Thiruvaiyaru – literally (in Tamil) the holy land of five rivers is about 15 Kms from Thanjavur. The five rivers are the tributaries of the Kaveri and form a sort of network around this town, giving it its name. The main temple here is to the lord who shares the name with the town – Panchanadeeswarar in Sanskrit, or Ayyaarappan in Tamil.

Thiruvaiyaru Temple Gopuram
 
Detail of Ravana Lifting Kailas on his ten heads, on the Thiruvaiyaru Gopuram

 The story of how the temple came into being is an interesting one. A king’s chariot once got embedded in the ground. While digging around the wheels of the chariot to get it out, they chanced upon a lingam. A wise minister advised them to dig further, but carefully, and they were rewarded for their efforts with the idols of the goddess Dharmasamvardhini, Vinayaka, Muruga, and also a Nandi. To top it all, they also found a Siddhhar (saint) deep in meditation underground. The saint advised the king to build a temple at the same place, and also told him to dig under the hoofs of the Nandi where he would find the wealth needed for building the temple. 


The temple is huge and beautiful. The pragaram surrounding the sanctum of Panchanadeeswarar has some lovely wall paintings, of which you can see a sample below. Temple paintings
 
Outside the temple (the back entrance), is a shrine to Alkondar, a form of Shiva, where He is shown as a fearsome deity, wearing a garland of scorpions and other poisonous creatures, and is believed to be the form in which He punished Yama, the god of death. There is a huge pit outside the sanctum of Alkondar, where kungilyam (Benzoin) is offered to fire. It is believed that the smoke from the Benzoin removed the fear of death, and also wards away death due to the bite of poisonous creatures. 

The Thiruvaiyaru temple is one among a group of seven, collectively known as the Saptha Sthaanam temples. These temples are unique, for they are related to the marriage of Shiva’s foremost attendant, Nandi, and the part that Shiva played in this marriage. 

Nandi was born to Siladha Maharshi and performed great penance to his favoured deity, Shiva. Shiva was so pleased with his worship, he not only made Nandi his prime attendant, He also got him married. The marriage itself took place at Thirumazhapadi near Thiruvaiyaru, and Shiva took his devotee around these seven temples as part of the Sapthapadi. Every year, this occasion is celebrated in April/May with the idol of the Lord starting out in a beautifully decorated glass-encrusted palanquin from Thiruvaiyaru, and taking a round of these seven villages. At each village he is received at one boundary by the Lord of that village and accompanied by him to the next village, where he is received by the next one. In such a way, he completes a full circle and returns to Thiruvaiyaru.
 
These seven temples are: 
1. Thiruvaiyaru 
2. Thiruchotruthurai 
3. Thiruvedikudi 
4. Thirupponduruthi 
5. Thillaisthanam 
6. Kandiyur 
7. Thiruppazhanam 

All these temples are situated around Thiruvaiyaru (see the map) and it is possible to visit all these temples within 4 hours.