Shri Airawateshwarar Temple at Darasuram

This Shiva temple is one of the pancha kroshi sthala of Kumbhakonam. It is also one of the SaptaSthana temples around Kumbhakonam. This temple is classified as a Kalai (Art) Kovil. The temple was built by the king Rajarajeshwara and is about 1500 years old. It is located at Darasuram in Kumbhakonam taluka of Tamilnadu. It is very close to the Kollaidum river which is a tributary of Kaveri.

Mulavar: Shri Airatwateshwarar
Devi: Shri Vedanayaki
Kshetra Vruksha: Bilva

Kshetrapuran:
According to Purana, Airawat (the white elephant mount of Indra) due to its ego, misbehaved with Sage Durvasa by not paying any attention to him. The sage cursed the white elephant to lose all its grace, color, power and position. It became a bison and started roaming on the earth. When it heard about this place, it came here and worshiped Shri Shiva for atonement. Shri Shiva graced her and restored it to its original position in the Indra loka. Hence Shri Shiva is known as Shri Airawateshwarar.

According to the another incidence taken in the purana, Shri Yama angered the Sages by his behavior. They cursed him so that his body became very hot and he could not bear the heat generated in the body. He roamed far and wide for relief. Finally when he heard about this sacred teertha, created by Shri Shiva with his Trident, he came here for relief. He took bath in the teertha and worshiped Shri Shiva. He was relieved from the curse of the sages.

In this temple complex as well as in the temple, there are several sculptures which are very beautiful. As this temple was built by the king Rajarajeshwara Chola, place was earlier known as Rajarajeshwaram. It is believed that the demon Dharakan worshiped Shri Shiva at this place. And place was known as Darasuram. According to Kshetra Purana, the mount of Shri Indra, worshiped Shri Shiva at this place, hence the place is known as Shri Airatwateshwaram.

About the temple:
As soon as we enter, we come across Nandi mandap. There is a staircase leading to Balipeeth. If we tap on the stones of the steps, they give out musical notes. As we enter the temple, we come across a very beautiful marriage hall with a lot of captivating and mind blowing sculptures relating to past history. This mandap is in a form of a horse drawn chariot. The mandap has 16 highly sculptured pillars with about thousand sculptures in each pillar. The sculpture of Shri Nartana Vinayaka is about 2 centimeters in height, in addition to this there are sculptures for incidents from Ramayana, Mahabharata, as well sculptures of Shiva Parvati in Kailash, Shri Muruga with Valli and Deivayani, sages performing penance, Shri Brahma, Shri Vishnu, and Shri Muruga. There are no words to describe the beauty of these sculptures. The Shiva linga is very captivating. On the outer wall of the main sanctum, we have five sculptures on each side with the middle larger than the others.

Other shrines:
In the southwest corner of the main mandap, we come across sculptures - one of them is of Shri Yama, and then we have sculptures of Sapta Matrikas as well. Devi shrine is larger than the main shrine. There are lots of stone inscriptions which give an account of the renovation work done by various kings. 

We come across sculptures on the Gopurams as well. On the north face of the gopuram we have Adi Shankaracharya, Shri Ganga Devi, Shri Tanpurnaradar, Shri Vaisravana, Shri Chandra, Shri Mahashashta, Shri Nagaraja, and Shri Vayu. On the west face of the gopuram - Shri Ambika, Shri Rudrani, Shri Vaishnavi, Shri Brahmi, Shri Varunanai, Shri Nandi, Shri Periyadevar, Shri SanatDevi, Shri Vidyashakti, Shri Pratishtha Shakti, Shri Nivarti Shakti. On the south face of the gopuram - Shri Daksha Prajapati, Shri Yamuna Devi, Shri Rati Devi, Shri Kamdev. On the east face of the gopuram - Shri Agni, Shri Sridevi, Shri Durga Devi, Shri Indra, Shri Padmanidhi, Shri Surya, Shri Subramanya, Shri Kshetrapal, Shri Vishwakarma and Shri Ishandeva.

In this temple we come across, sculptures of Sage Shri Agastya, Shri Sarbheshwarar, Shri Narasimha, Shri Ardhanarishwarar, Shri Dakshinamurti, Shri Annapurni, Shri Vishnudurga Devi, Shri Chandikeshwarar, Shri Kannagi, and Shri Nardana Vinayaka. One sculpture is such that, when we view from one side, we observe an Oxen and from the other side of the same sculpture, it appears as an elephant.

Shri Vedanayaki Devi is housed at a distance away from the main shrine in a separate shrine on the right side.

Festivals:

Thai (Jan-Feb) - Thai Thaipusam festival for 10 days, Pongal

Masi (Feb-Mar) - Mahashivaratri

Chitrai (Apr-May) - 10 days brahmotsav

Vaikashi (May - June) - Divine marriage utsav on Vishakha nakshtra

Aadi (Jul-Aug): Aadi Pooram

Avani (August-Sept) - Ganesh chaturthi

Purattasi (Sept-Oct) - Annabhishek, Navaratri, arrow festival.

Aippasi (Oct-Nov) - Annabhishek and 10 days Skanda shashthi festival

Karthigai (Nov-Dec) - 10 days Festival of light known as Karthikeya Deepam.

Margazhi (Dec-Jan) Thiruvathira, 10 days Thiruvaduthurai, Arudra Darshan

Panguni (Mar-April) Uttara nakshatra festival
 

Besides this, pradosha puja every month, puja on full moon days and Shivaratri.

Prayers
People pray here for relief from sufferings from the past sins and for getting prosperity in life.

Timings:
7 am to 12 noon and evening 5 pm to 8 pm.
Temple address: Shri Airawateshwarar Temple, Darasuram, Kunbhakonam Taluka, Tamil Nadu. 

Courtesy: Various websites and blogs