Tamil Nadu Yatra - Part 3

Day 4

After a refreshing sleep in one of the best hotels of the trip (Rayas Grand, Kumbakonam), we woke up and after our morning rituals, came down for a sumptuous breakfast in the restaurant attached to our hotel. After this, we left for visiting nearby Navagraha temples as follows:

- The first destination was Suriyanar Koil Navagraha temple which was about 16 kms away. It took us about 45 minutes to reach the temple dedicated to Lord Sun. The main deity is Shiva and Lord Surya along with His consorts Usha Devi and Pratyusha Devi are within the temple complex. People visit this 11^th century temple to improve their health and prosperity as also to get relief from any afflictions caused by this planet. This temple also has separate small shrines for the other eight planetary deities. After worshipping here, we proceeded to our next destination. 

- The temple of Agnishwarar (Shiva) is situated very close to the previous temple (3 kms) at a place called Kanchanur. This temple is also one of the Navagraha temples with Sukra (Venus) as the planetary deity who is believed to be within the stomach of the idol of Shiva. We prayed to Lord Shiva and to Lord Shukra to be blessed with their grace and to be rid of afflictions, if any. The temple complex is big and has a small goshala within the complex where we could feed the cows. After this, we proceeded to our next destination.

- We had to cover about 35 kms to reach Alangudi to visit the Guru temple situated there. This is a holy place surrounded by 3 rivers – Kaveri, Kolidam and Vennaru. Lord Shiva here is known as Apatsahayeshwarar (One who helps during difficulties) and His consort is known as Elavarkuzhali. The temple is big (about 2 acres) and is holy as many of the Saivite Saints have written and sung about this deity. Guru Bhagavan is in the form of Dakshinamurthy who is worshipped with yellow flowers and blesses His devotees with wisdom, holy company, and the spiritual path.

Cat replacing Nandi? 

After this darshan, we came back to Kumbakonam and had lunch at our hotel. Post that we took a siesta for an hour or so. If the afternoon, we had a cup of coffee to refresh ourselves and shake off sluggishness for the second part of the day.

- In the afternoon, we drove down to the Thirunallar Shaneeshwarer Navagraha temple which was about 35 kms away located in Karaikal which is a part of the Union Territory of Pondicherry. When we arrived, although early it was dark and it started to pour cats and dogs. The rains were so heavy that we could not step out of our vehicle. The roads quickly got flooded due to clogged drains and mini traffic jams started occurring as drivers struggled with the deluge. Luckily, we entered the main street leading to the temple which was entirely covered with concrete canopy at a high level. This ensured that that road was relatively dry, and we could step out of the car. We walked to the temple which was crowded. We had darshan of the main Lingam and the idol of Shaneeshwarar. I also took the opportunity to do my evening prayers at the back of the temple. After spending some time here, we left this place and proceeded back to our hotel in Kumbakonam.

We reached our hotel in time for a quick dinner before retiring to our rooms for the night. This completed day 4 of our yatra.