SURYANAR KOIL - SUN TEMPLE

Man is made of five elements - water, fire, earth, sky and light. Despite embodying powers and blessed to rule the universes, he is ruled by Navagrahas - nine planets. He has to be at their feet - he is , !hat they make of him. They can be neither overpowered, nor by-passed. It is only by appeasing them with both bahya and manasa puja, he can acquire wealth of any kind; prosperity in any field; peace of both mental and physical, and longevity - bodily and reputationally.

All these planets influencing the destinies of mankind are enshrined in a modest sized temple called Suryanarkoil. It is the only temple in the Dakshinapatha, exclusively dedicated to Sun god with Usha Devi and Pratyusha Devi - his consorts along with the other eight grahas, each in a separate shrine around the main one. Though unostentatious, it has a tower and prakaram etc. At the entrance, a horse-the divine vehicle of Lord Sun greets us, like the Nandi in Sivaalayas and Hanuman in Ramaalayas. The main mandir enshrining the Sun-God facing west is surrounded by separate shrines for Rahu, Ketu, Chandra, Angaraka, Budha, Sani, Sukra and Brihaspathi.

The pecularity that can be seen here - the image of lion is inset in the image of Sun,. indicating thereby the truth that the Sun is the Lord of Leo-lion. The image of planet Jupiter Brihaspathi is installed in the fore of the temple-. may be due to his exalted office - Devaguru - Preceptor of Gods.

This unique temple is situated at a distance of 15 km to the east of Kumbhakonam, the veritable temple city of Tamilnadu of diverse faiths and different creeds. It is on the bank of river Cauvery, and was the erstwhile capital of the imperial Cholas for sometime. And accessible by bus.

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