01Tanjakan’s prayer
The Brahmanda Purana tells of three asuras of Treta Yuga, Tanjakan, Tantakan and Gajamukhan, made strong by Shiva’s boon, who troubled Maharshi Parashara at his tapas here. Vishnu killed Tanjakan with the Sudarshana; dying, the asura asked that the place carry his name, and the Lord granted it, so it is Thanjai, Thanjavur. Gajamukhan he killed in the form of a yali, and Tantakan fled to Srimushnam, where Vishnu as Varaha ended him. Neelamegha Perumal sits in the main temple, which has a three-tiered gopuram and the Amrita Theertham; the Narasimha of Thanjaiyali Nagar is seated, blessing Markandeya.
02One Divya Desam, three shrines
Bhoothath Alvar, Nammalvar and Thirumangai Alvar sing of Thanjai in five pasurams, and the three shrines are taken together as the Divya Desam. Tradition sorts the verses: Bhoothath Alvar’s Thanjai is Thanjaiyali Nagar, Nammalvar’s is Manikundram, and Thirumangai’s is Mamanikoil. Each is small, with the Perumal and Thayar in one sanctum. In Vaikasi the town holds a Garuda Sevai where the festival images of eighteen temples, these three among them, come out on Garuda together. Thanjavur’s great Brihadeeswara temple is a few kilometres away.
The life of this place
- Alvar periodBhoothath Alvar, Nammalvar and Thirumangai Alvar sing of Thanjai.
On the north bank of the Vennar at the northern edge of Thanjavur, on the Thiruvaiyaru road; the three shrines are within a few hundred metres of each other.
