Tamil Nadu Temples

Time: 28th March 2025 - 1st April 2025

Places: Kumbakonam, Mayiladuthurai, Chidambaram, Srimushna, Thanjavur, Thiruvayyaru, Srirangam

Company: Wife & Daughter

Highlights: This itinerary was originally scheduled as a 5-6 day trip for Dec considering winter in Tamil Nadu. But then we had a long weekend and thought we might as well tick this off our list. 

Day 1 - March 29th 2025: Took the overnight (from 28th) to Kumbakonam. Got down at the railway station, took the auto to Maha Maham Tank. Initially we had planned to take bath here but looking at the condition of the Tank and no dress changing facility, we skipped it and did prokshan. 

Our first temple was Kasi Viswanathar temple. Then the auto driver took us to Airavatesvara Temple. But it was not yet open, so we had to go back the long route back to the city and our next stop was Sarangapani Temple. Each temple was massive. Kumbakonam is a city of temples. After Sarangapani temple, we then moved to Chakrapani Temple. Spent quite some time meditating. And then we again headed back to Airavatesvara temple. Now, it was open. The architecture and landscape was great. Inside not much though. Then took an auto to Oppiliappan temple which was quite a distance away. Each of the temple has 'Sthalapuran' and the specialty of this temple is that the prasadam here has no salt. It so happened that Vishnu took avatar as an old man in this town and asked a devotee his daughter for marriage. Devotee refused initially but later realized that the old man was Vishnu himself and agreed but told that the daughter was too young for marriage, in fact so young that she did not even know how to put salt to food. Vishnu said it is ok if she does not put salt and married her! So, after our darshan, we had prasadam here and it was indeed saltless! Took an auto back to the bus stand and, with this, we were pretty much done with Kumbakonam temples, at least the main ones.

We then took a bus to Mayiladuthurai which was just an hour away. Then took an auto to the main temple. In this temple, the Lord Shiva is pictorised in the form of a Peacock. It is a huge temple, like all Tamil Nadu temples. This was a quick darshan, and then we took another bus to Chidambaram. Reached our booked hotel at about 2 pm and relaxed a bit. At about 4 pm, after a short nap, we planned to finish Srimushna but little did we know how to go about it! Hardly any bus came till 5 pm, even though it was just about an hour away. Then, a fellow bus passenger informed us in Tamil (which we understood with great difficulty) that we had to take a bus to Sethiathoppu and then another bus from there. Lost more than an hour waiting for a direct bus to Srimushna unfortunately. Thankfully, got a bus soon enough to Sethiathoppu but, alas, there was no bus to Srimushna even though we waited for quite a bit. Finally, we realized that it is better to take the auto although it was a hefty amount.

The auto took about an hour to go, and by the time, we reached Srimushna temple, it was past 7 pm. A quick darshan and we headed back to the auto. The last time I had visited Srimushna was more than 2 decades ago but still I recollected it. The auto took us back to Sethiathoppu and thankfully we got a bus back to Chidambaram soon enough. By the time we reached Chidambaram, it was past 9 pm. We thought we might as well go to the temple until it closed.

Apparently, it is very important to be in the temple during the closing time since special pooja is performed, a ritual of sorts to put the Lord to sleep. There was massive crowds, full jostling and pushing to see 'Chidambaram Rahasya' - apparently Lord Shiva Himself. Ritual after ritual went on and on until 10.30 pm after which prasadam was distributed. It was the same prasadam which was offered to Lord. Very tasty, and it was the first proper meal that we had during the entire day. All sorts of prasadam were offered like fruits, rice bath, curd rice, kheer, etc.. Finally at 11 pm the security guards whistled and gestured for all of us to leave the premises. We then walked over to our hotel and retired for the night. It was one long day.

Day 2 - March 30th 2025: At sunrise (saw sun rising too!), went to Chidambaram temple and good darshan. Went up close to the Shiva idol. Spent quite some time within the temple premises. By 8ish, we got out, had light breakfast and took a bus to Bhuvanagiri, and walked to Sri Raghavendra Swamy birthplace. Very peaceful, and serene atmosphere. Took bus back to Chidambaram and had lunch at Annadanam within temple premises. 

Then took an auto to Pichavaram Mangrove forest only to find that the first available boat ride was about 2-3 hours away, thanks to the huge crowd! Never realized that we had to book in advance! I had indeed seen the previous night but most slots were free, so thought we might as well go and check but that mistake costed us. So, we just spent some time neat the river bank, ate some ice cream and fruit salad and drank tender coconut and left the mangrove without seeing it! The auto driver dropped us off at the railway station and our train to Thanjavur was on time. I slept through the entire trip and so did wife for most part. Thanks to daughter, she realized we were supposed to get down at Thanjavur, and woke us up when our train entered the station! 

