Day 2 of our temple visits-27th august
temples covered
We got ready early morning by 6 Am ,had our breakfast and waited for the driver.Driver came around 6.30 and left for Tanjore. Our first stop was at Brihadeeswaran Temple or Tanjore big temple a sit si popularly called
temples covered
Day 2
1. Brihadeeswara Temple-Tanjore
2. Ayiarappar temple Thiruvaiyaru
3. Thingalur-Navagraha Temple for Moon
4. Lord Subramanya-swamimalai
5. Shwetha Vinayakar-Thiruvalanchuzi
6. Durgai Amman-Pattiswaram
7. Alangudi-Navagraha Temple for Guru
8. Natchiyar Temple
9. Thirunageswaram-Navagraha Temple for Rahu
10. Uppiliappan Temple
11. Pratyangira devi-Ayyawadi
12. Kampeshwara Temple-Thirubhuvanam
Brihadeeswaran
Temple or the Tanjore Periya Koil (Tanjore Big Temple) is temple dedicated to
Lord Shiva. One of the biggest temples in south India, this imposing structure was built by Raja Raja Chola and his sister
Kundavai, both ardent devotees of Lord Shiva. The main temple is entirely
built of granite. More than 130,000 tons of granite is said to have been used
to build it.It is impossible to even imagine how the stones must have been
transported in those olden days.
Another stunning feat in this temple is the Vimana on top of the temple.
The lotus shaped stone is supposed to weigh around 80 tons .So we have to
marvel the engineering as to how such a heavy carved rock could have been
hoisted at such a height
Facing the
deity is a massive idol of Nandi (Bull) which is estimated to weigh 25 tons and
is 3.6 meters tall. The Nandi is seated in a separate ‘NayakMandapam’ has some
intricately done carvings. This Nandi is carved out of a single stone. The
deity of Shiva Linga is 2.7 meters high and around seven meters in diameter. The temple also has statues of Ashtadikpalakas
It is certain that you will fall in love with the architecture which is in Dravidian style giving a peek into the mythological stories. Tanjore temple walls have several ornate paintings that depict the history of Chola dynasty and the greatness of Raja Raja Chola. The architecture was a mixture of Chola and Maratha and we were really surprised at the fact that Marathas had Come so deeply into Tanjore.
It is certain that you will fall in love with the architecture which is in Dravidian style giving a peek into the mythological stories. Tanjore temple walls have several ornate paintings that depict the history of Chola dynasty and the greatness of Raja Raja Chola. The architecture was a mixture of Chola and Maratha and we were really surprised at the fact that Marathas had Come so deeply into Tanjore.
The temple is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site “Great Living Chola
Temples.
our next stop was at Thiruvaiyaru to see the Aiyarappan temple
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| Brihadeeswara temple |
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| floor plan of the temple |
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| carvings on the wall |
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| the Huge nandi |
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| vinayar sannidhi |
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| The shiva lingas |
Aiyarappar
Temple
located at Thiruvaiyaru is at a walking distance from Thyagaraja’s sannidhi.
Thiruvaiyaru
means 5 rivers around the city .The rivers are Arasilaaru,vennaru,
Vetarru,Kudamurutiyaru and kaveriaaru.The temples built in a very huge area and
has5prakarams.The temple is incarnated with hymns of Thevaram and is classified
as padal petra Sthalam
The presiding deity here
is panchanatheswarar (Ayirappan and panchanatheswarar both mean the same
thing-Lord of five rivers).This temple is one of the very famous Shiva temples
and is also known as Dakshina Kailasam.
The Story behind this temple
is that Thirunavukarasar went on a pilgrimage to Mount Kailash to have a darshan
of Lord Shiva. However due to many hardships faced he could not complete the journey.
