Thanjavur, Tiruvarur, Kumbakonam

kharaharapriya · Post by **kharaharapriya** » 16 Oct 2007, 22:14

Dear friends,
I have been posted in a village in Point Calimere, Nagapattanam for a two month field visit as a part of my course in Rural Management. Due to the geographical proximity, I am keen on visiting Tiruvarur, Kumbakonam and Thanjavur. Could someone please inform me on the must see temples, legends/reasons for their importance and the krithis associated and if possible, how to go about planning the trip. I am a layman in Carnatic Music, hence any information will be of immense use. Thanks in advance.

samrit · Post by **samrit** » 17 Oct 2007, 05:50

Please visit Sarangapani temple. considered to be the 5th Divya desams among the 108. The Lord is in 'udyoga sayanam'. People will get their eye sight if they worship the Goddess Komalavalli and one should not forget to pray to 'Padahal Srinivasan' who will give boon to all.

Narayana!!

Samrit

rbharath · Post by **rbharath** » 17 Oct 2007, 10:55

The are so many temples all around that area that you will find it tough to visit all of them.

i will try to post a detailed list, to as much i know, as soon as i can.

cienu · Post by **cienu** » 17 Oct 2007, 11:20

Dear Kharaharapriya,

Since your your query is related to temples linked with Carnatic Music , please visit Koothanur , the temple dedicated to Goddess Saraswati. This is situated between Mayavaram and Karaikal . Wonderful temple
! ML Vasanthakumari & her mother Lalithangi were great devotess of Goddess Saraswathi of Koothanur.

vijay · Post by **vijay** » 17 Oct 2007, 11:34

Here's a list based on my experiences

Chidambaram - worth dodging some of the grasping Deekshitars just to get a glimpse of the magnificent idol. OTOH some of them are genuinely enlightened and can add a lot to the experience (I met an old man who spent 2 hours taking me around the temple while discoursing on the Chola empire, the impact of the British and 21st century spiritualism among many other things. Shamefully, I failed to keep in touch). The premise also houses the Govindarajan Temple which has a grand reclining deity.

Gangaikondacholapuram - Almost in the middle of nowhere, this beautifully maintained temple contains some exquisite friezes besides which, the temple can be enjoyed in almost complete solitude. It is not spiritually significant though.

Kumbakonam is the mother of temple towns - one is really spoilt for choice here. Sarangapani, Kumbhareshwarar, Nagarajaswamy, Ramaswamy in the town itself and plenty of others around like Swami Malai, Uppiliappan and Darasuram which is deservedly a UNESCO Heritage site (although restorations were on when I went). In nearby Tanjore, I guess the Periyakovil is a must-see. Srirangam, if you're willing to go as far as Tiruchy.

The navagraha temple tour is something you could do if you're there for that long. TTDC organizes one such.

Finally, a visit to Thyagaraja's samadhi is mandatory for any music lover and youu can continue further to Thiruvarur

As for krithis, there are so many but let me quickly put together a short-list:

Soundararajam (Brindavana Saranga), MD's krithi on the deity at Nagapattinam (which apparently contains a reference to a Tsunami)
MD's krithis on the Thyagarajaswamy temple at Thiruvarur
Ananda Natana Prakasham - MD - Kedaram
MD's Navagraha krithis on the Navagraha deities in the tour mentioned above

I am sure there are hundreds of others...

bhaktha · Post by **bhaktha** » 17 Oct 2007, 12:36

To add to the list,
Bangaru Kamakshi temple at Tanjavoor
Malai kottai pillayar temple, Trichy
There's a divya desham @ Tiruvellrai
-bhaktha

grsastrigal · Post by **grsastrigal** » 17 Oct 2007, 14:52

In Nagapattinam itself, you have Kayaroganeshwar (Neelayadhakshi is the Ambaal's name). MD two magnificent kritis- Kayaroganesham (Devagandharam), Ambaa Neelayadakshi (Neelambari) tell a lot about that.

Since you are in Nagappattinam, Tiruvarur is the nearest where you can see Thyagarajaswamy Temple (Navavarnam of MD- Remember !!!)

Around 15 KMs from Tiruvarur (to Kumbakonam), you can find a stop called "Arasavanangaadu". Get down and ask for Semmangudi. Just go and see the big house of the Great Pitamaha, where he lived and and knock the wall - you may hear varaali Aalapanai !!!!!!!!!!!

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 17 Oct 2007, 15:07

There are just too many temples , you forget the name of the one as soon as you enter the next that too almost all temples having 2 names with one name starting usually with thiru. try this url with all the sublinks which are very informative.

http://www.indiantemples.com/tamilnadu.html

There was an interesting thread kshetra and krithis which I just resurrected after a long search (rajumds or anyone else can post about the next kshetra and krithi )
http://rasikas.org/forums/viewtopic.php?id=1244

rbharath · Post by **rbharath** » 17 Oct 2007, 16:12

every village in that area would have a huge temple with some very interesting legend associated and all...

