Chakrapani Temple, Kumbakonam

Chakrapani Temple
Chakrapani Temple, Kumbakonam
Location
Country:	India
State:	Tamil Nadu
District:	Thanjavur
Location:	Kumbakonam
Architecture and culture
Primary deity:	Chakrapani(Vishnu ) Seetha Devi (goddess)
Architectural styles:	Dravidian architecture

Chakrapani Temple is a Hindu temple dedicated to Lord Vishnu located in Kumbakonam, Tamil Nadu, India. In the temple, Lord Vishnu appears in the form of a discus or Chakra to put down the pride of Surya(the Sun), who subsequently became his devotee^[1].

The Temple

The temple is noted for its exquisite pillars. The presiding deity, Chakrapani has 8 arms. There is a bronze image of king Serfoji II worshipping the lord as he is said to have been cured an illness by the grace of this God. A panchamukha(five-faced) Hanuman is erected in the prakaram (outer precincts of the temple)^[2].

In 1620, when Govinda Dikshitar, divan-administrator for the Nayaks, constructed the Ramaswamy Temple, Kumbakonam, he added a commercial corridor between the new temple and the older Chakrapani temple^[3].

Practise

Chakra Padithurai is a famous ghat in Kumbakonam parallel to the shrine of the temple situated across the river Cauvery. Neivethanam (sacred offering) performed everyday for the deity is dependent on the smoke emnating from the burning of corpses from the ghat. It is pertinent to an idealogy that God performs the chakra (cycle) of life and death.

References

1. ^ South Indian shrines: illustrated P.325. P. V. Jagadisa Ayyar
2. ^ Tourist Guide to Tamil Nadu. P.70
3. ^ Diaspora of the gods: modern Hindu temples in an urban middle-class world .P.246. Joanne Punzo Waghorne