Lord Shiva submerged him in a pond and when he emerged from the pond he saw
that he was transported to Thiruvaiyaru where lord shiva gave him a darshan of
Mount kailash. Hence the name Dakshina kailasam
Lord Shiva got Nandhi married in Thirumazapaadi near Thiruvaiyaru and
took them around the seven abodes as sapthapathi .So this temple is one of the
temple sin group of seven saptha sthaanam temples.The seven Saptha sthanam temples are :
Thiruvaiyaru,Thirupazanam,Thiruchotruthurai,Thiruvedikudi,Thirukandiyur,Thirupoonthurithi,Thiruneithanam(thillaisthanam).Lord Shiva in this temple is swayambumoorthy an dit si believed that his long turf is spread throughout the place and hence circumbulation(pradakshinam) is not permitted in this temple.
After finishing seeing this beautiful temple we made our way to Thingalur which houses the navagraha temple dedicated to Lord Chandra.(Moon)
Thiruvaiyaru,Thirupazanam,Thiruchotruthurai,Thiruvedikudi,Thirukandiyur,Thirupoonthurithi,Thiruneithanam(thillaisthanam).Lord Shiva in this temple is swayambumoorthy an dit si believed that his long turf is spread throughout the place and hence circumbulation(pradakshinam) is not permitted in this temple.
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| Aiyarappa temple |
Thingalur has derived
from the word Moon(Thingal) and Land(oor). The
main Idol of this temple was Lord Shiva as Kailasanathar and Lord Parvathi as
Periyanayagi Amman. The presiding deity of Kailasanathar is in the form of a Lingam. The Moon god is
located in a separate shrine in Kailasanathar Temple. Lord
Chandra is said to be the grandson of Brahma, born to his son Athri and wife
Anusuya. Chandra was cursed by one of his father in law to lose his beauty and
glamour as he was more loving and biased towards one of his wives Rohini and
neglected his other 27 wives. Chandra prayed to Lord Shiva and he restored his
beauty saying that he will regain his figure slowly in a fortnight. But because
of the curse he wanes every fifteen days. So it is believed that the waxing and
waning of the Moon is due to this.
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| inside Thingaloor temple |
Our next stop was Swamimalai ,one of the six sacred abodes( Aaru padai veedu) of Lord Muruga. Lord Muruga here is called Swaminatha Swami, meaning ‘The Teacher of Shiva’ as he is believed to have taught the Pranava Mantra to Shiva. Shiva was thus the student and Muruga the teacher. So for this reason Shiva’s shrine is at the foothill along with a shrine of Parvathi and Muruga is atop the hill. This temple has been built by the Cholas. After praying to Lord Shiva and Parvathi we have to walk up the steps to worship Lord Muruga. As the Lord was the Guru to his father this place si revered as Gurumalai Or Swamimalai.
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| Swamimalai temple |
Vinayakar in Tamil means Lord Ganesha and shwetha Vinayakar means white coloured Ganesha. This temple is situated just about 6 Km near Kumbakonam in a village called Thiruvalanchuzi.the deity of lord Ganesh is white coloured. The story goes that the Devas forgot to pray to Lord Ganesh before starting the churn the Paarkadal(ksheera Sagaram).So they could get only poison .
They scooped out the white foam of the sea (kadal Nurai) and made a Ganesha figure. It is only after this that they could get Nector.So this Ganesha is also called as Nurai Pillaiyar (Foam Ganesha)
The ganesh idol here is small but the temple is huge.The next day was suppose to be Vinayakar Kalyanam and hence the temple was beautifully decorated with many Kolams(Rangolis)
The main deity here is kapardeeswarar.
The sixth temple for the day was Durga Temple at patteeswaram. The legend behind this temple is that Patti(daughter calf) of the
sacred cow kamadhenu worshipped lord Shiva here.Lord shiva was so pleased with her
worship that eh blessed her here and hence the name patteeswaram (named after
patti).the presiding deity in this temple is dhyanapureeswarar and his consort Gnyanambikai.
Story goes that Lord
Rama was absolved of his Chaya Hatti dosham( Lord Rama had killed Ravana who was a
great exponent in art and culture and also an ardent devotee of lord Shiva) when
he installed a Shiva Linga here and worshipped the lord. Hence this is also a Parihara Sthalam.
