Our Temple Tour of Tamilnadu, India

 Background 

 We are a family of 5 people (3 adults and 2 kids) planned to travel across Tamilnadu to visit multiple temples which are of great historical, architectural and religious importance. This is towards the end of year 2022, in the last 10 days of December. It is during this period, the cyclone season is over, the climate is not as hot as rest of the year and less peak period for working IT staff like me. This is primarily a temple/spiritual tour but there were minor exceptions. I will not provide much details about each temple as the information is already available in the internet. This is more of an informational post. So, post any questions in the comments. The planning was personally done by us after doing some level of research from family, friends and internet.

So, what places did we cover?  

• Madurai 
• Palani 
• Tiruppurakundram 
• Pazhamudiracholai 
• Srirangam 
• Samayapuram 
• Thanjavur 
• Kumbakonam 
• Thiruvaiyaru 
• Swamimalai 
• Thirukkadayur 
• Chidambaram 
• Tiruvannamalai 
• Mahabalipuram 
• Chennai 

In summary, this trip is all about 

• 1 aquarium 
• 1 giri pradakshin or girivalam or walk around holy hill (14 km) 
• 2 beaches 
• 3 world heritage sites 
• 3 (out of 5) pancha bhootha lingam temples 
• 4 (out of 6) holy Subramanya temples 
• 4 (out of 108) holy Vishnu/Perumal divyadesams/temples 
• 9 nava graha temples 
• 12 days ( 9 days dedicated to travel and visits) 
• 25 temple towns/cities 
• 57+ total temples 
• 1535 KM covered in car from Madurai till Chennai (the map below is not accurate representation)
• 116169 total steps on an average of 12907 per day 

Is there a map? 

Yes, see below. The red lines indicate train journey. Only the major temple towns are indicated in the blue lines.

Details 

 

First things first. You should remember that 99% of the temples in Tamilnadu have timings. They open early in the morning around 4 - 5 AM and close after 12 PM. They reopen after 4 PM and close at 8 PM. So, it's important to plan your day and trip accordingly. Secondly, there are good restaurant options for vegetarians but you might not find any good hotels in deeper places. Thirdly, majority of the famous temples of Tamilnadu are gigantic. You need to walk a lot after entering the temple premises to reach the main deity. And sadly, people don't give a sh** about queue etiquettes. This is especially true in this season as there are large crowds visiting these temples in the form of Ayyappa devotees or Melmaruvathur om Shakthi devotees. So try to take a "special darsan" which is a paid ticket darshan wherever possible to reduce the possibility of losing peace over people. Fourthly, beware of people voluntarily try to sell you or offer any type of services. Don't get fooled by them. 

 

Day 0-1, we started from Hyderabad towards Madurai by train. It's a 24 hour long journey and we reached Madurai post noon. We checked into a pre-booked hotel which is halfway between the Madurai railway station and the Madurai Meenakshi Amman temple. After getting refreshed, we walked to the magnificent Meenakshi Amman temple and went for a darshan of the deity that took around 1 hour. We then visited 2 other temples one of which is Nanmai tharuvar temple that is of local importance. The other temple is koodal alagar temple which is one of the 108 Lord Vishnu's divyadesams/holy shrines. We visited it almost at the closing time and finally we had dinner and dozed off.

 

Day 2, our pre booked taxi reported to us. This will be our transport for next 8 days of our trip. We woke up early and started our round trip journey to Palani from Madurai. It took about 2.5 hrs to reach Palani. The Dandayuthapani temple which is one of the 6 important Subramanya temples resides on a hill that doesn't have a road connectivity. You should reach to top of the temple either by using a ropeway or a winch train or by walk (steps). Considering the huge wait times of people going up the hill, we planned to take the rope way going up the hill and the winch train while coming down. Both the transport mechanisms were enjoyed by the children. While the rope way takes 3 minutes to go up and winch train takes about 7 minutes coming down, the wait times were 2 hours and 1 hour respectively, due to high volume of pilgrims. The darsan took around an hour. We started to Tiruppurakundram, which is near to Madurai, from Palani. This is yet another important Subramanya temple. It was a quick darsan here and we reached hotel after having dinner.  

 

Day 3 - We went for Meenakshi Amman temple darsan early in the morning to avoid rush. We then had 

breakfast, checked out of the hotel and started our journey to Pazhamudiracholai which is kind of on the way to Trichy/Srirangam. This is another holy shrine of Lord Subramanya and it resides on a hill with road connectivity amidst forest and great nature. The bottom of the hill also has a temple called Kallagar Kovil which is a Lord Vishnu (Perumal) temple. This is also part of 108 divyadesams (holy shrines) of Lord Vishnu. We reached Trichy / Srirangam by evening. We went to Samayapuram Mariamman temple in the evening, had a darsan and saw one of the biggest ceiling paintings ever made. Then, we went straight to visit Jambukeshwaram ( Jala lingam ) and Akhilandeswari temple. It was almost temple closing time so we could not see The Amman while we had a not so satisfying darshan of the Lord. We searched and went to Yatri niwas which is a decent and budget stay. A restaurant is also part of its campus and we had a good night sleep there. 

