Kambarmedu, Therizhandur

Kambarmedu, 'Kambar's mound', is an archaeological site at Therizhandur village in Mayiladuthurai district, about 15 km from Mayiladuthurai and 27 km from Kumbakonam, with Kuthalam railway station some 7 km away. Tradition ties it to Kambar, the 12th-century Chola-period poet of the Kamba Ramayanam, a Tamil retelling of the Ramayana; local lore says the mound grew from the clay cooking pots he broke and threw away each day, though no evidence supports this.

The ASI's Southern Circle excavated here in 1983–84 and found that the site was occupied mainly in the early Megalithic period, with traces of late Neolithic material, with late Megalithic and then early medieval occupation after that. Finds include black-and-red and painted wares, a Neolithic celt, brick walls, beads, bangles, coins and terracotta figures, but nothing directly linked to Kambar. In April 2025 a Kamba Ramayanam festival was held at the site, and work on an open-air museum with augmented-reality displays was formally begun with a foundation stone.