Nagapattinam - The temples of kAyArOhaNEsar and saundararAjar

Thiruvarur - The Thyagaraja Swami temple. There are many kritis composed on deities at this temple. The thyagaraja vibakthi, the nIlOtpalAmbhA vibakti, kamalAmbA navAvarNam, shOdasa gaNapati kritis, pancha linga kritis. and many more. There is even a kriti on the temple utsavam (tyAgarAja maha dvajArOhaNa - srI rAgam). The houses of thyagaraja, dikshitar and shyama sastri are also preserved, i m told. There is a mAriamman temple, in the town, where the kannaDa bangALa kriti 'rENukA dEvi' was composed. (is it the vijayabalam mAriamman temple?)

Mannargudi - Sri Vidya Rajagopala Perumal temple. srI vidyA rAjagOpAlam, bAlagOpAla, srI rAjagOpAla...

Kumbakonam - Temple town... There are suppose to be 12 siva and 12 vishnu temples which are prominent. there are many more. Actually, there is a temple in every possible place in this town. you will never finish them in a week.

Mayiladuturai - mAyUranAtar temple, vadAnyEsvarar temple.

Thanjavur - brihadIsvarar temple, bangAru kAmAkshi temple, konkanEsvarar temple...

Trichy - Ranganathar Temple, Uchichi pillaiyar temple, mAtrubUtEsvarar temple, jambukEsvarar temple.

These are towns which would serve as hubs in that area. around each of these towns is are hosts of villages which have huge temples and temples of interesting stories and legends

gobilalitha · Post by **gobilalitha** » 17 Oct 2007, 16:49

the names of many places will remind you of the great musicians and composers, semmangudi ,sirkazhi, tiruvaduthurai , papavinasam(papanasam). pandanallur, melattur, kumbakonam and samadhis of the trinity tiruvaiyaru, kumbakonam (dikshithar and shyama sastr, THE LIST IS ENDLESS . have a nice and useful time . gobilalitha if you stay till feb 08, you can enjoy the aradhanai.

kharaharapriya · Post by **kharaharapriya** » 17 Oct 2007, 22:20

Thank you so much. I really have to do some homework to grasp all of this info.

knandago2001 · Post by **knandago2001** » 17 Oct 2007, 23:53

kharaharapriya,
could you please tell me whether the neelayatakshi amman temple in nagapattinam has been renovated / repaired, yet? I had visited it just shortly after the tsunami disaster - was relieved that the temple had been spared major damage but very disappointed at the upkeep / maintenance. Even the archakar seemed disillusioned with the prevailing state of affairs. The silver lining was that I got to sing Neelaayatakshi (Paras), Amba Neelayatakshi (Neelambari) and Karme balavanta maaye (Saveri) at the sannidhi.

On a different note, don't miss the Singara velavan at Sikkil.

Sam Swaminathan · Post by **Sam Swaminathan** » 18 Oct 2007, 00:59

Yes, every single suggestion given above is valuable and should be followed up. My suggestion would be, base yourself at Kumbakonam, central to all the places mentioned above. In any decent hotel in Kumbakonam, you will find exhaustive charts, detailing all the temples with in the 75-100 km vicinity of the town. There are taxi services available from each hotel which can cover each direction in any one day. Every temple has book shops detailing the sthala puranam which, some times. cover aspects encompassing carnatic music and the trinity. My favorite places are, Vaitheeswaran Koil, a mere half an hour drive from Kumbakonam (given the traffic) and Thirunallar (on the way to karaikal). Have a good trip. Best wishes

ramakriya · Post by **ramakriya** » 18 Oct 2007, 01:36

And there are the dharmasamvardhini/ pancanadIshvara temples at Thiruvaiyyaru.

-Ramakriya

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 18 Oct 2007, 04:36

Those are cities where there is temple at every street corner - 'taDukki vizhundAl oru kOvil' - if you trip, you will land in a temple. I always love to go to the smaller, less celebrated temples - they have such a rich history, and the whole temple visit takes on the guise of an adventure in addition to a spiritual quest....

naaree · Post by **naaree** » 18 Oct 2007, 05:42

Add to that Thirupunkur (Located 3 Kms from Vaitheeswarankoil and 10 Kms from Sirkazhi.) , Sivaloganathar temple. This sthalam is famous for the Nandanar (Thirunalai povar nAyanAr) charitram.

NS

harimau · Post by **harimau** » 18 Oct 2007, 05:43

Do not miss the saptha vitanka sthalas.

