Fascinating temples around Kumbakonam

The name Kumbakonam for people from Tamilnadu evokes fond memories of the aromatic filter coffee, excellent mess food ( small eateries where food is almost like home made ) and above all fascinating temples stoked in history, stunning grandeur in architecture and the sheer size of some of these temples. Once I had attended a short MDP session in the IIM Ahmedabad. On the first day, one of the professors explained to us the rationale of the big walls of the IIM. He beautifully explained that the idea is to make yourself feel humble, show how small you are before the institution, to show that what you know is nothing compared to the enormous knowledge which you dont have and create an environment where you shed your ego and create an atmosphere where gaining knowledge becomes a priority. May be some of these temples in Kumbakonam also were done with a similar purpose. Not just Kumbakonam but temples across Tamilnadu mostly follow this pattern with each one engaging in a healthy beauty contest competition.

Temples across Tamilnadu are categorised into various sub groups like Padal petra sthalams ( 275 temples revered by the Saiva Nayanars and are among the greatest Shiva temples ), Divya desams ( 108 temples of Vishnu decorated by the Vaishnava Alwars ), Pancha bootha sthalangal ( representing the 5 main nature elements ), greatest living chola temples ( 3 of them comprising Brihadeeswarar, Darasuram and Gangai Konda cholapuram ), Arupadi veedu ( 6 important temples of Lord Karthikeya ) etc. These are just a portion of the total temples across the state.

Being from Chennai, I was always fascinated by the large temples around TN. Always make it a point to visit them whenever possible. My dad hails from Mayiladuthurai ( a short distance from Kumbakonam ) and these places always evokes fond memories for him.

This was my second visit to Kumbakonam where I stayed for 3 days at my usual abode - Rayas Grand ( good hotel in heart of the town, clean rooms and serves reasonable food ). The earlier visit was with my parents for visiting the Navagraha temples which are scattered around Kumbakonam. This time the visit was specific for visiting Vaitheeswaran Koil and the rest of the time available to visit the grand old temples around Kumbakonam including all 3 of the greatest living chola temples.

The rest of this blog is more of a photolog. In this case the pictures definitely do speak for themselves.

Built by Raja Raja Cholan , the Bruhadeeswarar temple also called as Periya Koil ( Big temple ) is a stunning architectural marvel. The main Vimana is over 60m tall, the temple has one of the largest shiva lingam and Nandi. The temple is over 1000 years old. The temple is the foremost of the 3 greatest living chola temples.

The quiet temple at Thiruvilanchuzhi is amidst beautiful surroundings. The place is famous for Swetha Vinayagar though the main deity is Shiva. The Ganesha here is said to be built with Ocean foam.

Built by Rajendra Cholan, the temple also called Bruhadeeswar temple is situated in Gangai Konda Cholapuram. The temple was built to celebrate the kings victory over the Pala dynasty. The name of the town literally means the land of the chola who conquered the Ganges. This is also one of the Greatest living Chola temples.

 Swamimalai Murugan temple

Main Gopuram of the Adi Kumbeswarar temple. Kumbakonam gets its name from this temple. The main gopuram is a huge structure.

Swamimalai temple steps leading to the main deity

Upppiliappan Temple

Sirkali Sattainathar temple. The temple has a very important place in history as its the place where Sambandar is said to have been fed milk by Parvati herself and he went on to become a great poet.

This temple at Thirubhuvanam was not originally in the list of places where we were to visit. However the driver on seeing our interest in chola architecture suggested this place. Its a massive temple with hardly any crowd. The temple for Lord Sarabeswara was constructed by the Cholas too.

Airavateeswara temple at Darasuram. 3rd of the greatest living chola temples. Some renovation work was going on when we visited this place.

Thiru Nageswaram temple. One of the Nava graha temples

Ambreshwar Shiva Temple - Ambernath

Being from Tamilnadu, we are used to temples which are humungous in size, intricate in its beauty and revered for its holiness. We moved to Mumbai around 3 years back and must say, we had a struggle getting used to the smaller temples over here. Not just that, the way of worship is quite different. In temples of TN or for that matter anywhere in South, you don't get a chance to get too close to the main deity, leave alone touching it. Things were different here. People hug around a Shiva lingam which if I had done in my grand mother's sight, she would have screamed her head off. Its a lot up close and personal over here. It took some time to get used to. When we visited some of the temples here, we obviously stuck to the practice of praying from the distance which some priests here even looked at us as though we had done something disrespectful. Sorry boss - I have been told that ummachi kanna kuthidun ( God will poke your eyes ) since childhood and am not gonna change that in a hurry.

So, it was more out of desperation, that I searched online for old Shiva temples near Mumbai and voila. Ambreshwar Shiva temple is an ooooooooollllllllldddd temple situated in Ambernath within 50 kms from Mumbai. The temple is said to be built around 1060 AD. So that's almost as old as the Brihadeeswarar temple at Tanjore, Tamilnadu. Once we learnt of the place, we were itching to go there. So we took off on a Saturday morning after looking into the Panchangam ( a book which lists out the important religious days, good times, bad times etc ) whether its any day remotely considered to be sacred for Shiva as then we end up loosing the peace and tranquillity of the prayer and the exploration which we were after. Thankfully it was just a dull day as per the book.

We started off pretty early and the place was quite easy to find, except the final km or two which were through narrow lanes and bumpy roads which were almost about to test my skill of changing a flat car tyre.  Thankfully Ambreshwar was quite powerful and we ended up safely at the temple. It was a real beauty.

Its a very small temple but with highly intricate carvings which were fighting hard to survive the test of time. Some of the carvings were too hard to even make out but that only added to the beauty. To reach to the Shiva lingam, you need to climb down a very narrow flight of stairs. Actually its just enough for 2 small guys to go in side by side but the temple had put a support right in the middle - one side each for onward and return which meant for jumbo kings like me, it was a slight tight squeeze. Luckily being early morning there was hardly any crowd and the embarrassment was more short lived. Its that time when you think - from tomorrow I am gonna work out.

We had a quick prayer - South Indian style and climbed back out to enjoy the temple a bit further. There is a small flight of stairs at a distance where you can just sit and gaze at the beauty of the temple which is just what we did. There is also a small pond behind the temple where there were turtles and my daughter was all excited on seeing them.

On the way back, we visited the Kidkaleshwarar  temple near Dombivali as well. The temple is quite small ( though considered very popular ) but it has a huge pond adjacent to it which makes for a pleasant viewing. A good half day trip overall.

Some pictures of the temple.