this rock cut shiva temple was built by mahendravarman i in 7th century c.e. the main deity shiva, is called here as thoon andar in tamil () and stambeshwara in sanskrit. "thoon" means pillar and "andar" refers lord and hence thoon andar means lord of pillars. this name is because of the presence of two pillars in front of this cave temple. two dvarapalas are located on the either side of the entrance of sanctum sanctorum of the shrine. the interesting feature of these dvarapalas is the presence of trisula prongs in them. unlike other temples, here the main deity thun andar is facing the west direction. lord shiva was carved in the temple pillars as natarajar and vrishbhantika. this is the first temple in tamil nadu having the image of lord natarajar. also, the dwarf muyalaka is missing from the natarajar image.