Mahamaham Festival

Kumbakonam near Tanjore has the famous Mahamaham festival and boasts of five temples with erotic sculptures. The Mahamaham festival is a Hindu Kumb mela celebrated every 12 years. All the Hindus consider taking a holy dip in the Mahamaham tank very auspicious, especially during the Mahamaham day.

Mahamaham festival is celebrated at a particular time every 12 years during the full moon of the Tamil month of Maasi. The story behind the holy dip in Mahamaham is interesting. Devotees take the holy dip to wash their sins in the holy rivers in India. The rivers went to Lord Bhrama to get rid of these sins. He suggested them that they can take bath in Mahamaham and purify themselves. Hence, this holy bath at Mahamaham is very important ritual among Hindus. This Mahamaham tank has 20 holy wells and all of these are named after the rivers in India. These 20 wells are popularly called as Theertham or Holy waters.

The popular belief about the theerthams is that even sprinkling of the water from these cleanses you of all the sins. The Tank has four streets along its four banks. There are steps on the side for people to access the tank and take a dip. There are 16 mandapas or gopurams around the corners and sides of the tank. These gopurams are considered as the forms of Shiva and worshipped.

The history of Kumbakonam is very interesting. The legend says that when earth was transformed, samples of all the living creatures were collected in a pot, as it is called Kumbaham in Tamil. The pot slipped over earth and fell on the place where the Mahamaham tank is located. Hence, the name of the place is Kumbakonam, which means toppled pot in Tamil.

There are three temples in Kumbakonam. They are of Abimuhadeeswara temple, Kasi Viswanatha temple and the Kumbeshwara temple. On the festive day, devotees pray at these shivan temples and then start the dips in the 20 wells. They then go to the Kumbeswarar temple, pray there and then take a dip in the holy tank and then finally in the River Kaveri. The metal idols of the deities is carried out on palanquins and chariots and a procession around the town is taken.

The importance of Kumbakonam can be judged from the following saying. It goes this way that any sin is washed off by a visit to a holy place. A sin committed at a holy place is washed off by going to a pilgrimage to Kasi. A sin committed at Kashi is washed off at Kumbakonam. Moreover, a sin committed at Kumbakonam is atoned for there itself.