Thiruvannamalai trip

I was awaiting a chance to visit the world famous Arunachaleswarar temple in Thiruvannamalai, TamilNadu which is about 200kms from Bangalore. Coincidentally even my friends were planning for a short one day pilgrimage. So we all started to this place on auspicious day of last monday of Kaarthika month.

6 of us started at 4.30am and caught a direct bus to Thiruvannamalai. There are plenty of buses from Bangalore with a frequency of about 15-20min. We reached the place at 9am. The first sight about the temple was amazing. It was a huge temple with very tall Gopurams one on each direction. There are many Praakaarams (walls) surrounding the temple.




This temple is 2nd largest in India sprawling about 25 acres. It is situated at the foot of a hill called "Arunaachalam" that means Aruna (fire) + achalam (hill). Also called as "Annaamalai" , it is believed that many sages perform penance in the forest on this hill even today. On every full moon day, pilgrims perform Giri Pradakshina i.e holy walk around the hill, measuring 14km stretch.

The deity of Lord Shiva called Arunachaleswarar signifies Fire, which is one of the five elements of life. Those five elements and corresponding Shiva temples are :

1. Fire - Thiruvannamalai
   
2. Sky - Chidambaram
   
3. Air - Sri Kalahasti
4. Water - Thiruvanaikoil
   
5. Earth - Kanchipuram
   

Many pilgrims were present because of the auspicious day. Luckily by the time we entered the sanctum sanctorium , milk abhishekam was being performed to the Lord. It was a moment of delight. We were allowed to view the lingam for hardly 2mins. Later we went to Unnamulaiyaal
(Lordess Parvati) temple adjacent to the main temple.


Both these are very old temples with great sculpture work. Having planned for a second darshan, we managed to get into special darshan queue and we were allowed to sit just before the sanctum sanctorium. The Shiva lingam was then beautifully decorated. Later, we all lit ghee lamps near the dhwajasthamba. It is considered very good to lite ghee lamps in the month of Kaarthika to Lord Shiva.

Then we proceeded to the famous Sri Ramana Maharshi Ashram, located about 2kms from the temple. The place was so serene, a perfect place for meditation. There were plenty of peacocks moving freelyin the ashram. This ashram is visited by many foreigners apart from Indians.

Finally we started our return journey at 2pm and were back in Bangalore at 6.30pm.

Tips for travelers:

• The temple is closed from around 1-4pm. So be there on time.
• Visit the Ramana maharshi ashram without fail.
• If you happen to visit the temple on a full moon day, try to do Giri pradakshinam.