Saptharishishwarar Temple, Lalgudi

Saptharishishwarar Temple, also called Thavathurai or Eluvar Thavathurai, is a Shiva temple at Lalgudi in Tiruchirappalli district. Appar sang of it, making it a Vaippu Sthalam, and it also appears in the Thiruppugazh. Its name recalls the Saptarishi: cursed by Murugan after their wives neglected to feed him during a puja, the seven sages did penance, won liberation and rose into the sky as seven stars, and are then believed to have worshipped Shiva here. The lingam bears cracks, and inscriptions record that Tyagaraja came and sang five kirtanas.

The temple is known for its chariots. Five of them, for Vinayagar, Murugan, Shiva, the goddess and Chandikeswarar, appear in its festivals. A single circuit of the four streets is said to have taken nearly six months, helped by elephants. Processions stopped in 1936 and resumed only in 2011 after a renovation costing ₹1 crore. The 30-foot wooden Panguni chariot, carrying more than 2,000 mahua-wood sculptures, is decorated to almost 100 feet for the March–April festival.