This paper will provide insights to the status and integrity of Kumbakonam as a centre for pilgrimage in the Tamil country. The discussion will primarily focus on the embodiment and reciprocities of Kumbakonam's ritual topography as phenomena of mediation through pilgrimage, manifest in the wider landscape, the "city" and specific religious complexes (in particular the Mahamakam Tank). The evolution, re-appropriation and re-interpretation of the city's religious character for over a millennium, down to its pan - Hindu self image at the close of the twentieth century is also a dominant theme in the paper. Text + Slides (two projectors).