Kumbakonam - Temples

Temples

Kumbakonam is known for its temples and mathas. There are around 188 Hindu temples within the municipal limits of Kumbakonam. Apart from these, there several thousand temples around the town thereby giving the town the sobriquets "Temple Town" and "City of temples".

Adi Kumbeswarar Temple is considered to be the oldest Saivite shrine in the town. It was constructed by the Medieval Cholas in the 7th century AD. The Nageswaraswamy Temple has a separate shrine for the Sun god Surya who is believed to have worshipped the Hindu god Shiva at this place. Adi Kumbeswarar temple, Nageswaran temple and Kasi Viswanathar temple are the Shiva temples in the town reverred in Tevaram, the Tamil Saiva canonical work of the 7th–8th century. Kumbakonam has one of the few temples dedicated to the Hindu god Brahma.

Sarangapani temple is the largest Vaishnavite shrine present in Kumbkonam. The present structure of the temple having a twelve storey high tower was constructed by Nayak kings in the 15th century AD. It is one of the "Divya Desams", the 108 temples of Vishnu revered by the 12 poet saints, or Alwars. The Ramaswamy temple, which has scenes from the Hindu epic Ramayana depicted on its walls, was constructed by Govinda Dikshitar, the minister of successive Nayak rulers, Achuthappa Nayak (1560–1614 AD) and Raghunatha Nayak (1600–34 AD) in the 16th century. He added a commercial corridor between the temple and the older Chakrapani temple, which in modern times is called Chinna Kadai Veethi, a commerical steet in the town..

Pilgrims from all parts of India take a holy dip once every 12 years during the Mahamaham festival in the Mahamaham tank. There was estimated 2 million pilgrims during the 2004 event. Govinda Dikshitar constructed the sixteen mandapams (shrines) and stone steps around this tank. During the Mahamaham festival of 1992, there was a major stampede in which 48 people were killed and 74 were injured.

Kumbakonam also has a number of Hindu monastic institutions or mathas. The Sri Sankara matha of Kanchipuram was moved to Kumbakonam during the reign of Pratap Singh and remained in Kumbakonam until the 1960s. There are also two Vellalar mathas in the nearby towns of Dharmapuram and Thiruppanandal and a Raghavendra matha in Kumbakonam. There is also a branch of the Vaishnavite Ahobila mutt in Kumbakonam.

The Thenupuriswarar Temple at Patteeswaram, the Oppiliappan Kovil, the Swamimalai Murugan temple and the Airavateswarar temple at Darasuram are located in the vicinity of Kumbakonam. The Airavatesvara Temple built by Rajaraja Chola II (1146–73 AD) during 12th century AD is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, along with the Brihadeeswara Temple at Thanjavur, the Gangaikondacholisvaram Temple at Gangaikonda Cholapuram that are referred as the Great Living Chola Temples.

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Famous quotes containing the word temples:

    ““To every man upon this earth
    Death cometh soon or late.
    And how can man die better
    Than facing fearful odds
    For the ashes of his fathers
    And the temples of his gods,”
    —Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800–1859)

    “These temples grew as grows the grass;
    Art might obey, but not surpass.
    The passive Master lent his hand
    To the vast soul that o’er him planned.”
    —Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)

    “Goddesses never die. They slip in and out of the world’s cities, in and out of our dreams, century after century, answering to different names, dressed differently, perhaps even disguised, perhaps idle and unemployed, their official altars abandoned, their temples feared or simply forgotten.”
    —Phyllis Chesler (b. 1941)