TANJORE VISIT WITH MOHAN/MALATHY COMBINE- 147

Mohan/Malathy , our Sambandhis and we two have made several combined visits to places of Pilgrimage both in and around our place of stay at Ambasamudram which include the Nava Thirupathy , Nava Kailayam and Nambi Hills just to mention a few and to the far off KASHI / VARANASI in UP . In fact there would be hardly any place of interest within a radius of 100 Kms which we could have missed around our place at Ambasamudram . The very recent visit to the 27 Temples in 3 days is just a case in point .

When the possiblity was explored to visit the Tanjore Periya Kovil and places of similar interests in and  around Thanjavur last week ,  we readily agreed to the proposal  and made the necessary Rail Reservations and Hotel Bookings .

With Google and Google Akka s help we settled on the following Itinerary for the First Day s Visit .

 1 )Vaduvur Gothandaramasamy  Temple 

This Temple is just 10 kms from Tanjore . Santhanagopala Krishnan has many visitors flocking this place . Madura Coats Employees will be happy to note that one Mr Chakravarty Iyengar ( From MCL Tuticorin I think ) contributed in a big way to this Temple . There is a Huge Plaque mentioning this at the temple .

2 ) Mannargudi Rajagopalaswami Temple .

This Temple at Mannargudi is situated some 30 kms from Vaduvur . The sheer size and architectural beauty of the place is to be seen to be admired . The chance meeting of Dr Ramasubramanian , the right wing ideologue  of BJP was most welcome .

3 ) Thiruvarur Thyagesar Peruman Temple   .

This again is 30 kms from Mannargudi . Everything about this Temple is Hyper and on a very Grand Scale . The size of the 9 Towers , The 365 Lingams , The Temple Ther, The Theppa Utsava Tank are all on a massive scale and even on a most conservative estimate it would require no less than 3 hours to Admire , Adore and Worship at this place . Definitely a must see place at least  once in a lifetime .

4 ) Nannilam Maduvaneswar Kovil and Malathy s School :

     After a quick lunch at Thiruvarur we headed to Nannilam which is some 15 kms from Thiruvarur . Now this place has an Agraharam where Malathy was born and did part of her schooling . By a strange stroke of luck , the Maduvaneswar Temple was open at 2.30 in the afternoon as there was a function taking place . ( Prayers were being offered for the success of the students  in the ensuing public examinations ). The Temple and School are almost opposite to each other and the Headmistress was more than happy to meet an old student from her school . Malathy also spent some time in her ancestral house and relived old and cherished memories .

5  ) Tanjore Brahadeeswarar Temple     : 

This more than 1000 years Temple and  Architectural Masterpiece built by Raja Raja Chozhan  attracts visitors from all across the Globe had its Kumbabhishekam just recently . It is considered auspicious to visit the same after the event and hence our visit . The Huge Lingam , The Nandi , The one of it's kind dome at the top leaves one in awe at the sheer scale of the work involved with the tools on hand 1000 years back .

SURELY SOME DIVINE SELF , WHICH WE ARE AS YET FAILING TO UNFATHOM  MUST HAVE EXTENDED A HELPING HAND.

Day 2 will follow .