Temple travels to Kumbakonam and Thanjavur

After many years I decided to head back to one of my most favorite places on earth, Kumbakonam (traditional name Kudanthai or Thirukudanthai). I decided to drive down this time and took the scenic ECR road instead of the Chengalpatu-Villupuram route. We decided to start our journey on a weekday assuming traffic conditions will be relatively better and to our pleasant surprise it was. I did this journey with my parents hence we decided we were going to take it a little easy than usual in terms of number of temples and spend more time in each temple enjoying it maybe 0.1% of what our divine Azhwars and Acharyans would have experienced and enjoyed. When we drive down ECR road, the route would be as follows Pondy -> Chidambaram -> Cuddalore -> Mayavaram -> Kumbakonam.

If you were to do say decent speed and take may be 2-3 breaks, you should be able to comfortably cover this distance of about 350 odd kms in 5-6 hours. We had already booked our hotel in Kumbakonam at Hotel Rayas Grand. Rayas is centrally located inside Kumbakonam city. The Maha Maham tank is bang opposite to the hotel and most of the local temples are easily accessible from here. They have a restaurant inside the hotel itself which serves decent food. The rooms are very neat and well maintained and the staff are also very courteous and attentive. I would definitely give them a 4/5. The Rayas group has 3-4 hotels on the same road so when choosing your hotel, kindly be attentive when looking for Rayas Grand (if you are staying there). We landed sometime towards late afternoon, decided to stretch out a little bit and finish some of the local temples in the evening. Prior to checking in to the hotel, we had some delicious home like authentic south indian lunch at Mangalambiga Coffee and Tiffin Center. They are a very small place so there might be a need to wait sometimes but the taste is worth the wait.

The first temple that we visited was the Sarangapani Swami temple which is located right inside the city. The first thing that definitely has to catch your attention is the majestic rajagopuram of this temple which is the tallest in the city (considering there are literally hundreds of temples inside the city itself) and raises to a height of around 173 ft. Here the moolavar is called as Sarangapani and Thaayar is known as Komalavalli. The utsavar is known as Aravamuthan and he was adored as much as Namperumal by all our Azhwars and Acharyans. The moolavar perumal is in a reclining posture. This is one of among the 108 divya desams and is also supposedly one of the pancha ranga kshetrams (the others being Adi Rangan in Srirangapatnam, Sri Renganathar at Srirangam, Sri Appakuduthan at Koviladi and Sri Parimala Ranganathar at Thiru Indalur (Mayavaram).

7 Azhwars have sung divyaprabandhams in the praise of this Lord. Andal has sung 1 verse, Periazhwar has sung 3 verses, Boothathazhwar has sung 2 verses, Thirumazhisai Azhwar has sung 7 verses, Nammazhwar has sung 11 verses and last but not the least, Thirumangaiazhwar has sung 25 verses for Swami Aravamuthan or Aa-ra-amuthan as the Azhwars used to praise him. Thirumazhisai Azhwar in particular has a very strong connection to this Perumal. When Thirumazhisai Azhwar visited Sarangapani Perumal and seeing that the Lord was in a constant reclining posture, sang the following pasuram to Perumal

"Nadandha Kaalgal Nondhavo Nadunga Gnyalam Enamai 
Edandha Mei Kulungavo Elangu Maal Varai Churam 
Kadandha Kaal Parandha Kavirikkarai Kudaindhaiyul 
Kidandhavaru Ezhundhirundhu Pesu Vaazhi Kesanae"

To oblige Thirumazhisai Azhwar, Perumal actally started to get up from his reclining posture. When he was half way up, Azhwar realizing his folly requested Perumal to kindly stop and not move any further and embarass him. To this day, at the Sarangapani temple, Perumal is neither in a full reclining posture nor is he sitting but is mid way. This is known as the “Utthana Sayanam” where Perumal was willing to listen to his favorite devotee. It is probably the only Vishnu temple where you would find Perumal in this posture. I can keep going on and on about Aa-ra-mudhan but then..let us move on to the next temple..