Took the auto to Thanjavur Brihadeeshwara temple. This was my second time here, back after (close to) two decades. But it was my first time seeing it under lights, and it is indeed very beautiful. Too much crowd. The setting was perfect, the day's heat was reducing, the dusk was oncoming. We went to each of the side temples and took many pics. After spending a long time, we went out to a nearby Pure Veg restaurant and had dinner. It was adjacent to an Art shop, so did some shopping too. Walked a block to our reserved hotel for the night and retired for the night.

Day 3 - March 31st, 2025: Took an auto in the morning to Thanjavur Raghavendra Swamy temple. This was the place where he took up the 'Sanyasa' and left the family life. Another serene and beautiful place amidst the nature. A long Pooja was underway, we stayed through and had nice prasadam at the end of the Arathi. This place was just the same how it was two decades ago when I last visited. The auto took us back to the hotel. 

We then walked to the bus stand and then took a bus to Thiruvayyaru, It was just a 30-45 min distance from Thanjavur. Took an auto at Thiruvayyaru to Saint Thyagaraja's birth place. I hadn't come here last time. At the birth place, Paavani sang one of Thyagaraja's song beautifully which almost got tears to my eyes! Then we went to Thyagaraja's Brindavan place where the Thyagaraja Aradhane takes place every year. It was almost closing time for them, so not much people but thankfully we spent good quality time at both places. The river beside was dry, sadly. After spending some time looking at the lyrics on the walls, we left the place. The auto took us back to the bus stand and we got into a bus that took us back to Thanjavur bus stand. We then walked back to the hotel, checked out and took another auto which took us to another bus stand where we got a bus to Tiruchirappalli. We got down at Tiruchirappalli railway station, deposited our baggage at the luggage counter, had quick lunch and took a bus to Srirangam.

It was almost an hour's journey in bus, and that costed us crucial time. Should have taken an auto. Reached the temple, and temple premises is massive. There are gopurams after gopurams just to enter the temple! Finally we rushed through the temple right to the core only to find that the queue was stopped. We went into Quick darshan queue but still we had to wait for quite some time. At the sanctum sanctorum, there was hardly any light to see the Sleeping Ranga, the lamps were dull. Still, squinted to glimpse at the Lord. Then we rushed out of the temple, scampering, glancing here and there at some of the odd temples sprawled across the premises. Although my mom said I had gone there before, I have no recollection of it whatsoever. So, not really sure if this was my first or second time!

Then, took an auto the Jambukeshwar temple which was nearby. Another massive temple. Had to really walk and walk, or rather, run and run! Alas, here too they had stopped the queue, so had to sit until they opened up for darshan. Thankfully, it was just a half hour wait. A unique temple, where we had to crawl and enter the sanctum sanctorum. There is a reason for this depicted in the 'sthala puran' about a spider and elephant tale. 

After Jambukeshwar temple, we then took an auto to Sadhguru Sri Brahma temple which was also close by. Meditated within the premises for some time. A calm and peaceful setting. Then the auto driver took us to railway station. There was one other temple which I wanted to go in Tiruchirappalli, which was on a hillock but then we didn't want to risk it, as it involved a huge climb, and the auto guy said it might take 2-3 hours. So, anyway, got back to the station, had nice dinner at A2B, took our luggage from the luggage counter, and boarded the train, which was on time. Overnight journey to BLR, and back to home on time on April 1st. 

Epilogue: This itinerary, coupled with few more temples was supposed to be a 5-6 days trip during Christmas to offset the Tamil Nadu heat but we compressed it to 3 days and compromise on few of the places, otherwise about 90% of them got ticked. In addition, we finished two of the 'Earth-element' temples - Chidambaram (space-temple) and Jambukeshwar (Water-Temple). Wifey has finished all 5 and for my daughter and me, only Arunchaleshwara (fire-temple) at Thiruvannamalai is left. Needless to say, it was quite hectic, with reduced sleep, late nights, early wake-up calls, and running through various vast temple premises! Initial plan was to visit during Thyagaraja Aradhane festival but then it is difficult to get long weekend during that time, so we thought we might as well see when we can. This was another of those trips which we wanted to do since a long time, and we were glad that we could make it. Signing off for now...!