01The wedding village
Udvaha is marriage, and manam in Tamil the same; Tirumananjeri is the village of the wedding. The temple’s katha says Parvati, born on earth as the daughter of Bharata Maharshi, did tapas for Shiva, and he came and married her here, with Bhagwan Vishnu giving the bride away. The Lord stands in his wedding form as Kalyanasundareswarar, the Devi beside him. Those who wish to marry come with two garlands, offer one and wear one home, and return as a couple, with the garland, to give thanks. Weekends and auspicious days bring crowds from all over the south.
02From brick to stone
Appar and Sambandar sang Tirumananjeri when the shrine was still of brick. It was rebuilt in stone in the early tenth century: two inscriptions of the fourth regnal year of Parantaka I survive, with three more from the reign of Rajaraja I, which record gifts by Sembiyan Mahadevi, mother of Uttama Chola. A short walk away is Edirkolpadi, where the bridegroom was received by the bride’s people, itself a separate Tevaram shrine.
About 6 km from Kuthalam and 30 km from Kumbakonam. Go early on weekends; the queue for the marriage archana is long.
