According to archaeologist A.S. Ramanatha Ayyar, this temple was originally a "Jaina place of worship dedicated to Parsvanatha". It was gradually "Hinduized or simply mistaken as a temple of Adisesha by the local Hindus" since Jaina and Hindu iconography are similar. Ayyar states that a Kollam 336 (12th-century CE) inscription found in Puravaseri village of Travancore indicated that a land gift to the Jainas was being partly used for another Vishnu temple, which suggests that this overlap between the two traditions is confirmed by this inscription. According to Deivanayagam, this temple originated and operated as a Jain palli dedicated to Nagaraja and Parswanatha. However as the Jain population dwindled and Jainism faded away during the political turmoil in late 16th-century South India, it was taken over by the Hindu bhakti tradition as confirmed by the above Jain reliefs and inscriptions found in the temple.