Kumbakonam

Kumbakonam or Kudanthai is a city municipal corporation in the Thanjavur district, Tamil Nadu, India. Located 40 km (25 mi) from Thanjavur and 282 km (175 mi) from Chennai and it is the headquarters of the Kumbakonam taluk. It is the second-largest city in the district after Thanjavur and is bounded by two rivers: the Kaveri to the north and Arasalar to the south. Kumbakonam is known as temple city due to its high concentration of Hindu shrines and it hosts Mahamaham festival every 12 years, attracting pilgrims from all over the country.

Kumbakonam dates back to the Sangam period and was historically ruled by the Early Cholas, Pallavas, Mutharaiyars, Medieval Cholas, Later Cholas, Pandyas, the Vijayanagara Empire, the Madurai and Thanjavur Nayaks and the Thanjavur Marathas. It was the seat of medieval Cholas between the 7th and 8th centuries CE. During the British Raj, the city developed into a major center for Hindu scholarship and Western education, earning the name, the "Cambridge of South India". Kumbakonam was initially constituted as a municipality in 1866, it was upgraded to a municipal corporation on 24 August 2021 and comprises 48 wards.