Visit to the City of Temples - Kumbhakonam in the State of Tamilnadu in India

The entire Southern part of India is full of temples, beautiful sea beaches and large cities. Kumbhakonam is one such place that is having most beautiful temples, and scenic River shore. Most of the tourists visiting Chennai make it sure to visit this holy, spiritual, and beautiful place of Kumbhakonam. It is situated just 17 miles away from Pondicherry, and around 65 miles away from Chennai.

Kumbhakonam is an ancient town, built before around 3000 years. One can easily reach this place by hired car or taxis either from Chennai or Pondicherry. The city is located at the bank of River Kaveri. There is a very holy pond located here at Kumbhakonam, known as Mahamagham. Taking a holy bath in this pond is considered as a definite entry to heaven after the death. There are twelve Lord Shiva temples, four lord Vishnu temples here in this town. All these temples are ancient having an important history behind each of them. There is also a very large Lord Brahma temple here, which is one of the two temples of Lord Brahma in the entire India. The other Lord Brahma temple is situated in Pushkar near to Ajmer in the State of Rajasthan. There is also one temple of Lord Ram swami here that shows the entire history of King Dashrath, Lord Ram, and the rulers of ancient time. The gorgeous temple of Lord Vishnu, known as Sarangpani temple is also situated here. This temple has gopurams of 12 floors and is considered one of the tallest temples of South India. There are two chariots made of wood here at the temple having the most exquisite wooden engravings on them. Even after around 2500 years these wooden chariots have remained in an excellent condition without any type of weather defects on the exquisite wood engravings.

Out of all the 12 Lord Shiva temples, temple of Kumbheshwar is the most ancient and has the unique features that are not normally present in other Lord Shiva temples. The Shiva lingam is white in color here made of white crystal. It is very smooth in touch and has not eroded even after a very long time span of thousands of years. The size of this unique Shiva Lingam is also quite big and the priests have to do prayers in standing postures. The snake on top of this Shiva Lingam is having 101 faces and is made of black stone. Over and above these famous temples, Kumbhakonam is also having a very famous university, in which around 12000 students are studying Veda philosophy and English literature. The River Kaveri flowing here is also very wide and flows very slowly, presenting its grace in the most effective way. The waters are quite deep here and all the precautions must be taken while taking a bath here. There are many crocodiles in this river. Hence, it is advisable to take a bath here with all the safety precautions in this River. The experience of boating in quite waters of Kaveri at the evening hours is really very pleasant and spiritual. There are regular cruises of 2 to 6 hours available in rowing, pedal, and motor boats. The rates are around Rs.250 ($6) to Rs.1000 ($25) per boat based on the facilities of the boat.

It may be necessary to stay here at Kumbhakonam for 2 to 3 days to cover all the places of tourist's interest. There are few hotels like Hotel Grand Europe, Hotel Majestic, Hotel Usha, Hotel Liberty, and Hotel Continental here that gives all the facilities. All these hotels are having two to three stars facilities and have tariff of around Rs.1600 ($40) per day for a nice double room. The native South Indian type of food is mostly available here that can be very spicy at times. Also, make sure to consume the bottled mineral water for drinking purpose as the water is really contaminated here in this area.

The trip to India, particularly to South India, can not be treated as complete till you visit the city of temples, Kumbhakonam in the State of Tamilnadu in India.