My trip started in Kumbakonam where my first destination was Swami Malai. I have been to five of the six abodes of Kartikeya. Tiruttani is still left....one of these days. It is believed that here the son(Kartikeya) became a guru to the father (Shiva) and explained the meaning of the pranava mantra Om. The source for Dikshithar songs like Swaminatha Paripalayasu maam( Nattai) and Shri Swaminathaaya( Kamas).
After this was the temple in Darasuram, a UNESCO World Heritage site. I had never heard about this till earlier this year. It has two sannadhis for Airavateeswarar and his consort here Periya Nayaki Amman. The whole complex is beautiful having been built in the 12th century by the Chola emperor Rajaraja the Second and is in the form of a chariot. It is also a very quiet and peaceful place. Visit it in the early evening if possible and sit in the sprawling gardens later.
After this was the Adi Kumbeshwarar temple. The very name Kumbakonam is supposed to be derived from this sthala. The pot ( kumbha) is said to be of Brahma containing the seeds of all living beings which was displaced during a pralaya caused by Shiva's arrow and ultimately came to rest in the place now known as Kumbakonam. This temple again constructed by a Chola king in the 9th century houses sannadhis of Adi Kumbeshwarar and Manthrapateeshwari Mangalambika
After this was the Ramaswamy temple built by Achutappa Nayak and Raghunatha Nayak during the 16th and 17th centuries. The central shrine houses the image of Rama along with Sita and all his brothers as well as Hanuman. The walls of the outer prakaram have beautiful paintings depicting various episodes from the Ramayana.
Many more temples in Kumbakonam. But I had to move on to Tanjavur.
My first temple here was the Brihadeeshvara temple. This is totally awesome and has to be seen. The sight of those magnificent towers lit up at night need to be experienced. Of course if you go during the day you can experience the missing shadow( despite it's height, there is no shadow ) Also known as Periya Koil and also a World Heritage site, it has numerous shrines. Of all the songs, what stands out for me here, is BMK's Kaanada composition Brihadeeshvaro.
This was followed by a whole lot of temples the next day which just turned out to be Aadi Pooram, a day when all the female deities are adorned with bangles signifying Parvati's Valakaappu . Also believed to be the day when Andal was incarnated near Srivilliputtur. They were the Bangaru Kamakshi temple, the Kashi Vishwanathar temple which also houses the Visalakshi Amman shrine, The Navaneetha Krishnan temple, the tiny Naal Kaal Mandapam featuring Anjaneya as well as the Prasanna Venkateshwara Temple opposite , again with incredibly beautiful idols.
On to Tiruvarur where we saw the houses of all three of the Trinity as well as the Thyagarajaswamy temple which also houses the shrines of Kamalamba and Nilotpalamba. We got to sing the Kamalamba navavarnams in front of the Kamalamba Sannadhi. An interesting aspect of this temple are the Navagrahas which are in a line unlike in the square format seen in other places.
On to Nagapattinam and the Sundararaja Perumal temple which houses the shrine of his consort Soundaravalli also. Here we sang Soundararajam. I have written about this song extensively about ten years back in this very blog. Since we reached late in the evening, we got to participate in the shayana seva, where the Lord is laid to sleep in a beautifully decorated oonjal, adorned with flowers . There is an aarti and we got to put the Lord to sleep with various Carnatic lullabies... extremely moving
The next day on to Mannargudi and the Rajagopalaswami temple also called Dakshina Dwarka. Here we got to participate in a moving ritual called Vamsha Vridhi, where an idol of the Lord is given in your hands and mantras are chanted for the advancement of your family lineage.
After this to Tiruvaiyaru, the Thyagaraja Samadhi where the Aradhana is held every year. We sat here and on the steps of the Cauvery and sang so many Thyagaraja krithis starting with Bantureethi. You can see here the original idols worshipped by him.
On to Kanchipuram on a Aadi Velli( Friday) where we sang the Kamakshi navavarnams sitting in front of her Sannadhi during the early morning abhishekam.
And then to the Kailasanathar temple which has a Shodasha Linga( made of 16 planes) where the entire complex is built of sandstone except for some granite load bearing pillars, the Ekambresar temple( which is a panchaboota sthala and I have written about in the context of Chintayamam in this blog itself) and the Varadaraja Perumal temple where we sang Varadaraja Upasmahe.
