DRIVING THROUGH CAUVERY DELTA -Day2

 Tanjore and Kumbhakonam          

 After collecting the blessings of the Paramatma in the forms of both Shiva and Keshava the previous day, we started the 2^nd day with the Viswa roopa darsan of the Lord Sri Ranganatha. This starts at 5.30AM and people feel it very sacred to get that darshan. We too followed the crowd and were out of the mandir after a heart-filling darshan of Sri Ranganatha swami at 7.30AM. One can see the elephant, cow and the horse going into the temple to wake up the Lord. Priests bring water from the Cauvery holding pots on their heads and sitting on the elephant. Again collecting the blessings of the sajeeva Ramanuja swami, we started towards our next destination Tanjore.

Route: From Srirangam take the bye pass road and reach Tanjore.

                 We went directly to the Brihadeeswara temple locally popular as Big temple. The gigantic appearance of Lord Shiva is really a joy to watch. It looks awesome even from some distance. The construction of the temple is very huge and needs to be observed leisurely. The goddess here is Brihannayaki-the Lord and the goddess made for each other (in size too). We can also get the darshan of Shanmukha and Ganesha in the same complex. This temple is managed by the Govt. under the world heritage centre dept.

                                      

         While heading towards the next place, we also had the darshan of Bangaru Kamaksi temple on the way. After half an hour, we were at Thiruvaiyaru where the Legend of music and one among the trinity of south music Sri Tyagaraja swami blesses us from his Samadhi.

                                                                               

There is one famous Shiva temple known as Panchanatheeswara temple In this place. Next we ran towards Tingalur which hosts the Moon one among the Navagrahas. The main deity is in fact Shiva in this temple too and the moon stands to his side in a separate sanctum. Kailasa nathar and Periya nayaki are the names of the presiding deities. We ran into this temple as it was closing time. But god was kind enough to grant us his darshan just before closing. From here out next destination was Kumbhakonam , the city of temples.

                    We directly went to the hotel Sitthi and after finishing lunch in the famous Murugan restaurant just opposite to our hotel, had a nap since all the temples close in the afternoon time. In the evening, we arranged an auto to cover the temples of Kasi viswanatha, Sarangapani, Someswara, Adikimbheswara and Chakrapani. The Mahamaham tank near the first temple was very big and is treated very pious. All the temples mentioned were very huge constructions and reflect the spiritual interest of the earlier rulers. The Sarangapani temple is one of the 108 Divya desams and it looks simply superb. The main sanctum is shaped like chariot and the lord is seen laying posture. The goddess here is Mahalaxmi as Komalavalli. In Adikumbheswara temple the consort of the Lord is Mangala nayaki. Thus finishing the local powers darshan, we took rest recapping the huge and beautiful structures preserved for years together.

   Not to forget to mention about the coffee of Kumbhakonam, that was really amazing and was a treat to taste buds.