Tirunallar Dharbaranyeswarar Temple

Most people arrive for Shani. The dedication is to Shiva as Dharbaranyeswarar, but the temple is better known as Tirunallar Saniswaran, and the Shani shrine is what most visitors have come for; Sanipeyarchi, its biggest occasion, comes round only every two and a half years. The masonry is Chola work of the 9th century, widened later under the Vijayanagar rulers: two acres, granite walls, a five-tiered gopuram at the gate. Praneswari Amman and Somaskanda hold the other prominent shrines. Six rituals a day, the first at six in the morning and the last at nine at night. Mahasivarathri falls in Chittirai, March into April.