Sapta Sthanams

There are seven places, around Thiru-Vaiyaru along the banks of river Kauveri, which are related to the marriage of Nandi (Lord Shiva’s mount). Nandi was the son of Siladamaharshi. Due to penance and un-paralleled devotion of son of Siladamaharshi, he was named as Nandi and given the place among Shivaganas by Lord Shiva. Lord Shiva arranged the marriage of Nandideva with Swayambikai. According to the Purana, Lord Shiva took the newly wed couple to seven places as a part of the saptapadi. These places are known as Saptha-sthanam and the temple of Lord Shiva at these places are reminders of the marriage of Nandi with Swayambikai. It is believed that the marriage took place at Thirumazhapadi near Thiruvaiyaru. For this marriage, Lord Shiva arranged the fruits from Thirupazhanam, food from Thiruchotruthurai, vedic bramhins from  Thiruvedhikudi, ornaments from Thirukkandiyur, flowers and garlands from Thirupanturuthi and ghee for the homa (yadnya)  from Thiruneithaanam.

Temple	Place	District	Lord Shiva’s name	Consort of Lord Shiva	Kshetra-vriksha
Aiyarappar  temple	Thiruvaiyaru	Thanjavur	Aiyarappan	Dharma-samvardini	Bilwa
Apathsahayar  Temple	Thiru-pazhanam	Thanjavur	Aapathsahayar	Periyanayaki	Bilwa (plantain) aka Kadalivana
Odhana-vaneswarar  Temple	Thiru-chotruthurai	Thanjavur	Odhanavaneswar	Annapoorni (Oppili amma)	Bilwa
Vedapuriswarar  Temple	Thiru-vedhikudi	Thanjavur	Vedapuriswara	Mangayarkarasi	Bilwa
Kandeeswarar  Temple	Thiru-kkandiyur	Thanjavur	Bramha-shirakandishwar	Mangalambika	Bilwa
Puvananathar  Temple	Thiru-panturuthi	Thanjavur	Pushpavaneswar	Soundarya-nayaki	Bilwa
Neyyadiappar  Temple	Thiru-neithaanam	Thanjavur	Neyyadiappar	Balambikai	Bilwa

To commemorate this event, a festival is conducted every year at Thiruvaiyaru during the Tamil month of Chithirai (Chitra which happens between mid-April to mid-May) on Vishakha nakshatra.

The utsav-moortis¹ of principal deities from these temples are brought in seven glass palanquins (palkhi) to Thiruvaiyaru. They are paraded there and a ritual known as Poochorithal (showering of flowers) is conducted. In this festival a doll offers the flowers to the principal deities in their palanquins. After this the palanquins leave for their respective temples. 

^{1. Temples in India maintain a separate smaller size idol to be taken outside of the sanctum sanctuary for various events and festivals. These are known as utsav moortis↩}