7 temples you must visit in Kumbakonam

Oct 21
13:56

2016

Selvakumar Rangasamy

Selvakumar Rangasamy

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Kumbakonam is a temple city. Here are the seven best temples to visit.

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Kumbakonam is a famous town in Tamilnadu. It is called as temple city as it has most famous temples which are visited by millions of people every day. The main deities are Lord Shiva temple and Lord Vishnu temple. These two gods have the maximum of the temple which also connected to the Mahamaham function in Kumbakonam which held once every 12 years. This is a very famous function and attracts more number of devotees every year. Taking a bath in a pond located there is a special St. Bathing event. People believe that taking a bath at that time will demolish all their sins done by them up to that date. The festival attracts millions of people from all over India. The last time it was held on February 2016. It will be held again on 2028. Kumbakonam has a lot of shrine places to visit. The famous Navagraha temples are located in Kumbakonam. Here are the best temples in Kumbakonam that you must visit.


Kasi Viswanathar Temple

As the temple is located very near to Mahamaham Pond,7 temples you must visit in Kumbakonam Articles let us start from here. The main deity of the temple is Lord Shiva. The history of the temple went back to the history of Ramayana. Once Ravana was carrying a Shiva Linga which was given by Lord Shiva to him. Lord Shiva told that Ravana should not place the linga anywhere between the travel. But due to the God Play, the Linga was located there and has been growing with ages. The Linga is very special as God gave it. The goddess Parvati is worshiped as Visalakshi here. The temple history also goes back to 7th century. A lot of poets were written songs about this temple. The leading devotees of Shiva who are called as Nayanmars also went to this temple and had narrated many songs. The temple has 72 Feet Rajagopuram.

2. Nageswaran Temple

This is another famous temple of Lord Shiva. But the God here is in the form Sharpham(Snake). The temple was built by the King Aditya Chola in the 12th century. It is one of the great examples of the architectural and astrology skills of Chola.

The uniqueness of the temple is that it allows sunlight inside only during Tamil month Chithirai(April/may). The temple has three Rajagopuram in three directions east, west and south. Those who have snake blemish comes here to pray the god to not to get affected by such Dhosam. The holiday of the temple has the structure of Chariot which is a vehicle used by the people to carry the god’s idol during the festival to the promenade.

3. Adi Kumbeswarar Temple

This is the biggest temple located at the center of Kumbakonam and one of the leading temple of Saiva Sidhantham. The deity of the temple is Lord Shiva called as Adi Kumbeswarar. His consort is Manthrapeeteswari Mangalambika. This temple is bigger in size and almost covers 2800 Square meter. Having length and breadth of 230M and 77M respectively. The temple has three big Gopuras in eastern western and northern sides. Govind Deekshithan who is the cheif architect of Achutha Nayak of Thanjavur renovated the temple, and the present structure is built by them. The sculpture around the temple have stories in it. The East Gopura consist of most of them. It has the height of 128M and comprises of 11 stories. The temple has numerous deities, but the premises gods are Adi Kumbeswarar and his consort Mangalambigai. Inside the temple, there is also a shrine for Lord Muruga and some other Gods.

We have seen the 3 of the best Saiva temples. Here we are going to see Vaishnava temples.

4. Sarangapani Temples

You might have heard the word often in news and newspapers. The Sarangapani temple is a beautiful temple devoted to Lord Vishnu. It is located in a busy marketplace. This temple has the name for its architectural style. It was one of the temples of 108 temples of Lord Vishnu mentioned in Nalayira Divya Prabandham by 12 Azhwars. This temple tower had been the tallest tower(147 Feet) in Asia until the Srirangam temple tower was built. The temple has the special love among the Vishnu devotees.

5. Chakrapani Temple

The main deity of the temple is Lord Vishnu, and he has referred as Chakra Raja. The Chakra Raja means the king of wheels. You can notice the Sudarshana chakra in Lord Vishnu idol here. The temple was often renovated by Vijayanagara empire, Chola empire and Nayakas who ruled Tamil Nadu once. Their contribution to the temple indicates that the temple is ancient and has long history behind it.

6. Ramaswamy Temple

The temple has very old history behind it. The name Ramaswamy means Lord Rama. Rama has so many names, and it is one among them. You can watch a lot of Tamil people have the name Ramasamy. The temple is a special one because once Rama and Goddess Sita together have watched Hanuman Playing Veena. This temple is referred as “Thenagathu Ayodhya” which means Ayodhya of the south. The sculptures and pillars in this temple have a minute and complex works.

7. Thirunageswaram Temple

Thirunageswaram has located 8 KM away from Kumbakonam main town. This place actually has two temples. The Naganathaswamy temple is famous among them. The name means snake in Tamil and Sanskrit. The main deity here is Ragu. The specialty here is the Rite that happens to God Ragu. In which the milk will be poured on the idol. The milk which flows on the idol will turn into blue and again turns white right after it comes to the bottom. This is a very special Puja and more people are keen to see this and visiting the temple every day.

Kumbakonam has numerous temples, and it will take more time visit all temples. I recommend you to get a plan map which is available in all hotels and resorts you stay. Use the google map to decide to where to go first and where to go second. The plan will help you to save time. In festival season there will be the big rush so online bus booking and train ticket reservation is the best way to make stress free journey.