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Rajarajeshwara Temple, Taliparamba

Historical accounts attribute the loss of gateway towers to Tipu’s forces; they do not establish demolition of the whole temple.

Taliparamba · Kerala

LAST DOCUMENTED CONDITION

Not established

As documented: date not established

LOCATION PRECISION

Approximate locality

12.0484°, 75.3556° · not a surveyed footprint

How to read this history

Access date is not a field inspection. This selected chronology is not a complete list of all episodes.
Underlying bibliography is available with access status; independent specialist review remains outstanding.

AI-assisted source review: 2026-09-28. Independent specialist review: not completed.

The recorded chronology

Selected episodes. Rebuilding and later changes are distinguished from damage.

Partial destruction · intentional causeOpen this episode on the map ↗
During Tipu’s campaigns · exact date unresolved
The temple’s gateway towers were damaged or destroyed during the Mysorean attack.
eventAttributed · further checking needed
The temple’s gateway towers were damaged or destroyed during the Mysorean attack.
Logan describes destroyed gopurams; the later census handbook describes partial blasting. Neither supplies an exact attack date. The surviving shrine is not described as wholly razed.
- Malabar, volume II: Appendix XXI, descriptive notices of taluks ↗William Logan and contributing district officers · Logan II, Appendix XXI, Chirakkal taluk, Taliparamba entry; Cannanore handbook, Taliparamba places-of-interest entry · Accessed 2026-09-28
- Census of India 1981: District Census Handbook, Cannanore ↗Directorate of Census Operations, Kerala · Logan II, Appendix XXI, Chirakkal taluk, Taliparamba entry; Cannanore handbook, Taliparamba places-of-interest entry · Accessed 2026-09-28
dateUnknown
During Tipu’s campaigns · exact date unresolved
Exact dating remains unresolved.
- Malabar, volume II: Appendix XXI, descriptive notices of taluks ↗William Logan and contributing district officers · Logan II, Appendix XXI, Chirakkal taluk, Taliparamba entry; Cannanore handbook, Taliparamba places-of-interest entry · Accessed 2026-09-28
- Census of India 1981: District Census Handbook, Cannanore ↗Directorate of Census Operations, Kerala · Logan II, Appendix XXI, Chirakkal taluk, Taliparamba entry; Cannanore handbook, Taliparamba places-of-interest entry · Accessed 2026-09-28
actorAttributed · further checking needed
Tipu Sultan’s forces
- Malabar, volume II: Appendix XXI, descriptive notices of taluks ↗William Logan and contributing district officers · Logan II, Appendix XXI, Chirakkal taluk, Taliparamba entry; Cannanore handbook, Taliparamba places-of-interest entry · Accessed 2026-09-28
- Census of India 1981: District Census Handbook, Cannanore ↗Directorate of Census Operations, Kerala · Logan II, Appendix XXI, Chirakkal taluk, Taliparamba entry; Cannanore handbook, Taliparamba places-of-interest entry · Accessed 2026-09-28

Location & last documented condition

locationSupported in consulted sources

Approximate locality; not a surveyed historic footprint.

Rajarajeshwara Temple, Taliparamba — Wikipedia article and bibliography ↗Wikipedia contributors · History / damage account; see source context · Accessed 2026-09-28

present conditionUnknown

Present physical condition has not been independently established in this review.

Source context

Tipu Sultan source review: originals, citation chains and disputed accounts ↗

Explore the complete captured Wikipedia bibliography ↗
References are discovery leads unless marked as consulted.

Malabar, volume II: Appendix XXI, descriptive notices of taluks ↗William Logan and contributing district officers · William Logan and contributing district officers · 1887
Original edition OCR read at Taliparamba, Ponmeri and Trikkavu entries. A colonial district compilation written about a century after the campaigns, drawing on local accounts and earlier records; not eyewitness testimony of the attacks. Preserve its explicit reported-account wording. Later websites citing Logan are not independent witnesses. Page OCR is unreliable: entry headings are the locators.
Discovery: Wikipedia reference trail or independent source search · Access: direct
Census of India 1981: District Census Handbook, Cannanore ↗Directorate of Census Operations, Kerala · Directorate of Census Operations, Kerala · 1981 census series
Full PDF text retrieved with Firecrawl. Places of interest: Taliparamba and Tellicherry, including printed p. 24. Official retrospective descriptions attribute damage to Tipu; this is not contemporary documentation or proof of independence from older gazetteers. An initial direct PDF download failed TLS verification; the successful full-text retrieval is recorded separately.
Discovery: Wikipedia reference trail or independent source search · Access: direct
Rajarajeshwara Temple, Taliparamba — Wikipedia article and bibliography ↗ · Wikipedia contributors
Article text consulted through Jina Reader. Underlying references are inventoried separately; listing a work does not mean it was read. Event attributions based only on this secondary account are labelled attributed.
Discovery: Wikipedia reference trail or independent source search · Access: direct

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