are Lingothbhavar, Brahma and Durga. There is a Navagraha Sannidhi in front of the durgai
Next you see the Amman sannidhi with a tall standing idol Soundaryanayaki, ambal also known as Kanarkuzhali, Selvambikai
This is a paadal petra sthalam in the Thevaram hymns of saint Tirunavukkarasar. This is the 19th Lord Shiva Temple in Nadunadu region praised in Thevaram hymns.
The statues of the nayanmars can be seen in front of the dwarapalakas. The sthala vruksham is Vanni tree.
I could not find evidence of any pond nearby . In all it is a very ancient and peaceful temple.
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