Thingalur Kailasanathar Temple

Deity

Kailasanathar (Sivan) and Chandra Bhagavan

Where

Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu · 10.89N 79.14E

Usual hours

6 am – 12.30 pm, 4 pm – 8.30 pm — hours change with festivals and the season; check before travelling. Were these right when you went?

Grahas

Chandran

Visited for

The Chandra sthalam, where Appar brought back Thirunavukkarasar’s devotee from death. Monday and pournami are its days; visited for a restless mind, for a mother’s health and for sleep.

Appoothi Adigal, a brahmin of this village, had never met Appar but had put Appar’s name on everything he owned — the water sheds he built for travellers, the wells he dug, and his own sons. The sthala purana has it that when Appar finally came to Thingalur and sat down to eat in that house, the elder son was bitten by a snake while cutting a plantain leaf for the meal.

The boy died, and the family is said to have set the body aside and served the food rather than break the hospitality. When Appar learnt what had happened he sang at the shrine, and the boy is said to have got up. Appoothi Adigal is counted among the sixty-three Nayanmars for it.

Chandran’s own connection is a separate story. The moon, waning under Daksha’s curse, is said to have worshipped Sivan here and been given back his light — which is why Thingalur, from thingal, the Tamil word for the moon, is the Chandra sthalam of the nine.

Thingalur is one of the Tevaram Paadal Petra Sthalams, sung by Appar. Sekkizhar’s Periya Puranam gives Appoothi Adigal a full account among the Nayanmars, so the story told here is part of the Saiva canon and not only a village tradition.

A small temple set back from the road, with a modest tower and a short prakaram. Kailasanathar is the moolavar and Chandra Bhagavan has a shrine of his own, shown on his chariot in the form the navagraha groups give him.

Appoothi Adigal is remembered inside the temple, which is uncommon: few places give a Nayanmar’s whole household a place in the prakaram.

Monday is the day here and the full moon the busiest night of the month. Pradosham and the Monday evenings of Karthigai fill the village, and the circuit traffic comes through on whatever day the family is travelling.

Also called

Chandra Sthalam, Kailasanathar Temple

Reaching it

Thingalur is about 4 km east of Thiruvaiyaru and roughly 18 km from Thanjavur, which is the nearest railway station. It is usually taken with Thiruvaiyaru and Thirukkandiyur on the same morning.

• Aiyarappar Temple, Thiruvaiyaru 4.5 km · Saiva
• Garbarakshambigai Temple, Thirukarukavur 11 km · Saiva
• Punnainallur Mariamman Temple 11.9 km · Sakta (Amman)
• Brihadeeswarar Temple (Peruvudaiyar Koil) 12.3 km · Saiva
• Papanasanathar Temple, Papanasam 14.9 km · Saiva
• Thirukkandiyur Brahmasirakandeeswarar Temple 16.2 km · Saiva

Been to this temple? The things that change — whether the hours on this page were right, whether the sannidhi was open, how long the queue was on a Saturday — are exactly what no printed source keeps current, and what the next person travelling here needs.

• Were the hours right when you went?
• Is anything on this page wrong or out of date?
• A photograph of the gopuram, the tank, or the notice board

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