Thursday, March 3, 2011

Sangameshwara temple- Bhavani, Tamil Nadu

Sangameshwara (Siva) temple is in Bhavani , 16 Kms from Erode railway station.  This temple is known as Dakshin Prayag as river Kaveri meets river Bhavani here. The confluence of these rivers along with river Amuda which is believed to be flowing underneath makes it a holy place and one can see constant stream of pilgrims in the bathing ghat here at the sangamam  ( hence the Lord here known as Sangameshawarar)  performing various rituals on its banks. It is believed that a bath at the sangamam purifies the mind as well as the body.

The temple of Sangameshwara is  very attractive as it is a store house of excellent craftsmanship.  One may wonder about the  kind of work that would have gone into making ordinary granite slabs  into magnificent ones.

Lord Sangameshwara is enshrined here facing the Kaveri. As we circumambulate there are subshrines for Vinayaga, Dakshina Moorthy, Muruga, Vishnu, Durga and Nataraja. All 63  Nayanmars also find a special place inside the temple. Amman  here is Veda Nayagi, a powerful deity and Her idol is also well decked in finery. The mandapam leading to her sannidhi has lot of ornamental work on pillars and ceiling.

Saneeshwarar shrine is on the left of Amman sannidhi and next to it is the shrine of Jeeraheshwarar, which I have seen  only in Tayumanavar temple at Rock fort temple, Trichy. There are also  shrines here for Venkatachalapathi ( Vishnu), Shenbagavalli thayar ( Mahalakshmi) and Venugopal  (Krishna).

There is a peepul tree on the banks of the rivers and there are many  Nagas and Vinayagar under it.  Pilgrims offer their worship here after a bath in the river before proceeding to the main temple of Sangameshwara.

 Nearest town is Bhavani near Erode. Plenty of buses ply to this town from Erode and neighbouring towns.

Nearest airport is Trichy/Coimbatore. Erode is the nearest rail station.
Accomodation:   Erode is a small town and one may find only budget hotels here.
Nearby temples



35 comments:

Anuradha Shankar said...

I visited this temple a long time ago, before I began writing, so unfortunately have no pics... i keep telling my husband that we should go back to these places, but then there are so many more places i want to see that i am not able to visit these wonderful places again. incidentally, am going to tiruppur in may... where will u be then?

Mridula said...

The details on the wall are so pretty. And the water body looks lovely too.

Sushma Mallya said...

Lovely writeup Chitra and beautiful photography!

kiran sawhney said...

Great post again Chitra.

Sridharan said...

Beautiful....both the photos and the write up..Chitra..! It is good to see some greeneries inside the temple and water in the river..!

EC said...

The temple looks divine in the pics..would love to visit it sometime

chitra said...

Anu, Even I have seen many temples prior to my entry into blog sphere and do not have photos. But cannot go to those places again due practical difficulties.

I should be in Dindigul in May. No plans yet for travel.

chitra said...

Mridula, That vast stretch was river was really attractive which is a rare thing in Tamil Nadu.

chitra said...

Sushma, Thanks for the appreciation.

chitra said...

Kiran, Thank you so much.

chitra said...

Sridharan, It's Kaveri and a perennial river. the temple atmosphere was really enchanting and surroundings were clean too.

chitra said...

EC, thanks.

Archana said...

I have been to Erode but somehow missed going to this temple. The sculptures in the photographs are from the Nayaka period (post-Chola), though the temple may be older.

The sangam description matches the Prayag Sangam description exactly! I knew about tenganga, tenkasi,tenmathura, but I didn't know there was a tenprayag as well.

Thanks for this post, Chitra.

Teamgsquare said...

hey nice posts , one more temple added to visit . Hope this year also i get a trip to Tamil Nadu may be upto Rameshwaram .(last year it was Kanyakumari)

aipi said...

I really appreciate you sharing these pictures. Gives me the glimpse me of our history n our culture..Nice writeup too..


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Sanand said...

It's an awesome read. Thanks for posting.

chitra said...

Archana, Even I came to know about it recently though I am just 130 Kms away from this place.

chitra said...

Team G Square.
Hope you make a trip down this route and every town you would find a temple.

chitra said...

Thanks Aipi, I am happy you like the posts with pictures.

chitra said...

Sanand,
I hardly see you these days. I know you are busy with your work. All the best .

Amrit said...

Small town but beautiful temple. Nice pictures as usual

anupama said...

Dear Chitra,
Good Morning!
I am happy that you published this post on Shivaratri!
Beautiful ambience!Is that a river?Looks so nice!I must say,the greens have added beauty to the premises!
Lovely photos!
Wishing you a beautiful day ahead,
Sasneham,
Anu

Arti said...

Beautiful post Chitra. Loved the pics, the sculpture is great in the temples and you have captured them beautifully...
Have a wonderful weekend :)

chitra said...

A,
Thanks for the comment.
Anu, thanks.It never struck I was publishing that on shivarathri day.
thanks Arti, I know you have a liking for these things. Enjoy your weekend too.

sm said...

beautiful pics
like nandi pic

chitra said...

Thanks sm.

Felicity Grace Terry said...

The scope of these pictures is amazing, thanks for another wonderful journey.

chitra said...

PW, thanks my dear friend.

Martina said...

Wow, such a beautiful and impressive place! I love these stone-carvings, so delicately done. Must be a pleasure to walk around therer and take photos and take it all in. Thanks for posting Chitra!

Abhilash Pillai said...

never heard of this temple before. Nice pictures Chitra.

? said...

Am reading about this beautiful place from your post Chitra; tempts one to visit and fairly near to Palakkad too!:-)

Urmi said...

Both write ups and the photos are very beautiful. Wonderful post.

chitra said...

Martina, Abhilash, ?, Babli thanks.

goodfood said...

Hi
chitra nice photograpy... I hav got good information from your post... which is the best time to visit this place? will the temple be as free as shown in the pics?
thanks
Nalini

oum namsivaya said...

i have proposed to visit the kumbabhishegam on 09/06/2014.will there be facility to stay on 08th night at bhavani.my mobile 9443742732