The next temple which is very close to the Sarangapani temple is the Chakrapani Swami temple. While there are many temples where Sri Chakrathazhwar has a lot of prominence (like Thirumogur, Srirangam etc), this is the only temple where Sri Chakrathazhwar is the main deity. He is known as Chakrapani and Thaayar is known as Vijayavalli Thaayar.. the temple is another magnificent piece of architecture.. The access to the perumal sannidhi is through the Dakshinayana (middle of July to middle of January) or Uttarayana (middle of January to middle of July) vaasal.. you can find similar entrances at Sri Pundarikaksha Perumal temple at Thiruvellarai near Trichy. Depending on the time of the year you are visiting the temple, you can access the perumal sannidhi through either one of these entrances based on the time of the year. This is an abhimaana sthalam meaning that it is not a divya desam that was sung by the Azhwars but is only next to them in prominence and importance. If you have the time, do spend some time enjoying the wonderful architecture of this temple. We had a wonderful darshan here and moved on to our next temple.

The next temple which is right inside the city is Sri Ramaswamy temple. This temple was built in the 16th century by the Nayaka Kings. It is a wonderful temple well known for its intricate architectural work and beautiful paintings. In the main sanctum sanctorum, we have the entire family of Lord Sri Rama in a sitting posture with Thaayar. The depiction of Lord Rama is in his pattabhishekam or coronation posture with Sita Piraati. He is flanked by his brothers, Lakshmana, Bharata and Shatrugnan with Lord Anjaneya at his holy feet. I have never seen such spellbinding moola vigrahas that too in this kolam of Perumal in any other temple. The only other place where Sri Rama is in a very different kolam is at Maduranthakam Eri Kaatha Ramar Kovil where Perumal, who is known as Karunakaran is holding Sita Piraati’s hand.

Thirumazhisai Azhwars Thiruvarasu – the next place which we was purely based on some random videos I came across on the internet and some known sources in Kumbakonam was the Thiruvarasu (Jeeva Samadhi) of Thirumazhisai Azhwar which is very close to the Ramaswamy temple. While there are no authentic resources like any Kalvettu (inscriptions) to verify this, I had many of the locals testify that this is the place of his Jeeva Samadhi. For people who are unaware about Thirumazhisai Azhwar, his place of origin (birth) was Thirumazhisai which is on the road en-route to Tirupathi from Chennai. You can find his beautiful sannidhi inside Sri Jagannatha Perumal Temple at Thirumazhisai. Thirumazhisai Azhwar is believed to be the incarnation of the Sudharshana Chakra of Perumal. He was not only one amongst the Azhwars but was also an accomplished Yogi/Siddhar who is supposed to have lived for around 4700 years (as mentioned in his vaazhi thirunamam). It is said that chanting the below simple sloka of Thirumazhisai Azhwar can protect us from any negative energy, spirts etc

MakAyAm Makare Maasey
ChakrAmsam BArgavothbavam
MahisAra PurAdeesham
BhaktisAram Aham Bhaje

Post this, we decided to break for the day since the next day we planned to take a ride up to Mannargudi.

Vaduvur Sri Kothandaramar Temple, Sri Kothandaramar Utsavar
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Our first stop for the day was at the beautiful Sri Kothandaramaswamy Temple, Vaduvur. Iam delighted to write about this temple as this is my ancestral place of origin (poorveegam). Unfortunately there is no Wikipedia page for this temple available at this time but I will share as much details as possible here. Vaduvur is located between Thanjavur and Mannargudi. If you are coming from Thanjavur, you can drive towards Mannargudi and reach Vaduvur where the approximate driving distance is about 24 kms. Mannargudi is around 14 kms from Vaduvur which was were we headed to after finishing Vaduvur.

The temple is not very big in size but the moment we set our eyes on the utsavar moorthi of Sri Rama, it is an absolute sight to behold. You just cannot take your eyes of him. According to the history associated with this place, Lord Rama was returning to Ayodhya after the 14 years of exile and the war in Lanka. This place was where many Rishis had their hermitages. Lord Rama stayed here for a short while and when it was time for his departure, the Rishis were in no mood to let him go and wanted him to stay back forever. Lord Rama mentioned that since he had promised his brother Bharata that he would return to Ayodhya he would not be able to stay there. He however asked Vishwakarma to create a beautiful vigraham of himself and left it with the Rishis. The Rishis were hypnotized by the beauty of this archya vigraham and allowed Lord Rama to proceed to Ayodhya. This place is hence also known as Dakshina Ayodhya or Ayodhya of the south.

