Saiva · Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu
Thiruvidaimarudur Mahalingaswamy Temple
திருவிடைமருதூர் மகாலிங்கசுவாமி கோயில்
Mahalingaswamy with Brihatsundara Kuchambal
GeneralHealth
The temple in short
- Deity
- Mahalingaswamy with Brihatsundara Kuchambal
- Where
- Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu · 10.99N 79.45E
- 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
- Guru
- Visited for
- The middle of the seven Saptha Vidanga sthalams and the temple where a Brahmahatti was left at the gate. Visited for release from a sin carried forward and for peace of mind.
The sthala purana
Tradition, as it is told at the temple
The sthala purana most often told here is of a Pandya king who killed a brahmin by accident and was followed everywhere by the Brahmahatti, the shape of that sin. He is said to have entered this temple by the western gate; the Brahmahatti could not follow him in, and waited. He went round the prakaram inside and came out by the eastern gate, and the spirit, still watching the west, never saw him leave.
The western gate is shown as the place the Brahmahatti stands to this day, and the going in at one gate and out at the other is still made part of a visit.
Mahalingaswamy is called Madhyarjuna, the middle marudu tree, and tradition sets him at the centre of three arjuna kshetrams — Srisailam in the north as Mallikarjuna, Thirupudaimarudur in the south as Putarjuna, and this temple between them.
What is recorded
Documented history
Thiruvidaimarudur is a Tevaram Paadal Petra Sthalam, sung by all the early Saiva saints, and one of the largest temples of the delta after Thiruvarur.
What there is to see
Description
Four gopurams and several concentric prakarams, with long pillared corridors that make the inside cool and dark even at midday.
The Mukthi mandapam in the outer prakaram and the row of sixty-three Nayanmar images are the ones usually pointed out. The Mahalingam in the sanctum is large.
The western gate, where the Brahmahatti is said to wait, is marked, and people notice which way they go in.
The temple year
The days it is fullest
Maha Sivaratri, the six pradoshams that fall heaviest in the year, and the Margazhi mornings are the days people come for.
The temple keeps a full Brahmotsavam with processions through the surrounding streets.
Getting there, and what else it is called
- Also called
- Madhyarjuna, Mahalingaswamy Temple
- Period
- Chola period, with large later prakarams
- Reaching it
- Thiruvidaimarudur is about 8 km from Kumbakonam on the road to Mayiladuthurai. Kumbakonam is the nearest railway station, and there is a small station at Thiruvidaimarudur itself.
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
A contribution carries a name, so a reader knows whose account it came from. That is why it needs an account, and it is the only reason.
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.