It is also believe that
once Thirugnayana sambandhar came walking to Patteeswaram to worship Lord Shiva.
But because of the scorching heat he was finding it difficult to walk in the sun
.Lord Shiva ordered the bootha ganas to make a muthu pandal( tent made with
pearls)along the way so that Thirugnayana
sambandhar could walk comfortably.
Also Lord shiva wanted to
have a direct view of Thirugnayana sambandhar when he entered the temple and
hence asked Nandhi to move to one side so that his view is not obstructed. This is the reason you will find that Nandi here is not exactly opposite the lord
Durga Devi here is shantha swarioopi
meaning calm and peaceful. She is seen seated on a lion with her foot on
Mahishasura. She is seen here with eight hands (ashtabhuja)
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| Durga |
By now it was afternoon and most temple would be closed.So we proceeded to have our lunch at Hotel Aryas and then checked into hotel raya's Grand at Kumbakonam.we were allotted Room 311.
The hotel was good and rooms very clean.
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| Hotel Raya's Grand |
we took rest for some time and left for our further temple visits at about 4 PM.
Our first stop was at Alangudi. Alangudi
or Apatsahayesvarar Temple is one of the Navagraha temple dedicated to Lord
Guru (Brihaspathi) or the planet.The term Guru means a person who destroys darkness or enlightens. Guru is a person who leads you from the darkness (ignorance) to light(knowledge). Like most other Navagraha temples, the main deity in the temple is Lord Shiva in the form of Aranyeswara or
Apatsahayesvarar and is accompanied by His consort parvati ,depicted as Elavarkuzhali Ammai (Umayammai). Lord
Dakshinamoorthy is appearing as Guru (one of the navagrahas). If we worship the
Lord Guru (Planet Jupiter) here, the malefic effects of Lord Guru will be
cured. It’s a mythological belief that, anybody having skin diseases will get
cured if they take bath in the holy tank in the temple and worship the Lord.It is
believed that it is in this place, lord Shiva drank the poison churned out by
Devas and Asuras from the sea and saved the world from the poison So the Lord
here is called as Abath Sagayeswarar. And this place also called as Alangudi (poison
means Alam in tamil). |
| alangudi |
We did our poojas and had a very good darshan. We then went to Nachiyar Koil .Nachiyar temple or Thirunarayoor Nambi temple is housed at Thirunarayoor a village in the outskirts of Kumbakonam. The architecture is Dravidian style.
This
is the fourteenth of among the 108 dhivya desams. The presiding deity is Lord
Srinivasa and his consort vanjulavalli Thayar. The lord and the Goddess are is
the same sanctum .They are seen here in wedding pose.
This temple is also known as Nachiyar koil or nachiyar temple. Vanjulavalli Thayar or Nachiyar as she is called is
given more prominence in this temple. In fact she is so placed that you can have
her darshan right from the entrance.
It is believed that a hermit called Medhavi observed rigorous penance on the banks of the Manimuthu River to have Goddess Lakshmi as his daughter. True to his prayer and penance he found beautiful girl child on a Friday of Panguni Month (Tamil calendar), on the auspicious day of Uthiram Star, under the Vanjula Tree. That is how she gets the name Vanjulavalli
Kal
Garudan (Garuda made of Stone) is the vahana of the presiding deity of this
temple. In most temples Garuda is made of either gold or silver but in this temple it is made of stone.We were told by the priest that The Kal garudan is famous for a very
strange phenomenon. It seems that the weight of Kal Garudan
grows exponentially when moved away from the sanctum, During Garuda Sevai, the
number of people required to carry Garuda through each of the five prakarams of
the temple keeps doubling from 4 to 128 people. Again while coming inside the
temple, the weight keeps decreasing and the of persons carrying keeps reducing
to final 4 who carry it into the sannidhi.
we did archana for all family members and had excellent darshan .
we did archana for all family members and had excellent darshan .
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| Kal Garudan |
our next temple was Uppiliappan temple.
