01The son who taught his father
The young Murugan asked Brahma how he created living beings. Brahma said, with the Vedas, and began to recite them from the Pranava, Om. Murugan asked him what Om meant. Brahma could not say, and Murugan held him prisoner. When Mahadev came to have Brahma freed, he asked his son whether he knew the meaning himself. Murugan did, and Shiva sat as his pupil to hear it. So Murugan here is Swaminatha, the lord’s own teacher, and Shiva and Meenakshi as Sundareswarar have their shrine at the foot of the hill while the son stands above. Murugan holds a staff, and before him stands an elephant, said to be Indra’s gift, in place of the peacock.
02Sixty steps
The temple is not on a natural hill. It rises in three tiers on a built mound about 18 metres high, with three prakarams: one at the base, one halfway, one round the sanctum at the top. Sixty steps lead up, each named for one of the sixty years of the Tamil cycle. Nakkeerar names the shrine as Erakam in the Tirumurugarruppadai, and Arunagirinathar sang it in the Tiruppugazh. Vaikasi Visakam is the great festival. Swamimalai is also the town of bronze-casters, who still make temple bronzes by the lost-wax method.
The life of this place
- 9 September 2015Kumbhabhishekam of the temple.
Swamimalai is about 6 km from Kumbakonam. Go in the early morning and see Sundareswarar and Meenakshi at the foot of the hill before climbing.
