Back

Dashboard

Temple Details

States

City

God Name

God Type

Type

Aathara Sthalam
Abodes of Murugan
Ashta Veeratta Temples
Asta Vinayak Temples
Chardam Yatra Temples
Divya Desams
Durga Aalayams by Sage Parasurama
Jyothirlingams
Mandi Mandaean Temple
Muktiskhetras
Nagadevatas Temples
Nakshatra Temples & Trees
Narasimha Skhetras
Nava Puliyur Temples
Nava Tirupati Temples
Navagraha Parihara Temples
Others
Paadal Petra Sthalams
Pancha Bhoota Sthalams
Pancha Dwaraka Temples
Pancha Kannan Temples
Pancha Kedar Temples
Pancha Pandava Temples
Pancha Ranga Kshetras
Pancha Sabhai Thalangal
Pancharama Skhetras
Parihara Shiva Temples
Saptha Mangai Stalangal
Saptha Stana Temples
Saptha Sthana Sthalams
Saptha Vidangam
Sapthavigraha Moorthis
Sastha Aalayam by Sage Parasurama
Shakti Peethas
Shiridi Sai Temples
Shiva Temples by Sage Parasurama
Swayambhu Temples
Tevaram Vaippu Sthalams
Vishnumaya Temples

Temple Speciality

Temple Name

Sthalam

&nbsp;

Nageswaraswamy Temple, Kumbakonam is a Hindu temple dedicated to Shiva located in Kumbakonam in Thanjavur district, Tamil Nadu, India.

The presiding deity is revered in the 7th century Tamil Saiva canonical work, the Tevaram, written by Tamil poet saints known as the nayanars and classified as Paadal Petra Sthalam. The temple is counted as the earliest of all Chola temples. Shiva in the guise of Nagaraja, the serpent king..

There are many inscriptions associated with the temple indicating contributions from Cholas, Thanjavur Nayaks and Thanjavur Maratha kingdom.

The oldest parts of the present masonry structure were built during the Chola dynasty in the 9th century, while later expansions, including the towering gopuram gatehouses, are attributed to later periods, up to the Thanjavur Nayaks during the 16th century.

The temple complex is one of the largest in the state and it houses three gateway towers known as gopurams. The temple has numerous shrines, with those of Nageswarar, Pralayamkathanathar and Periyanayagi being the most prominent. The temple complex houses many halls and three precincts; the most notable is the second precinct built during the Vijayanagar period that has many sculptures.

The temple has six daily rituals at various times from 5:30 a.m. to 10 p.m., and twelve yearly festivals on its calendar. The temple is maintained and administered by Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department of the Government of Tamil Nadu.

&nbsp;

Puranam

&nbsp;

During the time when&nbsp;Adisesha&nbsp;was feeling under the weight of the earth, he did penance at Kuvivanam. Parvathy appeared and blessed him at this place to get strength.

The water body in the temple is called Naga Theertham.Th temple known is for its shrine of&nbsp;Rahu, one of the nine celestial bodies in the&nbsp;Navagrahas. A legend has it that the mythological serpents Dakshan and Kaarkotakan worshipped Lord&nbsp;Shiva&nbsp;here.

Legend also has it that King Nala worshipped Shiva here as in&nbsp;Thirunallar. There is a Naganathar temple at&nbsp;Tirunageswaram&nbsp;having similar features like temple. This place has been referred in&nbsp;Tevaram&nbsp;written by Saint Tamil poet of 7th Century AD,&nbsp;Thirugnana Sambanthar.

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Sculptures from the period of Aditya Chola

Aditya Chola&nbsp;constructed this temple during the 9th century. It is great marvel of&nbsp;Chola&nbsp;architecture, building technology and&nbsp;astronomy. The orientation is structured in such a way that it allows sunlight inside the temple, right on the sanctum only during the Tamil month of&nbsp;Chithirai&nbsp;(April/May). It bears another name called&nbsp;Surya&nbsp;Kottam&nbsp;or&nbsp;Keezha Kottam.

The&nbsp;Karuvarai&nbsp;(Sanctum Sanctorum) of Nageswaran temple is similar to&nbsp;Sarangapani Temple, as it is made in the form of a&nbsp;Chariot.

The temple consists of three&nbsp;gopurams&nbsp;in the eastern, western and southern directions. The temple is designed in such a way that during the first three days of Tamil month&nbsp;Chittirai&nbsp;(April - May), the rays of the Sun falls directly in the base of the presiding deity in sanctum sanctorum.

The temple had been a centre of learning as seen from the inscriptions in the temple. The inscriptions indicate specific subjects like&nbsp;Purvamimansa&nbsp;styled as&nbsp;Pravahakarma.

There were also provisions made for feeding and maintaining for teachers and students.&nbsp;In modern times, the temple is maintained and administered by the&nbsp;Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department&nbsp;of the&nbsp;Government of Tamil Nadu.

&nbsp;

Varnam

&nbsp;

The temple is one of the prominent Shiva temples in&nbsp;Kumbakonam.The temple shows early&nbsp;Chola&nbsp;art in its best form particularly in the form of human figures. The sanctum is of&nbsp;padabandha-padmaka&nbsp;type stands on&nbsp;padmopana.

The lotus leaves of the&nbsp;padmopano&nbsp;are carved with vitality. In its iconographic scheme the&nbsp;Ardhanari,&nbsp;Brahma&nbsp;and&nbsp;Dakshinamoorthy&nbsp;in the niches of the outer wall are featured.

The other sculptures on the walls almost life-size reflect either the donors to the temples or contemporary princesses and princes.&nbsp;The epic scenes are in low relief on the plinth below the pilasters of the walls of the sanctum, recalling the wood work.

