01A night’s halt
Karaveeram is the arali, the oleander, and the place was once a forest of it; the red arali behind the vimana is still the sacred tree. Sambandar reached here when it was already dark, stayed the night, and sang his hymn in the morning, in the first Tirumurai; every verse says that worship here lifts the weight of past karma, and the custom grew that a pilgrim should stay one night and worship at dawn. The Devi’s shrine is on the Lord’s right, the kalyana arrangement. Brahma worshipped here, so the Lord is also Brahmapureeswarar, and Gautama has a shrine; on amavasya women pour water at the tree of his samadhi and pray for marriage.
About 10 km west of Tiruvarur on the Kumbakonam road, at Vadakandam Karaiyapuram; the Tirukkannamangai Divya Desam is close by.
