Thanjai Mamani Koil

Getting there

• By air

  Tiruchirappalli International Airport is about 61 km away.

• By train

  Thanjavur is on the railway line from Tiruchirappalli Junction to Chennai Egmore. Tiruchirappalli Railway Station is about 55 km away.

• By road

  National Highways NH 83 and NH 36 pass through Thanjavur. Government and private local buses run to the town from Coimbatore, Chennai, Madurai, Tiruchirappalli, Thiruvarur and Pudukkottai.

Why devotees come here

Thanjai Mamani Koil is a set of three adjacent Vishnu temples in Thanjavur, in the Cauvery delta of Tamil Nadu. It is one of the Divya Desams, the 108 Vishnu temples revered by the 12 Alvars. The temples stand on the banks of the Vennaaru River, inside granite walls.

The temples are revered in the Naalayira Divya Prabandham, a Vaishnava canon of the 7th to 9th centuries. Devotees believe Vishnu became Varaha, the boar, and slew three demons: Tanchakan, Tantakan and Kacamukan. Legend says Tancakan, one of them, asked Vishnu to lift a curse, and Vishnu named the place after him. That is how the town came to be called Thanjavur.

The temples are believed to be of great antiquity. Medieval Cholas, the Vijayanagara Empire and the Madurai Nayaks each made contributions at different times. The three temples are enshrined within granite walls, and the complex holds all the shrines. The temple's water body is called Amrutha Theertham.

The Brahmotsavam is the most prominent festival here, held over three months from Panguni to Vaikasi. The temples have twelve yearly festivals on their calendar. During Vaikasi, the Garuda Sevai is another prominent festival in the region. A news report describes 24 decorated Vishnu deities taken in procession through the town, and says a devotee, Duvadasa Garudalvar Dasar, introduced the festival about 80 years before that report.

Festivals

• Panguni, Chittirai and Vaikasi, Tamil monthsBrahmotsavam

  The most prominent festival of the temples, held over three continuous months, from Panguni through to Vaikasi.

• VaikasiGaruda Sevai

  A news report described 24 decorated Vishnu deities taken in procession through the town's main roads.

Tips for your visit

• Look for the three-tiered rajagopuram, the gateway tower of the Neelamegha Perumal temple.
• The Neelamegha Perumal sanctum faces east.
• Thanjiyali Nagar, also called Veera Narasimha Perumal, is a small shrine facing east, with the deity and his consort in one sanctum.

Questions people ask