PS. It is left as your homework exercise to find out what the saptha vitanka sthalas are!

rbharath · Post by **rbharath** » 18 Oct 2007, 10:17

The 6 tyAgarAjas... (ArUr tyAgarAja...) is another set worth seeing.

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 18 Oct 2007, 10:32

And definitely http://www.indiantemples.com/Tamilnadu/abhitiru.html is worth a visit. In addition to significances of 'Shiva freeing Markandeya' and Abhirami here and the wonderful temple, the prosperity of this temple town(village) is quite remarkable ( due to many devotees conducting the 60th and 80th birthday celebrations/ceremonies )

rajumds · Post by **rajumds** » 18 Oct 2007, 10:38

rbharath wrote:The 6 tyAgarAjas... (ArUr tyAgarAja...) is another set worth seeing.

ArUr means Thiruvarur. There are 7 seven Thyagarajas represented by the saptha vidanga sthalas

kharaharapriya · Post by **kharaharapriya** » 18 Oct 2007, 20:10

harimau,
google didnt help me in the home work u gave me:(. so pls enlighten me: wat do the saptha vitanka sthalas refer to?

baboosh · Post by **baboosh** » 18 Oct 2007, 20:34

kharaharapriya wrote:Dear friends,
I have been posted in a village in Point Calimere, Nagapattanam for a two month field visit as a part of my course in Rural Management. Due to the geographical proximity, I am keen on visiting Tiruvarur, Kumbakonam and Thanjavur. Could someone please inform me on the must see temples, legends/reasons for their importance and the krithis associated and if possible, how to go about planning the trip. I am a layman in Carnatic Music, hence any information will be of immense use. Thanks in advance.

Please visit Kumbhesvara,Chakrapani,Ramswami temples and also Swamimalai,pattesvaram Durga.If you have further time,you can visit Govindapuram where in a brinadvan,the 59th Acharya of Kamakoti peetam,Sri.Bodhendra sarasvathi svamigal's samaadhi is situated.In Tiruvarur,Sri.Muthusvami Dikshitar's birth place has been converted into a memorial hall by the munificence of One Mr.Govinswami and none else other than our MSS who sang many benefit performances for the same.
In tanjore you can visit Brihadeesvara temple,Bangaru Kamakshi temple where the golden idol of Kanchi Kamakshi was brought during Mughal invasion for safe custody by Kanchi Acharyas and Syamasastri sang his kritis in this temple as he was a priest there.
Above all visit Tiruvaiaru to see sri.Tyagaraja's samadhi

harimau · Post by **harimau** » 18 Oct 2007, 21:37

kharaharapriya wrote:harimau,
google didnt help me in the home work u gave me:(. so pls enlighten me: wat do the saptha vitanka sthalas refer to?

Don't you know that professors assign problems to students they don't know the answer to?

But in this instance, here is the info you need:
http://www.indiantemples.com/Tamilnadu/s090.html

rajumds · Post by **rajumds** » 18 Oct 2007, 21:59

kharaharapriya wrote:harimau,
google didnt help me in the home work u gave me:(. so pls enlighten me: wat do the saptha vitanka sthalas refer to?

http://rasikas.org/forums/viewtopic.php?id=1244

srinivasasarma · Post by **srinivasasarma** » 19 Oct 2007, 11:58

since karaharappriya refers to shri Rama (!) if pos. include
Thillaivilakam
vaduvoor (M.gudi/tanjore route)
ramasway temple at k.konam

kharaharapriya · Post by **kharaharapriya** » 19 Oct 2007, 22:05

Thank u so much rajumds.

raj-123 · Post by **raj-123** » 20 Oct 2007, 05:29

Another places to visit are nearby villages :
Tirukkodikaval has Tirukoodieswarar temlple. great one;
also : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tirukkodik ... ishna_Iyer

maharajapuram is also nearby, durga temple is great.

get one KMU-Mayavaram bus and you can get down at these stops (make sure they go there). some buses go through Cuttalam.

Also sengalipuram is on bus No 3 from KMU. Lot of dikshithars from the village.
there are lot of temples, unfortunately many are dilapidated and need funds badly.

knandago2001 · Post by **knandago2001** » 24 Oct 2007, 01:29

Of Gods and their men in the land of Chola temples and rituals
http://arts.guardian.co.uk/features/sto ... 87,00.html

Svaapana · Post by **Svaapana** » 24 Oct 2007, 01:37

kharaharapriya,

My wife and I visited the three temples in the Poonthottam area. The temple at Thirumiyachur (Lalithambika) and Koothanoor (Mahasaraswathi) is well known. The third temple in the area at Thila Tharpanapuri is smaller than the two but with full of very interesting features.
1. The Adi vinayakar idol is not with the elephant head (hence called naramukha vinayakar)
2. Rama performed tharpanam for his father Dasaratha and the four â€œpindamsâ€

