mayiladuthurai

The temple in this Sthalam is one among the six temples which are compared as equivalent to the temple in Varanaasi. The other 5 shivasthalams are Tiruvenkaadu, Chaayaavanam, Tiruvaiyaru, Tiruvanchiam and Tiruvidaimarudur.

Mayiladuthurai (Tamil: மயிலாடுதுறை, formerly Mayuram or Mayavaram) is a city and a municipality in Nagapattinam district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The town is located in the historic Thanjavur area on the banks of river Cauvery. Mayiladuthurai is a well known railway junction and the town is well-connected with other major towns in the region, such as Tiruchirappalli, Thanjavur, Kumbakonam and Tiruvarur. Mayiladuthurai is a Lok Sabha constituency [1] represented by Mani Shankar Aiyar.

 

           Scattered on the route to Kumbakonam are the villages which have produced the musical prodigies of Tamil Nadu — Lalgudi, Umayalpuram, Kottaiyur, Kapisthalam, Thiruppazahanam, Musiri, Sikkil, Papanasam and Sirkazhi. At Kumbakonam is a plethora of temples, including the famous Nageswara temple. Kumbakonam has the well-known Mahamaham tank, the Sankara Matham and the School of Arts.
In and near Thanjavur, are temples whose architectural magnificence defies description. One of the best-known is Brihadeeswara, or Big Temple, built by Rajaraja Chola, the golden cupola of which, it is said, never casts a shadow. The pyramidal central tower or vimana is over 64 m high. The tower is topped by a huge block of stone said to have been lifted up with the help of an inclined scaffolding. This scaffolding stretched 6 km from a village called Vayalur on the Kumbakonam road!
Thanjavur district also has the immense temples of Tiruvidaimarudur, Tiruvarur and Tirubhuvanam and the beautiful Murugan shrine of Swamimalai. Then one arrives at the lyrical Mayuram or Mayiladuthurai. The name means literally, ‘the place where peacocks dance’. In Mayuram, the Lakoodam bathing ghat is second in sanctity only to Talakaveri. A large number of pilgrims congregate here to bathe on Kadaimukham day which falls in the months of October-November. Mayuram features prominently in the songs and epics on the Kaveri.

Sooriyan

Thirumangalakudi is located just one kilometer north of aduthurai, which lies in between kumbakonam (15 k.m) and mayiladuthurai (20 k.m) on the bus route as well as on the rail route.

Pilgrims worship lord siva, Sri prananathar and goddess sri mangalambigai at thirumangalakudi and then go to sooriyanarkoil to worship navagrahas.

In sooriyanarkoil the sun is the main deity and other grahas are install in separate sanctums.