Kumbakonam is called temple town of south india.It is located in Tanjore district of tamilnadu.
Brahma, to continue with his work of creation wanted to have a Peetam. Lord Shiva asked him to make a pot made of "Amirdham" and sand. The pot had a Peetam in it, with the four vedas around it on four sides. The pot was decorated with garlands of Poonul ( Scared Thread ) and Tharpai. A coconut was also kept over the pot and Brahma worshipped it.
During a flood, the pot floated and moved towards south from Kailash. Lord Shiva took avatar as a hunter, broke the pot with an arrow and the amirtham spilled as "AMIRDHA THEERTHAM". Mixing the amirdham of the Kumbha with sand Lord Shiva emerged as LINGAM. The sacred place where he gave darshan as "KUMBESWARAN" is now called as KUMBAKONAM.
It is also famous for the Mahamaham festival which is celebrated once in 12 years.People will take bath on the mahamaham pond on that day. It is believed that taking bath in that pond water is equivalent to taking bath from the famous rivers like Ganga, Yamuna, Saraswathi, Sarayu, Godavari, Mahanadi, Narmatha, Cauvery, which are mixed together in Mahamagam tank on that day, would get rid of sins according.
Approximately 10 to 15 big temples are scattered around the town. One of the famous temple is Ramaswamy temple in which the whole ramayana is depicted on the wall. .
'Raghavendra mutt', the place where the brindhavan of Saint Vijayendara,guru of Sri raghavendra swamy is located in a street named 'Solaiappa street' in kumbakonam.
Swamimalai, the fourth of the six sacred shines of Lord Muruga is located 8 kms from kumbakonam.
Also all the nine Navagraha temples are located around kumbakonam.
The navagrahas,place and distance from kumbakonam are given below.
1. Sun ( Suriyan ) - Suriyanarkoil - 15 km
2. Moon ( Chandran ) - Thingaloor - 30 Km
3. Jupiter ( Guru ) - Alangudi - 17 km
4. North Lunar Node ( Raaghu) - Thirunageswaram - 5 km
5. Mercury ( Bhudhan ) - Thiruvenkadu - 60 km
6. Venus ( Sukran ) - Kanjanoor - 20 km
7. South Lunar Node ( Kedhu ) - Keezhaperumpallam - 59 km
8. Saturn ( Sani ) - Thirunallaru - 48 km
9. Mars ( Chevvai) - Vaitheeswaran Kovil - 49 km
The town has also got prestigious schools. One of them is the Town Higher Secondary School in which the great mathematician Ramanujam studied.
The town is also famous for betal leaves.
The place 'Thirubhuvanam' which is famous for silk sarees is located very near to kumbakonam ( 8 kms ).
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