page_title: Thyagaraja Temple, Tiruvarur
section_title: Architecture
hierarchical_section_title: Thyagaraja Temple, Tiruvarur / Architecture
caption_attribution_description: English: Thiruvarur temple
context_page_description: Thyagaraja Temple is a Shiva temple, located in the town of Thiruvarur in Tamil Nadu, India. Shiva is worshiped as Vanmiganathar, and is represented by the lingam. Daily poojas are offered to his idol referred to as Maragatha lingam. The main idol of worship is Lord Thiyagarajar, depicted as a Somaskanda form.His consort Parvathi is depicted as Kondi. The presiding deity is revered in the 7th century Saiva canonical work, the Tevaram, written in Tamil by saint poets known as the nayanars and classified as Paadal Petra Sthalam.
  The temple complex covers 30 acres, and is one of the largest in India. It houses nine gateway towers known as gopurams. The tallest is the eastern tower, with four stories and a height of 30 metres. The temple has numerous shrines, with those of Thyagaragar and Neelothbalambal being the most prominent.
  The temple has six daily rituals at various times from 5:30 a.m. to 10 p.m., and twelve yearly festivals on its calendar. The temple has the largest chariot in Asia and the annual Chariot festival is celebrated during the month of April.
context_section_description: The temple complex occupies an area of around 17 acres (6.9 ha) with the Kamalalayam tank to its west, which occupies the same area. The temple has nine gopurams, 80 vimanas, twelve temple walls, 13 halls, fifteen large temple water bodies, three gardens, and three large precincts. The major gopuram of the temple is seven-tiered and raises to a height of 118 ft (36 m). The two main shrines of the temple are for Vanmikinathar (Shiva) and Thyagarajar.  Of the two, the former is the most ancient, and derives its name from tha anthill(putru), which takes the place of linga in the main shrine.  Appar, the 7th-century poet saint, refers to the main deity in his hymn as puttritrukondan(one who resides in the ant hill).  The Stala vriksham(temple tree) is patiri(trumpet flower tree).  The principles and practises of tree-worship and ophilotary are ancient bases whereupon a later date linga worship seems to have been established.
  As per folk legend, Thiruvarur is mentioned as the capital town of a legendary Chola king, Manu Needhi Cholan, who killed his own son to provide justice to a cow. The temple has a sculptural representation of a stone chariot, Manuneethi Chozan, the cow and the kid under the chariot in Vittavasal, against the northeast direction of the gopuram.
  Here all the nine Navagrahas (planetary deities) are located towards south in straight line also located in northwest corner of 1st (prakaram). It is believed that all the planetary deities got relieved off their curse and hence worshiped Thyagaraja. This temple hold the record of having maximum number of shrines (called sannithis in Tamil) in India. The foot of  Thyagaraja is shown twice a year and on other occasions it is covered with flowers. The left leg of the deity is displayed during "panguniuthram" festival and right leg on "thiruvathirai". Some of the major shrines in the temple are of Aananthiswarar, Neelothmbal, Asaleswarar, Adageswarar, Varuneswarar, Annamalieswarar and Kamalambal. The unique feature of the temple is the standing Nandi facing the presiding deity.
  The temple has a lot of halls, with six of them being the most prominent. Bhaktha Katchi hall is located to the left of the image of Moosukuntha Nandi. The festival image of Thyagaraja arrives at this hall after the Panguni Uthiram festival. Oonjal hall is located opposite to the Kabatha Katchi hall. The festival images of Chandrasekarar and Sekari Amman arrive at this hall during the Thiruvadhirai festival. Thulapara hall is named after the legend in which king Mucundaka placed Thyagaraja  image of Thiruvarur in one and all others in another plate he received from Indra (the king of celestial deities). Purana hall is located in the northern part of the temple. Rajanarayana hall is a public hall for localities of Thiruvaru. Rajendra Chola hall, also called Sababathi hall houses the museum of the temple. Similar architecture of halls (Mandapas) simulating a chariot drawn by elephant or horses is found in Sarangapani temple at Kumbakonam, Mela Kadambur Amirthakadeswarar Temple, Sikharagiriswara Temple, Kudumiyamalai, Nageswaraswamy Temple, Kumbakonam and Vriddhagiriswarar Temple, Vriddhachalam.
caption: Image of shrines inside the temple
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