Kayarohanaswamy Temple, Nagapattinam
காயாரோகணசுவாமி கோயில், நாகப்பட்டினம்
Why this temple matters
In the old port town of Nagapattinam on the Coromandel coast, Shiva stands as Kayarohanaswamy, and the Thyagaraja of the shrine — Nagara Vidangar — is one of the seven dancing Vidangas of the Kaveri delta, whose procession is said to sway in the Unmatta Natanam.
History
Nagapattinam, an ancient port on the Coromandel coast at the seaward edge of the Kaveri delta, holds the temple of Shiva as Kayarohanaswamy, with the Goddess Neelayadakshi. It is a Paadal Petra Sthalam, sung by the Nayanmar saints, its stone shrines of the Chola age when Nagapattinam was a great harbour of the eastern trade. The temple is one of the Sapta Vidanga Sthalams, the seven shrines of the dancing Thyagaraja of the delta, and here the Thyagaraja is honoured as Nagara Vidangar.
Architecture
Built in the Dravidian manner, the temple gathers around the sanctum of Kayarohanaswamy, with the Goddess Neelayadakshi in her own shrine and, as at every Vidanga temple, the Somaskanda form of Thyagaraja — Shiva with Uma and the child Skanda — worshipped as the processional lord. Pillared halls and a gateway tower open before the sanctum, in the manner of the great delta temples raised and endowed under the Cholas.
Legends
The Sapta Vidanga temples share a single legend: the uncarved images of Thyagaraja, the Vidangas, are said to have been given by the lord to the kings of old and worshipped in the Somaskanda form, each moving in its own dance when carried in procession. At Nagapattinam the Thyagaraja is Nagara Vidangar, and his procession is held to move in the Unmatta Natanam, one of the seven dances of the delta shrines that together make up the tradition of the dancing Thyagaraja.
Festivals
The temple keeps the festivals of Shiva and of Thyagaraja through the year, with the procession of the Vidangar the heart of its celebration, alongside the car festival through the port town and the days sacred to the Nayanmar saints. Coastal festivals and the Panguni and Aadi observances fill the shrine with lamps and song.
The Experience
Nagapattinam rewards the pilgrim with a seaward Shiva temple and one of the seven dancing Thyagarajas, in a town whose harbour once reached across the eastern seas. It sits on the coast within easy reach of the delta temple towns, and joins the other Vidanga shrines — from Thiruvarur inland to Vedaranyam at the river's mouth — into the single pilgrimage of the seven dances.