Day 4 - We woke up early morning and visited Jambukeswaram one more time for our own satisfaction. No crowds or people at 5 AM, we had a peaceful long darsan at the sanctum sanctorum. We then visited the Amman in the early hours with absolutely no people around and peace of mind. Next stop was Srirangam Ranganathaswamy temple. We had coffee and then entered the vast/humongous temple. It just spans acres of land and walking takes long time. Visit the Srirangantha Swamy, one of the divyadesams along with Garuda Alwar, the Chakrathalwar, the Thaayars etc. There are many other temples in the same temple campus which you should take time to visit. One of the important place you should visit is the Ramanuja Charya's temple. This is a place where the original (dead) body of Sri Ramanuja Charya is still kept intact using special compound mixtures and pastes. We came back to Yatri Niwas at almost noon after washing our feet in the holy Cavery river flowing near our accommodation. Since we started early, we took rest for a while, had lunch and then started our journey towards Thanjavur. We reached the Brihadeeswara Alayam, which is a World Heritage site, by dusk. What a magnificent construction. In my earlier posts about New York trip, I was surprised about how that city was built. But, this is the grand pa of that. One just needs to experience

the larger than life perfect structures. Unfortunately, they did not turn on all the lights when the sun set, so the temple was not visible in the lights. We moved forward to see "Bangaru(Golden) Kamakshi" temple. The original deity in the temple was made with a solid block of gold. To save it during the invasions/medieval period, it was brought from Kancheepuram to Thanjavur. The goddess is covered with a type of chemical paste which is very costly, so that, it will still be visible as a black statue instead of a golden statue. After visiting this temple, we reached Kumbakonam and took rest. Our stay was at Kumbakonam for next 3 days. On our way to Kumbakonam, we also visited Thittei Guru Sthanam temple, which is a famous temple for the Guru planet but not part of the actual navagraha (9 planet) temples.

Day 5 - We started early to visit Garbha Rakshambika Amman and Mullaivanathar Swamy in Thirukkarugavur. The importance of this place that couples who are wishing to get pregnant, women having pregnancy's related issues or any reproductive health ailments will pray to the goddess as mentioned in the "Sthala Puranam". Post this temple visit, we visited Swamy Malai - yet another holy abode of Lord Subramanya. The temple is on a small hill with very few steps to complete the darshan. Fortunately, we got opportunity to see the "Abishegam" of Lord Subramanya. We then forwarded our journey to Thiruvaiyaru. Here, there is a memorial built for the legendary composer, singer, writer Sri Thiyagaraja Swamy. One can see his "samadhi" and also the actual idols of Sri Seetha Rama Lakshmana and Hanuma as prayed by Thiyagaraja himself. We got the opportunity to meet the 7th generation of his descendants. The memorial has inscriptions of some of his famous krithis (songs) about Sri Rama. We spent sometime and moved towards Aiyarappar temple. The temple was closed as expected till 4 PM. However, they did not open it till 4.30 PM for some reason and we started our journey to Thingaloor. This is our first Navagraha temple dedicated to the Moon. Remember that all the Navagraha temples except the temple for Sun, are Lord Siva temples. Lord Shiva in the form of Linga and Amman are the main deities and the temple compound will have a temple for that planet as well. The only exception for this is the temple for Sun god, where the temple is dedicated for Lord Sun himself and the sanctum of this temple is surrounded by small shrines of the different planets in different directions. This depicts that we, for a long time, had knowledge that there are planets with sun as center. After Thingaloor, we visited Alangudi, which is a temple for the planet Jupiter. Finally, we reached Darasuram - a World Heritage site - a temple place for Lord Airavateswara. One of the oldest and magnificent temples, how did they construct such structures in that age? We reached hotel and halted our journey for the day.

Darasuram - Airavateswara Temple

Informational Image about Navagraha temples

Day 6 - We started early, visited the Maha maham tank of Kumbakonam, followed by Kailasanathar temple, Adi Kumbeswara Temple, Sarangapani Temple and Lord Someswara temple as these are all local to Kumbakonam.  Then, we continued to visit the other nava graha temples. First we went to Thirunageswaram, it has temple for the planet Rahu. Then we visited the Suryanar Kovil, the temple dedicated to the Sun god along with Usha and Chaya Devi. Moved forward to Kanjanur, for the temple dedicated to the planet Venus (Sukra). 