Uppiliappan is a temple dedicated to lord Vishnu situated near Thirunageswaram. It is one of the divya desams of Vaishnavaites.
The presiding deity is Lord Uppiliappan who is seen in a standing position.The deity is magnificent and very similar to Lord Balaji in thirupathy. His consort is Bhoomadevi. The legend associated with this temple is that markandeya wanted Lakshmi to be born as his daughter and that Lord himself should be his son in law. So he did penance for many years and Lakshmi appeared as his daughter under Tulsi tree.
When the girl reached adolescent age, Lord Vishnu appeared as a man and asked for her hand. To this markandeya replied that his daughter was too young and did not even know to cook with proper salt. To this man replied that he was ready to take her as his wife and is willing to eat food without salt.
When the girl reached adolescent age, Lord Vishnu appeared as a man and asked for her hand. To this markandeya replied that his daughter was too young and did not even know to cook with proper salt. To this man replied that he was ready to take her as his wife and is willing to eat food without salt.
That is when markandeya realized that the man was none other than Lord Vishnu himself and his joy knew no bounds. He performed the kannikadhanam of his daughter and conducted the marriage. So we also find markandeya maharishi in this temple along with Upiliappan and bhoomadevi
Also as Lord had promised that he would never leave his daughter, the utsava deity Lord Uppiliappan is never taken out of the temple without his consort
Since the lord had said that he was willing to take food without salt, the prasadam/neivedyam (offering) in this temple is cooked without any salt
The temple has five tiered Raja Gopuram and the idol of the lord is 8 feet tall. The architecture is Dravidian style.A must visit temple
Our next stop was Thirunageswaram which houses the Navagrah temple for Lord Rahu. This temple enshrines the famous Lord Rahu, the snake god – both feared and revered by people
all over. Sri Naganathaswamy temple or Rahu Sthalam is one of the nine
navagraha temple in Tamil Nadu.It is associated
with Lord Rahu ( Rahu Bagawan).The main presiding deity is Shiva in the form of Lord naganathaswamy and his Consort Giri Gujambika(goddess parvathi)
A unique feature of this temple is that Rahu Baghawan is seen with a human Face. Normally in other places Lord Rahu is seen with serpent’s face. Astrologers believe that doing Milk Abhishek to Lord Rahu on Sundays during Rahu kala removes many malefic effects
with Lord Rahu ( Rahu Bagawan).The main presiding deity is Shiva in the form of Lord naganathaswamy and his Consort Giri Gujambika(goddess parvathi)
A unique feature of this temple is that Rahu Baghawan is seen with a human Face. Normally in other places Lord Rahu is seen with serpent’s face. Astrologers believe that doing Milk Abhishek to Lord Rahu on Sundays during Rahu kala removes many malefic effects
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| Thiru Nageswaram |
The
temple of Maha Prathyangiri Devi is situated in a small village called Ayyavadi
.Originally this village was called as Aivar Padi.According to legends the five
Pandavas visited this temple, kept their weapons under a tree and worshipped the
Prathyangiri Devi. As 5 Pandavas visited, the name Aivar padai which later
changed to Aiyyavadi.
In this temple regular homams are conducted every full moon day. It is believe that worshipping Devi will take away evil forces and all problems.When we visited there was homam going on and we could see few parsi couples.we were quite surprised but Perhaps this temple is well known.
Next and final stop for the day was Thirubhuvanam which houses the Kampheshwara temple.
Kampaheshwara temple is a hindu temple dedicated to Lord Shiva.the main deity here is lord Kampaheswara and his consort goddess Parvathi.
The god is supposed to have relieved a king varguna Pandiya who was haunted by evil spirits from Kampha (shaking/trembling) and hence the name Kampaheshwara. There is a seperate shrine for sarabeswarar a fusion of man eagle and lion.The deity is believed to have saved the devas from the fury of Narasimha after he slayed Hiranyakashibu.
The architecture of this temple is very similar to Brihadiswara temple.The extremely high vimana is truly eye capturing.
| Thirubhuvanam Temple |
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