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

The Devi shrine is an independent structure situated in the outer&nbsp;prakaram(outer precincts of a temple), detached from the axial unit, though it faces south, a feature common to Saiva Devin shrines. The complex of&nbsp;Nataraja&nbsp;shrine is in the form of a chariot on wheel drawn by horses as in the case of&nbsp;Airavatesvara Temple&nbsp;at Darasuram and&nbsp;Sarangapani Temple&nbsp;in&nbsp;Kumbakonam.

&nbsp;Similar architecture of halls (Mandapas) simulating a chariot drawn by elephant or horses is found in&nbsp;Sarangapani temple&nbsp;at Kumbakonam,&nbsp;Mela Kadambur Amirthakadeswarar Temple,&nbsp;Sikharagiriswara Temple, Kudumiyamalai,&nbsp;Vriddhagiriswarar Temple, Vriddhachalam&nbsp;and&nbsp;Thyagaraja Temple, Tiruvarur.

&nbsp;

Inner entrance and Shrine of Nataraja

&nbsp;

According to historian Harle, the temple is counted among the four early extant temples of the&nbsp;Chola Empire, with the other three being&nbsp;Koranganatha Temple&nbsp;in&nbsp;Tiruchirappalli district,&nbsp;Moovar Koil&nbsp;in&nbsp;Pudukottai district, and&nbsp;Brahmapureeswarar temple&nbsp;in&nbsp;Thanjavur district.

These temples follow the&nbsp;Pallava architecture&nbsp;which are relatively small in size.

They all have a fair-sized porch, locally called&nbsp;ardhamandapa&nbsp;attached to the sanctum, both of which are slightly below the ground level in a pit kind of structure. The structures are also predominantly built of stone.

During&nbsp;Rajendra Chola&#39;s&nbsp;Ganges expedition, the victorious chola army brought a beautiful Vinayagar statue as a&nbsp;war trophy&nbsp;to the chola empire. The Vinayagar statue was kept at this temple and was aptly named as Gangai Vinayagar. Currently, the Vinayagar is present in the&nbsp;ardha mandapam, in front of the sanctum of Nageswarar. The Vinayagar seems to be in the Pala style.

&nbsp;

Highlights

Sevas/Festivals

&nbsp;

The temple priests perform the puja (rituals) during festivals and on a daily basis. Like other Shiva temples of Tamil Nadu, the priests belong to the Shaiva community, a Brahmin sub-caste. The temple rituals are performed five times a day; Ushathkalam at 6:30 a.m., Kalasanthi at 8:00 a.m., Uchikalam at 12:00 a.m., Sayarakshai at 5:00 p.m., and Ardha Jamam at 8:00 p.m.

Each ritual comprises four steps: abhisheka (sacred bath), alangaram (decoration), naivethanam (food offering) and deepa aradanai (waving of lamps) for both Nageswarar and Periyanayagi.

The worship is held amidst music with nagaswaram (pipe instrument) and tavil (percussion instrument), religious instructions in the Vedas (sacred texts) read by priests and prostration by worshipers in front of the temple mast.

There are weekly rituals like somavaram (Monday) and sukravaram (Friday), fortnightly rituals like pradosham and monthly festivals like amavasai (new moon day), kiruthigai, pournami (full moon day) and sathurthi. Mahashivaratri during February - March is the major festivals celebrated in the temple.

The major festival of the temple is the Brahmotsavam temple during Tamil month of Panguni when the Sun&#39;s rays fall directly on the image in the sanctum.

&nbsp;

Nageswaran chariot

Tirugnana Sambandar, a 7th-century Tamil&nbsp;Saivite&nbsp;poet, venerated Nageswarar in ten padigams in&nbsp;Tevaram, compiled as the&nbsp;First Tirumurai&nbsp;and second Tirumuari.&nbsp;Appar, a contemporary of Sambandar, also venerated Nageswarar in 12 padigams in&nbsp;Tevaram, compiled in the Fourth, fifth and sixth Tirumurai.&nbsp;Sundarar, the 8th century&nbsp;Nayanmar&nbsp;revered Nageswarar in seven padigams, which is compiled in Seventh Tirumuari.

&nbsp;As the temple is revered in&nbsp;Tevaram, it is classified as&nbsp;Paadal Petra Sthalam, one of the 275 temples that find mention in the Saiva canon.

The temple is counted as the 52nd in the list of temples in the northern banks of Cauvery.&nbsp;The temple is counted as one of the temples built on the banks of&nbsp;River Kaveri.&nbsp;The Sun rays falling on the image of Shiva is considered as the worship of Surya.

Twelve Shiva temples are connected with&nbsp;Mahamaham&nbsp;festival which happens once in 12 years in Kumbakonam. They are&nbsp;Kasi Viswanathar Temple,&nbsp;Kumbeswarar Temple,&nbsp;Someswarar Temple, Nageswaran temple,&nbsp;Kalahasteeswarar Temple,&nbsp;Gowthameswarar Temple,&nbsp;Kottaiyur Kodeeswarar temple,&nbsp;Amirthakalasanathar Temple,&nbsp;Banapuriswarar Temple,&nbsp;Abimukeswarar Temple, Kumbakonam,&nbsp;Kambatta Visvanathar Temple&nbsp;and&nbsp;Ekambareswarar Temple.

As per a Hindu belief, people troubled by Sarpa-dosha or Malefic effects Rahu-Kethu seek a relief by offering prayers in a single day to Kudanthai or Kumbakonam Nageshwarar in the morning,&nbsp;Thirunageshwaram Naganathar&nbsp;at the noon,&nbsp;Thirupamburam Pambureswarar&nbsp;in the evening and&nbsp;Nagoor Nageshwarar or Naganathar temple&nbsp;at night.

&nbsp;

Timing

contact

Address

Google Link

Image

Status