Sam Swaminathan · Post by **Sam Swaminathan** » 24 Oct 2007, 04:53

Svaapana....could you please provide more info on the temple at Thila Tharpanapuri in so for as it relates to the rites offerred to the elders who have passed by ( in terms of offering tharpanams etc )

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 24 Oct 2007, 04:55

Svaapana wrote:kharaharapriya,
My wife and I visited the three temples in the Poonthottam area. The temple at Thirumiyachur (Lalithambika) and Koothanoor (Mahasaraswathi) is well known. The third temple in the area at Thila Tharpanapuri is smaller than the two but with full of very interesting features.

My point exactly about the smaller temples! Thanks for sharing those lovely tidbits.

I thought that the kanakadhArA stOtram was composed by Adi Sankara to reward a poverty-stricken house wife who heeded to his call for alms (bhavati, bhikSAm dEhi) by giving the last piece of edible material she had in her house [a fruit (amAlaka)]...and in response, murAri hridayESwara vallabhI/makarAlaya kanyakA, rewarded her with a stream (dhArA) of golden (kanaka) amAlaka phalam....so, what is the connection to this temple?

rajumds · Post by **rajumds** » 24 Oct 2007, 10:56

Can thi thread be merged with kshetras & kritis thread .

Svaapana · Post by **Svaapana** » 24 Oct 2007, 19:51

Sam Swaminathan... Sorry, I do not have any information on the question you have asked.

rshankar.. If I remember right, the Gurukkal at the temple said that the inspiration for composing the kanakadhara stotram came at this (Swaranavalli) temple.

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 24 Oct 2007, 23:53

Which goes to say--stala purANams have to be taken with a pinch of 'prasAdam'!

Sam Swaminathan · Post by **Sam Swaminathan** » 25 Oct 2007, 04:23

"Can the thread be merged with kshetras & kritis thread "

"A jolly good idea", as PG would have put it......but where is the thread now or do we have create one?

kharaharapriya · Post by **kharaharapriya** » 07 Nov 2007, 14:27

I visited the Bangaru Kamakshi temple in Thnjavur and the priest told me the legend of the idol, something regarding a luminous light emerging from Brahma etc, Since I'm not fluent in Tamil i couldnt get it, Could someone please enlighten me,

Regarding the observation that being born in Tiruvarur leads to salvation....
well, a single encounter with any auto driver is enough to make u leave the town for good. But all said and done, the temple was amazing and more than made up for all the difficulties.

And another interesting fact. I searched the whole of Tiruvarur and not a single place hs a picture of the Trinity for sale.

Knandago2001 , regardign your query about the Neelayadakshi temple. Well, it was past sunset when i went there. The whole place wore a desolate look. I'm not sure about the status of its upkeep. Sorry

I plan to visit Kumbakonam this weekend.
And could some one please point me to a place in Chennai from where i could get a framed picture of the Trinity. Are pictures of Kamalambika and Nilotpalamba available in Chennai?

The help i got through this forum really helped me a lot. Ignorant, as i am, i am reallly indebted to all of you.

Thanks a lot

sudarshan · Post by **sudarshan** » 07 Nov 2007, 14:49

Kharaharapriya, the legend regarding the Bangaru Kamakshi goes like this:

The idol of Bangaru Kamakshi is made of pure gold. It is said Kamakshi Devi appeared before Chaturmukha Brahma in a dazzling and luminous form, wearing gold raiments and completely bedecked in gold, with the right hand holding a parrot and the left hand in the Gajakarna mudra. Brahma prayed that Kamakshi bless all devotees in this same luminous form. To this prayer, Kamakshi Devi personified herself in the form of Bangaru Kamakshi. In the Telugu language, Bangaru means gold. Hence, Devi is called Bangaru Kamakshi. Since punugu paste is applied all over the idol, one cannot see the golden form. It is said that the idol is is very tender and to touch, it feels like a human body.

Pictures of the Trinity and of Kamalamba can be got from Giri Stores, near Kapalishwara Temple, Mylapore, Chennai. Up until now, I have not seen any picture of Nilotpalamba, except for the painting in the shrine at Tiruvarur.

kharaharapriya · Post by **kharaharapriya** » 07 Nov 2007, 15:02

Thank you so much Sudarshan. I will try out Giri Traders as i have a day in Chennai on my way back. I did see a picture of Nilotpalamba, which was carried by a person. It was 6 x 4 size post card size. Anyways i'll try my luck at Chennai.

Thanks once again.

knandago2001 · Post by **knandago2001** » 07 Nov 2007, 18:12

kharaharapriya: thanks for taking the trouble - too bad things are the way they are.