Saiva · Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu
Thirunageswaram Naganathaswamy Temple
திருநாகேஸ்வரம் நாகநாதசுவாமி கோயில்
Naganathar (Sivan) and Piraisoodi Amman with Rahu Bhagavan
NavagrahaRahu and KetuSarpa and Kala sarpaMarriage
The temple in short
- Deity
- Naganathar (Sivan) and Piraisoodi Amman with Rahu Bhagavan
- Where
- Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu · 10.98N 79.43E
- 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
- Rahu
- Visited for
- The Rahu sthalam: milk poured over Rahu in Rahu kalam is seen to turn blue, which is what most people come for. Sunday and Rahu kalam on any day are its hours; visited for Kala sarpa, Naga dosham and delayed marriage.
The sthala purana
Tradition, as it is told at the temple
The sthala purana has it that the great serpents — Adisesha, Dakshan and Karkotaka among them — worshipped Sivan here, and that the lord took the name Naganathar from them.
Rahu is said to have worshipped here and been relieved of a curse, which is why Thirunageswaram is the Rahu sthalam of the nine and the place a family is sent for Naga dosham and Kala sarpa.
What most people actually come to see is the milk abhishekam at the Rahu shrine during Rahu kalam, when the milk poured over the image is seen to take on a blue cast as it runs down. It is done every day, and the shrine is at its busiest for those ninety minutes.
What is recorded
Documented history
Thirunageswaram is a Tevaram Paadal Petra Sthalam. The Divya Desam of Oppiliappan stands in the same village, a short walk away, so the two are almost always visited together.
What there is to see
Description
A large temple by the standards of the circuit, with high walls, a gopuram and four prakarams.
Naganathar is the moolavar. The Amman here is in two shrines — Piraisoodi Amman and the separate, larger Girigujambika shrine, which has a hall of its own.
The Rahu sannidhi in the prakaram is where the abhishekam is done. Nearby tanks include the Surya theertham, and the temple keeps a set of well-carved pillared halls in the outer court.
The temple year
The days it is fullest
Rahu kalam on every day of the week is the temple’s busiest hour, and Sunday is the day most associated with it.
Amavasai, the Ayilyam star of each month and the annual Brahmotsavam bring the largest crowds. Families doing Sarpa dosha parihaaram usually take Keezhperumpallam on the same trip.
Getting there, and what else it is called
- Also called
- Rahu Sthalam, Naganathaswamy Temple
- Period
- Chola period, with later additions
- Reaching it
- Thirunageswaram is about 6 km from Kumbakonam on the Karaikal road. Kumbakonam is the nearest railway station, and the temple is a short auto ride from it.
Where it is
Others within reach
Nearest first, by straight-line distance
Add what you know
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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Parihaaram is traditional practice, offered for devotion and peace of mind; it is not a guaranteed cure of any condition. Temple hours change with festivals and the season, so check before travelling.