Mayuranathaswami Temple

The Mayuranathaswami temple is located in the town of Mayiladuthurai in Nagapattinam district of Tamil Nadu. The maini deity is the Lingam called Mayuranathar, as Goddess Parvathi worshiped Lord Shiva in the form of Mayur.
The myth around this temple is that Goddess Parvathi, the consort of Lord Shiva once offended him. Shiva was angry and cursed her to be born as a Peahen. Parvathi repented and Shiva asked her to pray first at Mylapore and then at Mayiladuthurai. After she prayed Shiva, she was ridden of the curse and became known as Abhyambal. That is why the name of Mylapore and Mayilladuthurai. (Mayil is Peahen in Tamil).

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Rajagopalaswamy Temple

The temple to Lord Krishna is located in Mannargudi, near Tanjore in Tamil Nadu. This temple is called as ‘Dakshina Dwarka’ along with Guruvayoor in Kerala.

The temple complex is huge with 16 gopurams (Temple towers), 7 prakaram (courtyard), 24 shrines, 7 mandapams (halls) and 9 sacred temple tanks. This temple displays the Chola architecture and type very well.

Panguni Thiruvizha, conducted in the Tamil month of Panguni is carried out in this temple. The festival is conducted for 18 days and the second day characterises the enactment of Krishna taking away the clothing of the bathing females. It is a grand performance by the local dancers and artists. This festival attracts thousands of devotees from across Tamil Nadu. 

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Srirangam Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple

Srirangam has one of the largest and grandest temples in India. It is a treasure house of art and culture. The unique feature of the Srirangam Ranganatha Swamy temple is that Ranganatha, Vishnu is seen in a reclining posture.

This temple is the largest temple in India, occupying 156 acres area. The entrance of the temple, called the Rajagopuram (The Royal Temple tower), raises up to 237 ft from the ground. A 21 day festival is conducted in the tamil month of Margazhi attracts more than 1 million visitors. The Srirangam temple is one of the largest functioning Hindu temples in the world.

The legend of this Sriranga Ranganathaswamy is that Lord Rama, an Avatar of Vishnu, worshiped the Ranganathaswamy idol for a very long time. It is said that Lord Rama gave the idol to King Vibhishana after he destroyed Ravana, as a token of appreciation for Vibhishana’s support in destroying Ravana, even though the latter was his own brother. Vibhishana was going to SriLanka via Trichy, the deity wanted to stay in Srirangam. The king Dharma Varma was doing penance to Lord Ranganatha to permanently stay in Srirangam. Captivated by the devotion of the King, Lord Ranganatha stayed put in Srirangam. He promised to cast his glance eternally on Lanka. Hence it is that the deity (in a reclining posture) faces south.

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Tiruvannamalai

Tiruvannamalai is one of the grandest temples in India with a tradition of festivals. The most important of the festivals is the Karthikai Deepam.

The legend behind this Karthikai Deepam festival is that, Shiva’s wife Parvati, once closed Shiva’s eyes playfully in a flower garden at their abode in Mount Kailash. Although it was only for a moment for the gods, it wasn’t the same one moment for the people on the universe in earth. All light was taken from the universe, and the earth was submerged in darkness for years. Parvati then performed penance with other devotees of Shiva, and Lord Shiva appeared as a column of fire at the top of Annamalai hills, returning light to the world. He then merged with Parvati to form Ardhanarishvara, the half-female, half-male form of Shiva.

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Periya Kovil

The Brihadeeswarar Temple, also called colloquially as ‘Tanjai Periya Kovil’ is one of the architectural marvel of Tamil Nadu. This temple was built in Tanjore district, by the Chola Kings. The temple is a part of the UNESCO World Heritage sites.

This temple flaunts one of the highest Vimanam (Temple Tower), standing tall at 216 ft. The Kumbam (apex of the tower) is carved out of one single rock and weighs 80 ton. Another structure that is carved out of a single rock is the big statue of Nandi (the sacred bull) at the entrance, measuring about 16 ft long and 13 feet high.The Shivalingam is also gigantic at 8.7m high! 

The unique feature of this temple is that the entire temple is made out of granite. One other reason for this temple to be world famous is that the shadow of the temple disappears at noon. The construction of this temple is such that the shadow doesn’t fall on the ground at noon. It is an architecture marvel, especially when we consider that this was built during the 1000 AD.

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Azhagar Kovil

Azhagar Kovil is situated near Madurai, and it is also known as Tirumal irum cholai. This shrine of Vishnu is venerated by the hymns of Alwars.

The legend says that sage Suthapas (Munivar) was bathing in Gangai at the Azhakar Hill and did not pay attention to Durvasar Maharish passing by. The enraged Durvasar cursed Suthapas that he would turn into a frog. The only he would return to his natural form is Lord Sundararajar, also known as Kallazhakar would redeem him of his curse.

The munivar in his frog status performed ‘thapas’ on the banks of the river Vaigai. The Lord Kallazhakar then comes from his abode in Azhakar Hill to redeem Mandooga Maharishi of his curse.

Chithirai Thiruvizha is celebrated, during every Tamil month of Chithirai. Chithirai Thiruvizha is about Meenakshi's Marriage and her brother, Azhakar. The main event is Kallazhakar Crossing the Vaigai river. Millions of people gather to see this event. Azhagar comes to Madurai to visit her sister’s marriage, but by the time he reaches Madurai, the marriage is already over. He then returns to Azhagar Kovil with a heavy heart. The festival is about how Azhagar becomes angry and the processions of marriage and himself.

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Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple

Meenakshi Amman Temple as it is popularly called is located in the Temple City, Madurai. It is the ancient centre of worship and art. Madurai represents a rich cultural heritage. It is the second culturally rich city in India.

The uniqueness of this temple is that, though it is a Shiva Temple, Shiva is not the main deity. Rather his consort, Meenakshi (an avatar of Parvati) is the principal deity. Legend says that to answer the prayers of the second Pandya king and his wife, the goddess was born as their child with three breasts. A voice from the heavens told the king not to worry about the abnormality that the third breast would vanish when Meenakshi met her future husband.

Meenakshi learnt all the arts, went to conquer the world. After conquering all the earthly kingdoms, she went to conquer the celestial Lord, Shiva. The moment she looked at Shiva, she couldn’t fight him and the third breast vanished. She realised she has met her husband and she is the incarnation of Parvati. She returned to Madurai with Shiva. The Pandya king arranged for the coronation ceremony of her daughter and her marriage to Shiva.

Madurai is famous for the fact that it is ruled by a woman, Parvati’s incarnation and not by Shiva himself. 

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