Swamimalai Sri Swaminathar

Swamimalai is located 7 kms from Kumbakonam. Sri Swaminathaswamy (Lord Muruga) is the main diety here. Swamimalai is one of the Aru Padai Veedu Temples for Lord Muruga.

Nakkeerar in his Thirumurugaatruppadai and Arunagirinathar in his Thiruppugazh have written hymns in praise of Sri Swaminathar here.

This temple is associated with the legend of Lord Muruga having re-initiated his father Shiva by teaching him the Pranava Manthra - Omkara and its meaning.

This temple is built on an artificially made small hill, reached through a plight of 60 steps denoting 60 tamil years. Facing the sanctum is an elephant and not a peacock, which is unusual in Lord Muruga temples.

According to mythology, saint Bhrugu before commencing a penance, got the boon that whoever disturbs his meditation will lose all his knowledge and wisdom. Due to the power of his penance, a sacred fire emanated from his head and reached up to the heavens, which frightened the Devas. They surrendered to Lord Siva praying to save them. The Lord extinguished the sacred fire by covering the saint's head by hand.

As Lord Shiva disturbed the penance, he lost all his knowledge or Gnana and is said to have regained them by learning the Pranava mantra from Lord Muruga at this shrine.

Once when Brahma, the creator was proceeding to Kailasa, the playful child Lord Muruga asked him for the meaning of the Pranava Manthra "OM". When Brahma admitted that he did not know it, Muruga imprisoned him. As a result, all creations came to a standstill and the Devas prayed to Lord Siva to get Brahma released.

Lord Muruga insisted that the imprisonment was a right punishment for the ignorance of Brahma. Lord Shiva asked Muruga whether he himself knew the meaning of Pranava Manthra.

Lord Muruga said that he knew the meaning of OM and can teach the same to Lord Shiva, provided if the latter can accept him as his Guru and listen to him with full devotion and Bhakthi.Lord Shiva agreed to it and listened to him obediently as a disciple and Lord Muruga taught him the meaning of the Pranava Manthra.

As Lord Muruga became a Guru to the Swami (Lord Shiva) himself, the place came to be known as Swamimalai and the presiding deity as Swaminathan.

Sri Meenakshi Sundareswarar temple at the foot hill which is said to have been built by the Pandya ruler Varaguna Pandyan from Madurai. The golden chariot is taken in procession on special occasions here.

The stala vriksham is the Nellimaram and this tree is said to be a manifestation of Bhudevi.

Temple Address :
Arulmigu Swaminatha Swami Temple, Swamimalai - 612 302. Thanjavur district. Tamil Nadu.

Thiruvalanchuzhi Sri Swetha Vinayakar

Sri Vellai Pillaiyar (Swetha Vinayakar or Nuraippillaiyaar) Temple is situated at Thiruvalanchuzhi, a village located just 6 kms near Kumbakonam, Tamilnadu, India.

Swetha Vinayakar, a white colored statue of Ganesha is the diety of worship here. Though this is a temple for Lord Shiva, Swetha Vinayakar is the important diety of Thiruvalanchuzhi.

Legend has it that the Devas, forgot to worship Lord Ganesha before starting to churn the "Paarkadal" (Ksheera Saagaram). Hence, they were only able to get the Alakala Poison out of it.

Later Indra, the king of Devas realised that, it was because they did not worship Ganesha before starting their mission.

Lord Indra created this idol out of the foam (Kadal Nurai) that was generated from the milky ocean (Ksheera Saagaram) churned by them, in their quest for the celestial nectar Amrudham.

After they worshipped this idol made of foam (Nurai in Tamil), they were able to take out the Amrudham from the Ocean.

As the diety is made of the foam, there is no Abhishegam etc., performed here.

Durvasa Muni is said to have carried out a yagnam here, and the Devas who attended it are said to have established several Siva Lingams in this temple.

As the trunk of Lord Ganesha is twisted towards his right hand side, the place is said to have got the name "Thiru Valam Suzhi".

It is also believed that once Kaveri went back into the earth and people were worried without the existence of holy river. A Rishi by name Heranda Muni went inside the small passage where River Kavery went inside the Bhumi and sacrificed himself.

After this incident, River Kavery came back to the surface near this shrine, and made a complete circle towards the right and hence the village got the name Thiruvalanchuzhi.

There are several interesting sculptural features in this vast temple. Inscriptions reveal that Raja Raja Cholan had made several endowments here. There are also inscriptions from the period of Parantaka Chola I.

There are lots of quotes in the history about the sculptures of this temple. There is a huge window like structure carved out of a single stone which is facing Lord Ganesha. It is said that we also have to get the Dharshan of Lord Ganesha through this window.

It is said that the ancient sculptors, when they approach the Kings to demonstrate their skills and to get an opportunity to work for the kings, they used to tell the king that except the window of Thiruvalanchuzhi temple, they can do any kind of sculpture.

Located enroute to Swamimalai from Kumbakonam, Lord Ganesha is a feast to watch at Thiruvalanchuzhi.

Ayyavadi Sri Maha Prathyangira Devi

This temple for Sri Maha Prathyangira Devi is situated in a small village called Ayyavadi around 6 kms from Kumbakonam.

Located just 500 mts from Uppiliappan temple, this village was once called as Aivar Padi.According to legends, the 5 Pandavas visited this place, kept their weapons under a tree, worshipped Sri Maha Prathyangira Devi and went around in the forests. As the five Pandavas worshipped here, it is beleived that the place was called as Aivar Padi which later changed as Ayyavadi.

Lord Vishnu took the Narasimha Avatar to kill the demon king Hiranyakasipu who is the father of Prahalada. After being so furiously fought with so much of power to kill the king, the anger and the fierce of Narasimha didnt come down. With so much of hyper Narasimha couldn't make out between good and bad people and started disturbing everyone and no one could control him. People prayed Lord Shiva to save them.

Lord Shiva took a new and more powerful form or Avatar as Sarabeswara, with lion's face and eagle's wings. Shakthi accompanied Lord Shiva in the form of Sri Mahaprathyangira Devi seated on one of the wings of Sri Sarabeswara. Sarabeswarar went and subsided Narasimha's anger to bring back peace. Hence both Sri Mahaprathyangira Devi and Sri Sarabeswara are beleived to be more powerful than any other powers.

In Ramayana, Indrajit, son of Ravana performed a Yaga called "Nigumbalai Yagam", worshipping Sri Maha Prathyangira Devi. It is beleived that from this Ayyavadi he performed the Yaga. If he had completed the Yaga successfully, he would have got the powers to kill Rama.

But somehow it was spoiled by Lakshmana and Anjaneya before completion. Here the Devi is seated on the chariot with 4 lions, 8 arms with weapons possessing Lion's face.

Sri Maha Prathyangira Devi's worship will take away all evil forces and unsolvable problems from one's life. In this temple Homams are conducted every Full moon day and No moon day, after which huge volumes of Red Chillies are offered to the Goddess.

Sri Maha Prathyangira Devi is an important Goddess in Shakthi worship. There is a Gayatri Mantra too for worshipping Sri Maha Prathyangira Devi.

A rare and wonderful temple for Shakthi Devotees.