Arunachalam - Manifestation Of Lord Siva

Arunachalam is one of the 5 temples that belong to pancha bootha. According to history , Pancha bhoota sthalas are five temples of lord shiva Which indicates 5 different temples of shiva. The temples are

●     Earth - (Land)- Kancheepuram - Prithvi Lingam

●     Water- Jambukeswaram - Appu Lingam

●     Fire - Arunachalam - Tiruvannamalai - Agni Lingam

●     Air - Srikalahasti - Vayu Lingam

    ●     Ether- (Sky)- Chidambaram  - Akasa Lingam 

The deity represents Agni ( fire ) linga. The name is after central deity of the Annamalaiyar temple.  The temple is located at the foothills of the Annamalai Hills. During the Karthigai deepam ( Karthika Deepam ) festival  which comes generally around November and December a huge beacon is lit atop of the annamalai hill which can be seen from around 80 kms on all directions. The flame will burn for 3 days.

One important thing is that pilgrims circumnavigate the temple base and the annamalai hills in a worship called Girivalam Or Giri pradakshina. Make sure you make time to complete this. Legend is that once Parvati devi closed the eyes of her husband as a play full act in a garden atop of mount kailash. Although it was for a moment for all gods, all light was taken from universe and earth and in turn the whole world was in darkness for years. Parvati Performed penance and Lord Shiva appeared as a Fire at the top of Annamalai Hills thus returning light to the world. He then merged with parvati devi to form ardhanarishvara. 

The annamalai or red mountain lies behind the Annamalaiyar temple and thus the name. The hill itself is considered as a Lingam. Another legend is that once Maha vishnu and  Brahma fought between them on who is superior , suddenly a lingam/flame appeared  before them. Vishnu become the boar varaha went down to find the source and brahma as swan went up to find the source but they could not. Vishnu agreed about this but brahma lied and said he found the pinnacle. In Punishment shive ordained that brahma will never have temples on earth to worship. 

In Tamil, the word Arunam means red or fire and Asalam means hill. Since Shiva manifested himself in the form of fire in this place, this name Arunachalam came to be associated with Annamalai hill and the town.

The temple complex is very large as you can see. The main tower was built by Sri krishnadevaraya around 1526 AD. Once you go inside the main tower we will see a big nandi statue carved marvelously. Patala lingam inside the temple complex is must watch. 

Kili Gopuram or Parrot Tower - One of the inner gopurams are called Kili gopuram or Parrot towers. 2 large Parrot images were stalled on the tower. There is a story associated with the parrot tower. In connection with this tower, in another legend of Arunagirinathar, when Sambandan lost a competition with the Saint, he took revenge by telling the blind King:- 

'If your highness can persuade Arunagirinathar to bring a Parijata flower from Svargaloka [one of the heavenly worlds], a few drops squeezed from the flower onto your eyes will restore your eyesight.'  

The King, eager to regain his vision, commissioned Arunagirinathar to do the job. In order to reach the heavenly world, Arunagirinathar entered the body of a parrot that had recently died and reanimated it. He left his own body in one of the niches of a Gopura at Arunachaleswarar Temple and flew off to find and collect the flower. After the parrot had departed on its mission, Sambandan, who had been watching Arunagirinathar movements, showed the lifeless body of the poet to Pravuda Devaraya, announced that it was dead, and asked for permission to cremate it. The King agreed and the body was quickly burned.  

Sometime later Arunagirinathar returned with the flower only to discover that he no longer had a human body to return to. He went to the King in his parrot body, restored the King’s eyesight with the Parijata flower juice and explained what had happened. Realizing that he had been tricked, the King was struck with grief because he knew that it would now be impossible for Arunagirinathar to again resume human form. Arunagirinathar, untroubled by this bizarre turn of events happily spent the remainder of his life in the parrot's body and even continued to compose poetry in praise of Lord Muruga. It is said that he composed and sang his famous work Kandar Anubhuti and several other poems while he was still occupying the parrot's body.

Girivalam Or Giri pradakshina - One very important things that many pilgrims do at arunachalam is Girivalam. Millions of pilgrims circumnavigate the temple base and the Annamalai Hills on foot or by using vehicle. During festival times , millions of they do this by foot. It is said to bring in abundant peace or calmness for the mental well being and also refreshing for the physical fitness. The whole distance is around 14 Kms. It would be better if take a local ride. This would cost around 450 for an Auto. The trip consists visiting Asta Lingams , eight special shiva lingams that encircle the holy hill. These lingams dating back hundreds of years. 

Each of these eight lingams has a presiding star and it names for a God or Rishi that worshipped shiva.  Each can provide assistance with some kind of major life issue, or illness. The Giripradakshina route for arunachalam was set a few hundred years ago by pandyan king vikrama pandya. The creation and installation of these asta lingam is surrounded by myth and history. 

Other than Temple and Giri pradakshina we have couple of other things to see like Ramana maharshi ashram and Jain temple at the outskirts of the town.  While doing Giti Pradakshine , at one point we can see the Annamalai Hill in the form of ganesh and also bull. We were able to see the bull but missed the Ganesha Form. 

We can see the bull head on the top of the hill if you look closely. We were able to complete the whole by 1:00 PM.