01Markandeya and Kala
Markandeya was granted to his parents with only sixteen years of life. On the day the term ran out he clung to the linga here, and when Yama threw his noose it fell round both boy and linga. Shiva came forth as Kalasamhara, kicked Yama down and gave Markandeya the gift of being sixteen for ever. The bronze of Kalasamhara Murti is the temple’s pride. Because Yama was overthrown here, couples perform the Shashtiabdapoorthi at sixty and the Sathabhishekam at eighty in the temple’s halls, and on good muhurta days dozens of such rites go on at once.
02Abhirami Bhattar’s full moon
Subramania Iyer, a devotee lost in the Devi, was asked by the Maratha raja of Thanjavur what tithi it was. Seeing only Abhirami’s face, he said it was the full moon; it was the new moon. Told he would be burnt at moonrise, he began to sing a hundred verses to her. At the 79th verse, the temple’s tradition says, the Devi threw her earring into the sky and it shone as the full moon. Those verses are the Abhirami Anthathi, still sung across the Tamil land, and the poet is remembered as Abhirami Bhattar.
The life of this place
- 7th centuryAppar, Sambandar and later Sundarar sing the temple.
- 18th centuryAbhirami Bhattar composes the Abhirami Anthathi in the time of the Thanjavur Marathas.
About 21 km from Mayiladuthurai and close to the sea at Tharangambadi. Book halls in advance for Shashtiabdapoorthi or Sathabhishekam.