In the same town, there is also Uppliappan Perumal temple, one of the 108 divyadesams. Following this we went to Keezhaperumapallam for Ketu planet temple, Tiruvenkadu for "Budha" planet temple, Vaitheeswaran Koil for Kuja planet temple. Some of these temples may have more devotees because they might be performing special prayers/pujas for that planet depending on their astrological recommendations. By this time, we finished 8 of 9 Navagraha temples and it was almost evening. We then travelled towards Thirukkadayur for Amrithaghateswar and Abirami Amman temple. This temple if unique and we find many "Shastipoorthi"  functions happening here at the same time. It was fascinating, cute and lovely to see so many elderly couples performing Shastipoorthi and the temple is filled all over with such couples, their children, grand children etc. It was such a lovely moment just to be in this temple. Just thinking about it, we have spiritual places for every major occasions in one's life. There is a place called Thiruvarur, which we could not cover, where pregnant women just come here in their last trimisters just to have deliveries as this place is considered holy for giving birth or just getting born here is believed to give path for liberation. Similarly, we have Varanasi where people just go and settle so they can die there. Thirukkadayur for shastipoorthi, bheema ratha santhi & sahasra chandra darshan, places like Tirumala for marriages, places like Srisailam for Upanayanam, places like Thirukkarugavur for women's health issues, places like Navagraha temples for astrological solutions, places like Sabarimala for men trying make steps towards self knowledge and places like Tiruvannamalai, the place itself for attaining jnana - self-knowledge, the ultimate knowledge. Feel proud how our culture has evolved inter-twining the beliefs with nature & energy.

Chidambaram Nataraja Temple

 Day 7 - We started comparatively later in the morning and vacated our hotel.  First thing was to travel to Thirunallar where the temple for the planet/Lord Sani exists. It is part of Puducherry Union territory and you will need to take a permit to travel there in car. After having darshan here, we reached Chidambaram by evening. The temple is again a huge one. This temple is dedicated to Thillai Natarajar and Sivakama Sundari amman. There was huge rush and improper crowd management in the temple. We managed to have darshan of the Natarajar and enquired one of the priest about Akasa Linga, which is the "Nirakara Roopam" of the Lord siva and the Nataraja Swamy which is the "Saakara Roopam" of Lord Shiva. Everyday for few seconds, the Nirakara Roopam will be given Harathi in pradosham and understanding about the Nirakara roopam or the Aakasa lingam is the Chidambara rahasyam. We reached Tiruvannamalai in the night.

Day 8 - We had arrangements done for Abishekam to the Agni Lingam or the Arunachaleswara swamy and Unnamalayi Amman (Apitha Kuchamba Amman). After completing the darsan and abhishekam to the god and goddess at this huge temple, we had lunch and took rest. In the evening around 4 PM, we started Arunachala Giri Pradakshin, also called Giri valam. The hill itself is the manifestation of Lord Shiva and many saints still roam around in this area. I have personally seen people here who have left everything worldly and just living here on the roads in their quest for Jnana/ self - knowledge. This hill is called as a "secret kshetra" and it is believed that the Lord Shiva himself has manifested as Lord Dakshinamurthy, still resides in the hill. This is a 14 KM path around the hill with important temples to be visited on the path. More details here and here. We were exhausted when we finished the walk. Its always good to start at Indra Lingam and finish at Indra Lingam. Start in "Cold" times of the day and always keep yourself hydrated if you are planning to do Girivalam. It took about 6 hours for us to complete the walk. 

Arunachala Hill

Day 9 - We went to Ramana Ashram in the morning. The great Maharshi of recent times, we meditated in the hall thinking about his teachings. The Ashram itself has peace and tranquility. We had lunch and started our journey towards Mahabalipuram. Its a 2.5 hour journey. At Mahabalipuram, we visited the Sea shore temple which is a world heritage site. A 2000 year old place and there is one entrance ticket to visit all the different other monuments nearby like Cave temple, pancharathas, Krishna's butter ball, Arjuna's Penance rock, Draupadi's tank etc. Being a world heritage site, these temples and carvings carry a long history. Just amazing. We also visited the beach and spent sometime before starting our journey to Chennai.

Arjuna's Penance

Day 10, 11, 12 - We reached Chennai in the night and let go our taxi. We reached our relatives place and stayed there for next couple of days. We visited the VGP Marine Kingdom which is one of its kind aquarium in India. Then went to T.Nagar, one of the busiest market places of Chennai. Get anything you want at the best prices here. The next day we visited Lord Kapaleeswar temple and finally got ourselves wet in the famous Marina Beach. The last day, we concluded our journey taking train to get back home from Tambaram station.

We did miss few places like Tiruvarur, Lord Ganesh hill top temple in Trichy, Ashta Lakshmi Temple in Chennai etc. But overall, it was an incredible journey with lot of memories and blessings.

Sarve janaa sukhino bhavanthu