हिंदीOn this day
Standing

Kumbakonam and the Mahamaham tank

The temple town where the pot of amrita came to rest after the pralaya. Every twelve years, at the Mahamaham, the holy rivers of Bharat are said to bathe in its tank.

Built: Ancient temple town; tank mandapas built by Govinda Dikshitar in the 16th centuryWhere: Tamil NaduDeity: Bhagwan Shiva as Adi Kumbeswarar; Bhagwan Vishnu as Sarangapani10.96° N, 79.38° E
  1. 16th century
  2. February 2016
Photo: Trawell.in · CC BY-SA 4.0

01The broken pot

Before the pralaya, the temple’s katha says, Brahma filled a pot with amrita and the seeds of creation and set it afloat. When the waters fell it came to rest here; Shiva as a hunter struck it with an arrow, the amrita spilled, and from the sand soaked with it he shaped the linga of Adi Kumbeswarar. Where the amrita pooled is the Mahamaham tank. Kumbakonam also has Sarangapani, one of the major Divya Desams, and the Chakrapani and Someswarar temples, all within a short walk.

02The twelve-year bath

The Mahamaham falls in the month of Masi when Brihaspati is in Simha and the full moon is in Magha nakshatra, once in twelve years. On that day, it is held, the Ganga, Yamuna, Sarasvati, Narmada, Godavari, Kaveri and other rivers come to the tank to wash away the sins left in them by pilgrims. Govinda Dikshitar, minister of the Thanjavur Nayaks, built the sixteen small mandapas around the tank. The last Mahamaham was in February 2016; the next is due in 2028.

The life of this place

  1. 16th centuryGovinda Dikshitar builds the sixteen mandapas around the tank.
  2. February 2016The most recent Mahamaham.
Visiting

Kumbakonam is the best base for the Chola temples: Darasuram is 4 km away and Gangaikonda Cholapuram 35 km.

Nearby

Sarangapani Temple, KumbakonamStanding
Cholas and the Southern Seas

Sarangapani Temple, Kumbakonam

The great Vishnu temple of Kumbakonam and one of the foremost Divya Desams, whose sanctum is built as a chariot drawn by horses and elephants. A single decad of Nammalvar heard here led Nathamuni to recover the four thousand hymns of the Alvars.

Nageswarar Temple, Kumbakonam (Kudanthai Keezhkottam)Standing
Cholas and the Southern Seas

Nageswarar Temple, Kumbakonam (Kudanthai Keezhkottam)

An early Chola temple of Kumbakonam famous for its life-size sculptures and for the sun’s rays that fall on the linga in Chittirai. Appar sang it.

Adi Kumbeswarar Temple, KumbakonamStanding
Cholas and the Southern Seas

Adi Kumbeswarar Temple, Kumbakonam

Kumbakonam takes its name from this temple’s linga: the pot, kumbha, of amrita that Shiva broke with an arrow after the pralaya, mixing the nectar with sand. It is the chief temple of the Mahamaham.

Kasi Viswanathar Temple, Kumbakonam (Kudanthai Karonam)Standing
Sultanates, Vijayanagara and the kingdoms that stood

Kasi Viswanathar Temple, Kumbakonam (Kudanthai Karonam)

The temple on the Mahamaham tank where the nine sacred rivers, Ganga first, come to wash away the sins they have taken from bathers. Sambandar sang it.