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Tiruvannamalai |
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ABOUT TIRUVANNAMALAI
The temple town of Tiruvannamalai,
85kms south of Vellore, is an important Shaivite town.Of the 100 or more
temples, the most outstanding is the Siva - Parvathi Temple of Arunachaleswar,
which is said to be the largest in India. The main gopuram is 66m and 13 storeys
high, and there is a 1000-pillared hall.
This town Thiruvannamalai is situated in 187 kilometers away from Chennai,
formerly known as Madras- Capital of Tamil Nadu and there is a railway station
on the villupuram - Katpadi rail route. This town stands on an elevation of
266ft ( 79.80 M ) above sea level.
HISTORY
Tiruvannamalai was earlier known as "ThiruAnna Nadu" and the president deity was
known as Thiru Anna Nattu Mahadevan.This region was called Thondai Mandalam and
was ruled by the Pallavas.It then passed into the hands of the Rashtrakootas, a
dynasty to which belonged Krishna III, who undertook important renovation work
during the tenth century A.D. The region then came under the rule of chieftains
like Kadavaraya, the Banas and Sambuva Raya. From the thirteenth to the
fourteenth century, the Pandya kings ruled over it. Then came the Hoysalas who
made Tiruvannamalai their capital they waged war to establish their power. The
Vijayanagar kings who took over from them spent enormous amount of money for the
worship and other requirements of the temple. Poets like SaivaEllappa Navalar
have sung in praise of the Naickers of Tanjore who came to power after the
Vijayanagar kings, for the great service they rendered to the temple. Important
renovation work was done in the sanitorium by Aditya Chozha-III in 750 A.D. and
Parandhaka Chozha-I in the tenth centuryA.D.
This Tiruvannamalai is one of the greatest Saivite shrines in India, on a
sprawling 24 acre temple campus, drawing hundreds of thousands of pilgrims every
full moon. The hill here is considered to be a manifestation of Siva.
TOWN & TEMPLE
 Thiruvannamalai
is one of the major sacred places of Tamil Nadu, It is impossible to ignore this
because of the great area occupied by the Siva temple, the many processing, and
the frequent festivals, especially that of Kartigai, the festival of fire, which
more then doubles the population. This influx of pilgrims is received in
cboultries or hostels, most of which are situated in the north and south
car-street.
Another aspect of the temple which has determined the physical form of the town
was the construction of the fourth and fifth enclosures. This important
extension caused the relocation of residences, especially of brahmins who
usually live around the temple in the square formed by the four car-streets.
At Thiruvannamalai, the west car-street behind the temple has very few houses
because the mountain slopes upward almost immediately. As for the east and south
streets, which follow the main regional highways, they are quite naturally
crowded with shops, and also hostels for pilgrims, who thus benefit from the
passing processions.
Besides occupying a large area, the great temple radiates its influence
throughout the whole town due to its connections with outlying tanks. The sacred
bath which takes place at the close of each of the numerous temple festivals is
performed either in one of the two temple tanks, or in one of the outlying
tanks: Indra Tirtha, Tamarai Kulam, Agni Tirtha, and Ishanya Tirtha. The last
two of these lie at the two extremities of the circumambulatory route around the
mountain; that is, at the outer limits of the town, where the cremation grounds
lie. For this reason they are used for ablutions after funerals. In
Thiruvannamalai the Shiva temple is omnipresent and all-powerful, so that there
is no Vishnu temple. Apart from three abandoned Shiva temples, there are about a
hundred temples to the goddess or to Ganapati. These are street shrines or
community temples, all of which relate to the great Shiva temple. During their
festivals the processions from these proceed through the four car-streets of the
great temple. The final bath takes place, depending on the location of the
temple,either in the Ishanya Tirtha to the north or in the Agni Tirtha to the
south.
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