Mayiladuthurai gets its name from the peahen form in which the Hindu goddess Parvathi worshipped the god Shiva at this place. The town is one of the 274 Saiva holy places in the world.
Mayiladuthurai is of considerable antiquity and cultural and religious significance. The town must have originated in the Medieval Chola period though there are suburbs which predate the town itself. Mayiladuthurai was ruled by the Early Cholas, Medieval Cholas, Later Cholas, Pandyas, the Vijayanagar Empire, Thanjavur Nayaks and the Thanjavur Marathas before it was annexed by the British East India Company
along with the rest of the Thanjavur Maratha kingdom in 1799. It rose
to be an important town during British rule when it formed a part of Tanjore district. The town was constituted as a grade III municipality in the year 1866. Currently, Mayiladuthurai forms a grade I municipality.
The town is situated on a flat plain on the banks of the Kaveri River and is surrounded by paddy fields. The town is situated on the northern border of the Chola Nadu region of Tamil Nadu.
History:
Mayiladuthurai is of great antiquity, its oldest extant temples dating to the time of the Medieval Cholas.
The region, itself, however, is known to have been inhabited since the
3rd millennium BC. Sherds of megalithic black and red ware have been
found at Akkur, 14 kilometres to the east of Mayiladuthurai. In 2006, artifacts with Indus Valley signs dated between 2000 and 1500 BC were found at the nearby village of Sembiyankandiyur.
There have been references to Mayiladuthurai in the works of the 7th century Saivite saint Campantar. The Thanjavur Nayak king Rajagopala Nayak constructed mandapams in Mayiladuthurai. During the 17th and 18th centuries, Mayiladuthurai was ruled by the Thanjavur Marathas
who invited Brahmins from the Telugu, Kannada and Maratha countries to
settle in the region and gave large amounts of land to them. In 1799, Mayiladuthurai, was ceded to the British East India Company, along with the rest of the Thanjavur Maratha kingdom, by the Thanjavur Maratha ruler Serfoji II
Mayiladuthurai prospered under British rule emerging as an important town in Tanjore district. Carnatic musicians Madurai Mani Iyer and Gopalakrishna Bharathi and Samuel Vedanayagam Pillai, who wrote the first Tamil novel Prathapa Mudaliar Charithram were born in Mayiladuthurai while Tamil writer Kalki Krishnamurthy studied at the Municipal High School in Mayiladuthurai. When the Tanjore district was trifurcated in 1991, Mayiladuthurai was transferred to the newly-formed Nagapattinam district.
According to local folklore, Mayiladuthurai was associated with Hindu holy men called "Sithars". To this day, a neighbourhood of Mayiladuthurai is called Sitharkadu.
Major Festivals:
All the Hindu holy rivers in India are believe to converge in Mayiladuthurai every year on New moon day in the Tamil month of Aippasi (November–December).
A bathe at the bathing ghats on the banks of the Cauvery on this day,
according to Hindu belief, relieves a man of all his sins and misdeeds
as the waters of the holy Ganges river mix with the Cavery on this day. As a result, many people flock to the tank in Mayuranathaswami temple during Aippasi. Other important festivals celebrated at the temple are Navarathri, Adi Pooram, Avani Moolam, Karthigai Deepam and Vaikashi Brahmavotsavam.
An yearly dance festival called the Mayura Natyanjali is conducted
within the precints of the Mayuranathaswami Temple by the Saptasvarangal
Trust during Maha Shivaratri on the pattern of the Chidambaram
Natyanjali festival.