Sayavaneswarar Temple

The Temple

Tiruvaiyaru, Mayiladuthurai, Thiruvidaimarudur, Thiruvenkadu, Chayavanam and Srivanchiyam are considered equivalents of Kasi. Like in Kasi, where the city is centered around Kashi Vishwanath Temple, the temples in these towns along the banks of river Cauvery, namely Aiyarappar temple in Thiruvaiyaru, Mahalingeswarar temple in Thiruvidaimarudur, Mayuranathaswamy temple in Mayiladuthurai, Chayavaneswarar temple in Sayavanam, Swetharanyeswarar temple in Thiruvenkadu, Srivanchinadhaswamy Koil in Srivanchiyam are the centerpieces of the towns.

Idol Theft

An idol of Standing Sambandar was stolen sometime between 1965 and 1975 (There is documentary proof from 1958 by the French Institute of Pondicherry) and was traced by the Idol Wing of the Tamil Nadu Criminal Investigation Department (IW-CID) with the help of volunteer-collective India Pride Project to National Gallery of Australia in Australia and was successfully recovered in 2022.