Kumbakonam Ramaswamy Temple… Sri Ramaswamy Temple is a popular, marvellous and a wonderful temple dedicated to Lord Sri Rama, who is one of the famous avatars of Lord Vishnu, and this temple is located in the temple town of Kumbakonam. It is one of the special temples dedicated to Rama, and due to its sanctity, and spiritual significance, this temple is also known as ‘AYODHYA RAMA TEMPLE IN SOUTH INDIA’. This temple is situated on the banks of the holy river Kaveri. I have visited this temple during the end of January 2024, and had the wonderful darshan of Lord Rama along with his family members. Since we find the entire family members of Lord Rama at this temple, couples those who want to lead a permanent, tensionless, peaceful and joyful married life must surely visit this temple. Widowers, Bachelors and Divorcees can also visit this temple in order to find suitable life partners for them.
The temple was built during Nayak kings during 16th Century AD. The temple is covered by a big sized granite wall and the temple complex contains few more shrines. We can also have a look at the beautiful sculptures, which were sculpted on the pillars of the temple depicting various Ramayana incidents. The entire Ramayanam is depicted in the form of beautiful pictures, and it would take a few Hour time, to go through the entire pictures of Ramayana! The temple follows six daily rituals at various intervals starting from 6:30 a.m. to 9 p.m., and celebrates twelve important annual festivals. The main festival celebrated in the temple is Sri Rama Navami, which falls during the Tamil month of Panguni (March–April).
The temple contains beautiful architecture which steals the hearts of the visitors. As per ancient legend, the idols present in the temple were once found in a temple tank near Darasuram village. Those idols were placed in the present temple due to the efforts put up by the then Nayak King. During the year 2015, Ramaswamy temple’s consecration (Maha kumbabhisekam) took place in an excellent manner.
The main shrine contains the idol of Lord Rama in a seated posture along with his consort Ma Sita Devi. The other idols are of his brothers Lakshmana, Bharatha and Chatruguna, who appears in standing posture and Lord Hanuman appears in the form of worship posture. The paintings of Ramayana are considered to be one of the precious art forms in India.
Still some Staunch Ram devotees are there, and they are considered to be the chief most devotees of Lord Rama, who consider Lord Rama as everything for them. They used to dedicate their entire life towards praising him, thinking about him and worshipping him whole heartedly. Ram devotees glorifies Lord Rama, in various ways, and they would dance, shed joyful tears, jump, and would eagerly watch the pujas of Lord Rama, and would shower their unlimited affection on him. Ram Devotees, deep devotion can be witnessed clearly once if we visit Sri Ramaswamy Temple, Kumbakonam!
“RAM RAMASWAMY, SITARAMACHANDRA SWAMY, BHAGAVAN SRI VISHNU SWAMY”
WRITTEN BY
R. HARISHANKAR