Swamimalai is a panchayat town near
KumbakonamKumbakonam Kumbakonam Kumbakonam ( (kumpakōṇam), also spelt as Coombaconum in the records of British India, is a town and a special grade municipality in the Thanjavur district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located 40 kilometres from Thanjavur and 273 kilometres from Chennai...
in
Thanjavur districtThanjavur District is one of the 30 districts of the state of Tamil Nadu, in southeastern India. Its headquarters is Thanjavur.-Demographics:It had a population of 2,216,138 as of 2001. It is 33.78% urbanised....
in the
IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...
n
stateIndia is a federal union of states comprising twenty-eight states and seven union territories. The states and territories are further subdivided into districts and so on.- States and territories :...
of
Tamil NaduTamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai . Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by Puducherry , Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh...
. It lies on the banks of river Cauvery, on the road connecting
KumbakonamKumbakonam Kumbakonam Kumbakonam ( (kumpakōṇam), also spelt as Coombaconum in the records of British India, is a town and a special grade municipality in the Thanjavur district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located 40 kilometres from Thanjavur and 273 kilometres from Chennai...
and
ThiruvaiyaruThiruvaiyaru is a panchayat town in Thanjavur district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is situated on the banks of the river Kaveri, 13 km from Thanjavur, Thiruvaaiyaru has an old Shiva temple dedicated to Panchanatheeswar...
. It is most famous for the being one of the six "Padai Veedugal" (Battle Camps) of the Lord Murugan. The name of the town means 'God's mountain'. It has the only school that teaches the art (craft) of making bronze icons. Like the rest of this part of the Thanjavur district it is mainly an agricultural town producing
riceRice is the seed of a monocot plant Oryza sativa, of the grass family . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East, South, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, and the West Indies...
and sugar cane.
The town has one of the six (padal petra sthalangal) temples of Lord Karthikeya.
Swamimalai is a panchayat town near
KumbakonamKumbakonam Kumbakonam Kumbakonam ( (kumpakōṇam), also spelt as Coombaconum in the records of British India, is a town and a special grade municipality in the Thanjavur district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located 40 kilometres from Thanjavur and 273 kilometres from Chennai...
in
Thanjavur districtThanjavur District is one of the 30 districts of the state of Tamil Nadu, in southeastern India. Its headquarters is Thanjavur.-Demographics:It had a population of 2,216,138 as of 2001. It is 33.78% urbanised....
in the
IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...
n
stateIndia is a federal union of states comprising twenty-eight states and seven union territories. The states and territories are further subdivided into districts and so on.- States and territories :...
of
Tamil NaduTamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai . Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by Puducherry , Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh...
. It lies on the banks of river Cauvery, on the road connecting
KumbakonamKumbakonam Kumbakonam Kumbakonam ( (kumpakōṇam), also spelt as Coombaconum in the records of British India, is a town and a special grade municipality in the Thanjavur district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located 40 kilometres from Thanjavur and 273 kilometres from Chennai...
and
ThiruvaiyaruThiruvaiyaru is a panchayat town in Thanjavur district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is situated on the banks of the river Kaveri, 13 km from Thanjavur, Thiruvaaiyaru has an old Shiva temple dedicated to Panchanatheeswar...
. It is most famous for the being one of the six "Padai Veedugal" (Battle Camps) of the Lord Murugan. The name of the town means 'God's mountain'. It has the only school that teaches the art (craft) of making bronze icons. Like the rest of this part of the Thanjavur district it is mainly an agricultural town producing
riceRice is the seed of a monocot plant Oryza sativa, of the grass family . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East, South, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, and the West Indies...
and sugar cane.
History
The town has one of the six (padal petra sthalangal) temples of Lord Karthikeya. It is fourth among the
Padai VeedugalThe Arupadaiveedu are the most important shrines for the devotees of Muruga in Tamilnadu, India.They are:*Palani *Swamimalai *Thiruthani *Pazhamudircholai...
. The sacred story associated with this temple is that Lord Karthikeya expounds the meaning of pranavam (AUM) to His father, Lord Shiva, at this location. Hence, one can see the Lord Karthikeya depicted as Guru (teacher) and Lord Shiva listening as shishya (disciple)in the raja gopuram of the temple complex.
The reinitiation and reassertion of the knowledge takes place after an intense debate with regards to the pranava mantram (AUM) between Lord Brahma (who is the embodiment of creationary aspect) and Lord Karthikeya, during which Lord Brahma fails to adequately convey the meaning of AUM. Hence, Lord Karthikeya suspends Lord Brahma from his duties by imprisoning him. Lord Shiva and Goddess Shakthi object and Lord Shiva asks Lord Karthikeya if He(Murugan) is aware of the meaning. In response Lord Murugan says that He is well aware of it and that He will teach Lord Shiva the meaning of the mantram if He(Lord Shiva) will take Him (Lord Murugan) as His Guru. Thus Murugan imparts this universal mantra to His father.
The Murugan here is also known as Swaminathan and "Thagapan Swami" (literally "Father God" - referring to the fact that Murugan taught His father and hence was His father's Guru.)
Geography
Swamimalai is located at . It has an average elevation of 25
metreThe metre or meter is the basic unit of length in the International System of Units . Historically, the metre was defined by the French Academy of Sciences as the length between two marks on a platinum-iridium bar, which was designed to represent one ten-millionth of the distance from the Equator...
s (82 feet).
Demographics
India
censusA "census" is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population.In other words every 10 years...next one would be in 2010 The term is used mostly in connection with...
, Swamimalai had a population of 6985. Males constitute 49% of the population and females 51%. Swamimalai has an average literacy rate of 75%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 80%, and female literacy is 70%. In Swamimalai, 11% of the population is under 6 years of age.