Mannargudi Sri Rajagopalaswamy Temple, Sri Srividya Rajagopalan Utsavar
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From Dakshina Ayodhya, it was time to head to Dakshina Dwaraka or the Dwaraka of the South. A temple I had been yearning to visit for many years was the Sri Srividya Rajagopalaswamy temple at Mannargudi. Like the Sarangapani temple at Kumbakonam. What will immediately wow visitors to this temple is the magnificient gopuram which stands at an imposing 192 ft. The temple is spread across nearly 23 acres. The Pushkarni or the holy water body attached to the temple is called the Haridhra Nadhi (Haridhra river) because it as big as a river. The main deity is Sri Rajagopalaswamy and Thaayar is known as Sengamala Thaayar. This temple was initially built by the Chozhas but was then expanded to what it is today by the Nayaks. The archya vigraham of Perumal is beautiful as a young cowherd Gopala, affectionately playing with his cows. A sight to behold.

It is very surprising that none of the Azhwars have sung any verses in the praise of this Lord but there are two legends associated with it. One legend says that Thirumangai Azhwar was instrumental in building the massive Dwajasthambam (flag staff) in the temple but why he failed to sing any pasurams praising the lord is answered by the second legend which says that the Azhwars were rendered speechless by the beauty of Lord Krishna that they did not have any adequate words to sing in praise of him. The history behind this Abhimana sthalam is that two sages Gopillar and Gopralayar were on their way to Dwaraka to offer their prayers to Lord Krishna when he was there but on the way, they happened to come across Sage Narada who told them that Lord Krishna had finished this Janma and had decided to return to Paramapadam. They were extremely upset and prayed to him and when Lord Krishna indeed appeared before them, they wished to see him as a young cowherd playing with his cows. Their wish was granted and is also there for all of us to see today. The temple has some brilliant architectural work but I wish it was kept a little more cleaner, thanks to HR&CE who seemed to have a well equipped room for themselves inside the temple.

Alangudi Sri Aapathsahayeshwarar Temple, Sri Guru Sthalam
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The last temple that we visited for the day was the Sri Aapathsahayeshwarar temple at Alangudi, better known world wide as Guru Sthalam or the abode of Guru Bhagavan in the form of Dakshinamurthy who is one of the nine planets. Lord Shiva is worshiped as Sri Aapathsahayeshwarar and Ambal is known as Elavarkuzhali Ammai.

This temple is a paadal petra sthalam (equivalent of a divya desam for Sri Vaishnavites) as Thirugnanasambandhar has sung in the praise of this Sthalam/Lord. This apparently is also one of the 5 Aranyam (meaning forest) Kshetrams. The 5 kshetrams being

– Sri Mullaivananathar – Mullai Vanam – Thirukarugavur
– Sri Satchi Nathar – Paadhri Vanam – Avalivanallur
– Sri Paathaleeswarar – Vanni Vanam – Thiru Aradaipperumpazhi – Aridwaramangalam, Thiruvarur
– Sri Aabathsahayeswarar – Poolai Vanam – Alangudi
– Sri Vilvaneswarar – Vilva Vanam – Thirukalambur

The temple is crowded with devotees usually but more so during the Guru Peyarchi festival where devotees come in thousands to pray and get the blessings of Guru Dakshinamurthy.

With this temple, we decided to head back to the hotel and prepare for our next set of temples in the afternoon.

