The pot of creation

Kumbakonam takes its name from a legend. Before the great flood that ends each age, Brahma placed the seed of all life in a pot (kumbha) filled with nectar. Floodwaters carried it south until it came to rest here, and Shiva, in the form of a hunter, broke it with an arrow. Where the nectar spilled, the town and its tanks were born, and the lingam in the sanctum is said to be shaped from the sand and nectar of that pot. Shiva is worshipped as Adi Kumbeswarar, and the goddess as Mangalambigai.

Chola temple, Nayak splendour

The Tevaram poets sang of this temple in the 7th century, and its masonry core dates from the Chola period in the 9th century. Much of what dazzles visitors came later, under Vijayanagara and the Thanjavur Nayaks in the 16th century: a long pillared corridor, a sixteen-pillared hall where the 27 stars and 12 signs of the zodiac are carved in a single stone, and the eleven-storey east gopuram, about 39 metres high.

The Mahamaham

Once every twelve years, when Jupiter enters Leo in the month of Masi, the Mahamaham festival brings huge crowds to bathe in the Mahamaham tank a short walk away, believed to hold the waters of India's sacred rivers. The last was held in 2016. In other years the Masi Magam festival is the temple's high point. The temple is run by the HR&CE Department.