Kumbakonam is a town in Thanjavur District of Tamil Nadu. The town is popular for the Betal Leaf Combination (Vettrilai Cheeval) and for the thick-strong coffee.
About
The town is bounded by two rivers - " River Cauvery" on the north and "River Arasalar" on the south. Kumbakonam gets its name from the deity Lord Aadhi Kumbeshwarar. A traditional representation of South Indian Culture, the town is known for its temples, intricately carved panchaloha idols, exquisite brass wares especially lamps and silks(kancheepuram and kumbakonam are the very well known silk producers). The place, like many other sacred places has a unique festival known as the Mahamaham festival. The festival celebrated once in twelve years coincides with the entry of Sun and Jupiter into constellation of Aquarius and Leo respectively. People from all walks of life have a dip in the Mahamaham tank along with the presiding deities of the town.
Kumbakonam is full of temples. Every street, road, locality has a prominent temple. Better read some litereture on them before your visit them. The Sankara Matam and associated institutions preserve and represent all that is great about the Hindu ancient scholarly tradition.
Some of India's world renowned scholars and intellectuals hail from Kumbakonam including the genius mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujam. The Town High School and the Kumbakonam Arts College are the grand old centres of education with the latter built on the banks of River Cauvery (kaveri) sometimes referred to as the Cambridge of South India.
It has an excellent road link to all the navagraha temples (gods representing nine planets).
The town which was originally a religious town become an industrial center during last quarter of the 19th Century and early period of 20th century. Predominance was gained for Silk Industries and Metal manufacturing.
The major supplier of silk sarees to the Indian market is the Kumbakonam silk industry.
All the South Indian Brass Pooja articles and utensils are manufactured in Kumbakonam and these articles are manufactured nowhere in South India other than Kumbakonam. KuthuVilakku and Statues are the famous articles. Stainless Steel utensils are manufactured.
Betelnuts, Suparis are manufactured in Kumbakonam.
Brass ornamental Lamps (Kuthuvilakku) are also manufactured in Naachiyar Kovil. It is near by Kmbakonam just 8 km towards Tiruvarur.
How to Reach
The nearest airport is Tirchy Airport . Kumbakonam can be reached from Airport by Bus which will take 3 hours travel.
Kumbakonam is well connected to all the major towns and cities. Tamil Nadu and Karnataka State Transport Corporations operate buses to Kumbakonam.
From Chennai 5-6 hrs of travel by bus.There are excellent bus services provided by both government and private travel services. For more comfortable travel its better to choose a private travel service. from Tiruchy it's about 90 km and about 40 km from Thanjavur.
Rock Fort Express connects Kumbakonam to Chennai, JanShatabthi express Connects the town with Coimbatore, while the Mailaduthurai-Mysore Express connects the town with Bangalore and Mysore. There are various passenger trains to Thirunelveli and to other towns nearby.
Janashatabthi express Reaches by 13.30 and leaves to Coimbatore by 14.30
The Train from Bangalore starts @ 19:15 from Bangalore and reaches Kumbakonam early morning at 05:30.
Auto's from the Kumbakonam Station charge a minimum of Rs.40/- even for the nearest Hotel. If you can move out of the Station and get a 'running' auto and talk as if you have visited the city a zillion times :)
Reproduced from Wikipedia