Sri Oppiliappan Temple, Thiruvinnagaram (Thirunageswaram)
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After a nice lunch and a quick nap, we started our journey in the afternoon to 3 more temples. The first stop was at Sri Oppiliappan Temple at Thiruvinnagaram or Thirunageswaram. The Perumal here is known by many names like Uppiliappan, Oppilla-appan, Thiruvinnagarappan, Thannopparillappan etc and Thaayar is Bhoomidevi. The Perumal here is also considered as the elder brother of Lord Srinivasan of Tirumalai. This temple is one amongst the 108 Vaishnava divadesams and Nammazhwar, Peyazhwar and Thirumangaiazhwar have sung pasurams dedicated to the Perumal of this divyadesam. Nammazhwar has sung 11 pasurams, Peyazhwar has sung 2 pasurams and Thirumangai Azhwar has sung 34 pasurams in the praise of this Perumal. According to the puranas, Tulasi did penance to Perumal that she should be close to him always. Perumal blessed that she would be born at Thiruvinnagaram and Mahalakshmi Thaayar would be born in her lap. Markandeya Maharishi who was living in this kshetram, did penance to Perumal and wished that Thaayar (Mahalakshmi) would be born to him as his daughter. His prayers were answered and Thaayar appeared as a small baby right under the Tulasi plant as promised by Perumal.

As Thaayar grew up and attained adolosence, it was Markandeya Maharishi’s wish that he should get Thaayar married to Perumal. Perumal appeared in the form of an old man at Markandeya Maharishi’s ashram and asked for the hand of his daughter. An astonished Markandeya Maharishi mentioned that his daughter was very young and did not even know the amount of salt she had to add in the food she cooks. The old man replied that he is willing to eat his food without salt but he would not leave without marrying the girl. Now Marakandeya Maharishi was in a fix and prayed to Perumal to save him from this situation. The old man then regained his original form and stood in front of Markandeya Maharishi in his full glory. A thrilled Markandeya Maharishi gave his daughters hand in marraige to Perumal. To this day, none of the prasadam offerings in the temple contain salt. The pushkarani or holy water source of this temple is known as the “Ahoratra Pushkarani”. Legend has it that a King was once cursed by a Sage as he had consummated with the Sage’s daughter. The Sage cursed that the King would turn in a to a bird and would be liberated from his curse in this holy water source. One night when the King, who was now a bird was sitting on a tree above the pushkarani, there was a severe storm. The branch on which the bird was sitting broke and fell in to the pushkarani and the King regained his original form. Since, the King was absolved of his curse in the night, this is the only kshetram where you can have a dip in the holy pushkarani even in the night and it is also supposed to have healing properties. A must visit place if you are here.

Sri Saranatha Perumal Temple, Thirucherai
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Thirucherai is a village in the outskirts of Kumbakonam. The driving distance is about 15kms from Kumbakonam city and under ideal conditions we should be able to reach the temple in about 30-35 minutes. As per legend, during the end of a yuga and when it was time for the new world, Brahaspathi was very worried that all the necessary tools necessary for the creation of the new world needed to be safe guarded. Perumal instructed him to create a pot from the mud of the Saara Pushkarni (holy water body associated with this temple). Hence, this place also came to known as Saara Kshetram. The temple was maintained and taken good care of by the Chozhas, kings of the Vijaynagar empire and the Nayaks of Madurai.

This temple is one amongst the 108 divya desams with Tirumangai Azhwar singing 11 pasurams in the praise of the Lord of this divya desam. The temple is also known as the Pancha Saara Kshetram because of the five divine elements of Perumal (Saranathan), Thaayar (Saranayaki), Sara Vimanam (Tower), Sara Kshetram (the holy land) and Sara Pushkarni (water body). Saranatha Perumal stands handsome and tall in the sanctum sanctorium at around 12 ft in ninra thirukolam (standing posture) along with Cauvery Thaayar and Markandeya Maharishi.

Sri Thirunaraiyur Nambi Perumal Temple, Nachiyar Kovil
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The last and final temple we covered on this trip was Nachiyar Kovil or the temple of Thirunaraiyur Nambi and Vanchulavalli Thaayar. It is ideal to cover Thirucherai and Nachiyar Kovil together when travelling from Kumbakonam as they are quite near to one another. Nachiyar Kovil is about 6.5km from the Thirucherai temple. The temple is believed to have been initially built to its current state by Kochenghat chozhan with later contributions coming from his descendants and the Vijayanagar Kings.

