Tiruvannamali - Arunachaleshvara Temple

Arunachaleshvara Temple
The next morning we packed up our items in the vans and headed into town to visit the most important structure of Tiruvannamali. It is one of five elemental shrines of Shiva which has a gold-encased linga, representing fire. Shiva is believed to have appeared at this town of pilgrimage as a column of fire. Approaching the entrance of the temple gate, we were told we had to drop off our shoes at a nearby stand. After the man at the stand carefully bundled our sandals together with rope, we cautiously walked over the road and back into line. Once inside, I admired the sheer size of the temple structure, covering a vast area of 25 acres (10 hectares). In the large courtyard areas, many people were already gathering. Perhaps some would join the pilgrimage 8.7mi (14 km) walk, barefooted around the red Annachala Hill the following night in the light of the full moon.

Like other South Indian temples I’d seen, this temple’s pyramidal spire was encrusted with figurative and decorative details. The two largest spires were a light monochromatic light gray stone, much different than the multi-colored spires I’d seen in Chennai. The Raja Gopuram (pyramidal gateway to a temple) is the second tallest tower in South India, reaching 217 feet (66 m) in the sky with 11 storeys. Built in the early 1500’s, the tower is in excellent condition. Other parts of the temple date back to the 11th century. Monkeys played amongst the tower’s relief sculptures. One had a wreath of red flowers around its neck.

After visiting some smaller structures, I then entered a thousand-pillared hall. Here an elephant was there with his master. Passing by the opportunity to be blessed by the elephant (with payment), I took a picture and moved onwards. As people approached the exit of the hall, they rang a rather large bell, its sound clanging every few seconds. Small shallow ceramic bowls with clarified butter burned on the temple floor. As I neared the inner shrines, I was told that photography was not allowed in this area. Following the crowd, I entered the right side past a large gold object – perhaps the linga I had read about. I gave the requested 50 rupees for entrance. Short barred fences snaked the many visitors through the area. In different niches and areas of this dark room were altars with deities in them. Others were more simplistic in shape. Many had flowers or porridge like mixture on them. Although this right line still was rather slow, it went a lot faster than the left side. I later learned from a teacher who took that line that the left side was the non-paying lane – so I was in the “express” lane!

Back in the courtyard area, pilgrims now were stopping to have a snack under the shade of the trees. Others were offering prayers or flowers at one of the many small altars, including one dedicated to the Nandi bull. Taking photos of the different buildings, I spotted the large Shivaganga Tank but decided not to take photos as people were bathing in it.

Ready to leave, we proceeded to go back to the gate where we entered. We then found out that we had to exit through a different gate farther away. Walking slowly on the road with our bare feet, we finally made it to the shoe stand.

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