Arunachaleswar at Thiruvannamalai

 The temple features:

This temple is located in Thiruvannamalai about 180 kms from Chennai.
The carpet area of the temple is 9.7 hectares and is built east facing . It has 9 towers. The temple has 6 corridors.(Pragarams) The main tower has 11 stages and its base is 217 fts in height.

The deity is called Arunachaleswarar in the east facing pose.It is said the deity is self incarnated. The lord's consort Devi Abeetha-kuchala-ambal has seperate Sanctum facing east.
This temple has a theertham is called Siva-gangai theertham. Apart from this around the mountain there are Ashta theerthams ashta lingams and ashta Nandhis in all eight directions (meaning: ashta is 8 in tamil language)
This sthalam is one of the 'Pancha-bootha-sthalams. (Agni sthalam ie fire) There are 119 stone inscriptions in this temple giving the history of the kshetram

The saints who sang hymns on the Lord:
Sundarar, Thiru-navu-k-arasar, Thirugana-sambandhar. and Manikka-vasagar

Legendry description: Situated at the foot of a range of hills and extending about 9.7 hectares of ground, this massive temple is associated with the popular spectacle of the Kartigai deepam. On Kartigai day in December / January a huge fire is lit up on a hill near the temple.One can see the flame for kilometers around. There are two legends on this holy historic temple - those of Lingod-bhava and Ardha-nareesvara. Lord Siva appeared as a flame before Lord Vishnu and Lord Brahma, who each considered Himself supreme. To resolve this dispute they decided that Vishnu should go down and see the legs of Siva and Brahma would go up to see the head of the Lord.
Vishnu took the form of a boar and dwelved deep into the earth. Hence it is called swedha varaha.(meaning: swedha is white and varaha is bore in sanskrit language) Lord Brahma flew up sitting on his mount swan into the upper space. Lord Vishnu failed to find Siva's feet and returned. But Lord Brahma, brought a piece of a floral fibre (“thazhambu") and lied that he found it on Siva's head for forty thousand years.
Siva got very angry, severed the head of Brahma and cursed him that there would never be a temple for him in this world. The Linga sculpture is called Lingod-bhava with a swan on top of the Linga and a diving boar at the bottom. This is found in all siva temples on the walls of the sanctum.

Another legend says: Once goddess Parvathi playfully covered Lord Siva’s eyes with Her hands. Immediately all the creations stopped. To expiate for the sin goddess Parvathi went to Kanchipuram. But Lord Siva advised her to go to Tiruvannamalai and do penance which she did.
During this priod she killed the demon Mahishasura. The day he got killed was 'Karthigai' day. On that day Siva appeared as a Flame and he adored Parvathi on his left side giving her equal part with himself. This incarnation is called Ardha-nariswara (Half Man and Half woman).This incident is to show the human beings that man and woman are the equal.
This temple has no early history. It is known that Sambandar visited this temple and sang on Lord shiva . From the seventh century this temple became famous and grew in size stage by stage. In the beginning this temple had five prakaras and It was extended in the ninth century.
There are nine towers. The oldest one is called the parrot tower. The base was constructed about one thousand years ago. The Raja Gopuram (the King tower) is the tallest one and is located on the eastern side. It was built by Krishna Deva Raya of Vijaya Nagaram.

The main Annamalai shrine is in the first 'prakara'. Goddess Abeetha-kuchalambal has a mandapam. There is a brillant divine gallery of artistic images and symbols in the mandapam. Many pillars bear sculptures of Ashta Lakshmi and many other divinities. There are also paintings in other parts of the temple and in the ceilings in the second corridor. One of them a warrior fighting a big tiger is beautiful. In another part there are handsome figures of Rathi and Manmatha. There are many other artistic designs close to Rati Manmadha figures.

Important days to visit this temple are: all full moon days and the Karteeka Poornima in Nov-Dec- every year. The perambulation (Pradhakshanam) of the mountain on full moon day's is meritorious for the life time. The walk around the hill is about 14 kilo meters. It is said that there are 'Ashta dik-lingas' (eight lingas ) installed around the hill. There is a belief that sages, saints, and hermits are living there even now though invisible. That's why when people go round the mountain they should go on their right side because the sages may go round for a darshan of the Lord on the other side of the road. The idea is we should not bother them or cross their path. This is the rule to follow when one goes for the perambulation of the Annamalai mountain.

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