Suryanar Kovil

Suryanar Kovil is a Hindu temple dedicated to Surya, the sun god, standing in the Kaveri delta near Kumbakonam in Tamil country. It is one of the nine Navagraha temples of Tamil Nadu and the only one with separate shrines for all nine planetary deities, the other eight shrines facing the central shrine of Surya and his consorts, Usha and Chhaya.

An inscription records that the stone building was raised under the Chola king Kulottunga I, who reigned from 1070 to 1120, and was first named Kulottungachola-Marttandalaya; later rulers of Vijayanagara added to it.

Built in the Dravidian style behind a five-tiered gopuram, the temple draws pilgrims who come to appease the planets believed to govern their horoscopes. In the early nineteenth century the Carnatic composer Muthuswami Dikshitar wrote a hymn to its sun deity.