Medhavi Maharishi used to reside in this place and undertook penance wanted Thaayar Mahalakshmi to be born as his daughter. She was born under a Vanjula tree (common name – Asoka Tree) and hence was called Vanjulavalli by the Maharishi. Perumal appeared before the Rishi in 5 different forms, as Sangarshanan, Pradyumnan, Anirudhan, Purushothaman and Vasudevan and asked for the Rishi’s daughters hand in marraige. Medhavi Maharishi glad agreed but on one condition that in this kshetram, all the first rights would be given to his daughter and not Perumal.

First of all, there are divyadesams where Thaayar has more significance over Perumal and is given first precedence in all aspects, be it the daily prasadam that is prepared or taking the lead during veedhi porapaadu (procession) of Thaayar and Perumal. Apparently, Perumal mentioned that in Kali Yuga, it is ideal to listen to women (am surprised that it is only Kali Yuga :)). Hence, he decided he would start off by being an example of that himself. Also, he had to keep his word to Medhavi Maharishi as well. Similar practice where Thaayar is given more precedence is followed in three other temples apart from Thirunaraiyur. The three other temples are Andal temple at Srivilliputhur where Andal takes the lead over Rangamannar, Azhagiya manavala perumal temple at Woraiyur where Kamalavalli Nachiyar takes the lead and Sri Pundarikaksha Perumal temple at Thiruvellarai which is close to Trichy where Pankajavalli Thaayar takes. While Srivilliputhur is known as Nachiyar Thiru Maaligai, Thirunaraiyur is rightly known as Nachiyar Kovil.

While Perumal and Thaayar are famous, crowds throng to the temple to see the massive saligrama moorthi of Sri Garudazhwar, the divine bird who is the transport of Perumal. Garuda here has a separate shrine all for himself right outside the main sanctum sanctorium. The Kal garudan utsavam happens during the months of Margazhi (Dec-Jan) and Panguni (March-April). It is magical to watch because the Kal Garudan himself is taken in a procession from his sanctum. Initially 4 people bring the idol of Garudan from his shrine, the number exponentially increases as they descend the stairs for the procession. The number goes from 4 to 8, 16, 32, 64 and finally 128 people are required to carry this idol and the numbers decrease in the same fashion when he is finally brought back to his sanctum. Legend has it that once the sculptor who was sculpting this magnificient idol finished sculpting it, Garuda started to fly away. The sculptor threw a stone at the bird which hit the bird on its nose. Garuda then obliged and said he would stay back in this divya desam. During the Kal Garuda seva utsavam, Garuda receives ornaments and dresses from the presiding deity Sri Srinivasan (Naraiyur nambi) and he also receives the same from Sri Renganatha Swamy of Srirangam.

Last but not the least, we will have to talk about the connection between Thirumangai Azhwar and Thirunaraiyur Nambi. All Sri Vaishnavites are eternally grateful to Sri Thirumangai Azhwar because without him, there would be no 108 divya desams today. While I do not want to go deep in to the story of this great devotee of Perumal, his connection to this place needs to be mentioned. In his younger days, Thirumangai Azhwar or Kaliyan as he was known then was a wild man. He was a military commander for a Chozha king and even got to rule a small territory called Ali Naadu for his tremendous military prowess and this territory’s capital was called Thirumangai, hence he got the name Thirumangai Mannan. He fell in love with a girl called Kumudavalli who agreed to marry him on two conditions. One was to feed over a thousand people per day for a year and secondly have his pancha samaskaram performed. All Acharyas were scared to perform pancha samaskaram for Thirumangai Mannan as he his very presence was fierce. Finally he reached the holy abode of Thirunaraiyur Nambi who performed the pancha samaskaram for Thirumangai and initiated him in to the Sri Vaishnava tradition. Thirumangai Azhwar dedicated nearly 110 pasurams just for Thirunaraiyur Nambi. Hence, this temple is significant in multiple ways and definitely calls for a visit if you are planning a Kumbakonam temple visit.

With the Pandemic currently, I have not had any chance to visit any temple obviously because they are all closed. This post has been due for a long time now and somehow have finally managed to finish it.

While I eagerly wait to hit the road again, my sincere prayers to Thaayar and Perumal to protect all of us during these trying times.