Arunachala

Overview

Arunachala is a mountain at Tiruvannamalai in Tamil Nadu, India. Hindus venerate the mountain itself as a form of the god Shiva. The Arunachaleswarar Temple, a major Shiva temple, is located at its base. Pilgrims walk the 14-kilometer path around the mountain on full moon nights, a practice called Girivalam, and the annual Karthigai Deepam festival, when a beacon fire is lit on the summit, draws millions of pilgrims.

Present

The Arunachaleswarar Temple at the base of Arunachala is administered by the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department of the Government of Tamil Nadu. Priests perform worship at the temple daily. On every full moon, pilgrims walk the Girivalam, a 14-kilometer barefoot circumambulation (ritual walk around a sacred object) of the mountain, passing shrines along the route. The annual Karthigai Deepam festival, held in the Tamil month of Karthigai, which falls in November or December, is the largest gathering at the site. On the festival's main night, a fire fueled by ghee (clarified butter) is lit in a cauldron on the summit of Arunachala, and millions of pilgrims gather to see it. Sri Ramanasramam, the ashram (religious community) of the 20th-century Hindu sage Ramana Maharshi, who lived at the mountain for most of his life, is located at Arunachala's southern base and receives visitors from around the world.

Religious Significance

Hindus venerate Arunachala as a form of Shiva, one of the principal deities of Hinduism. In this tradition, the mountain is not the dwelling place of the god but the god himself. According to Hindu tradition, Shiva manifested as an endless column of fire at this spot to settle a dispute between the gods Brahma and Vishnu over which of them was greater, and the mountain is that column of fire in solid form. During the Karthigai Deepam festival, a beacon lit on the summit marks this manifestation. As one of the Pancha Bhoota Sthalams — five South Indian temples dedicated to Lord Shiva as the classical elements — the Arunachaleswarar Temple represents fire alongside Ekambareswarar (earth), Jambukeswarar (water), Srikalahasti (air), and Thillai Nataraja (space). Hindus hold that walking around the mountain, the practice called Girivalam, removes the consequences of past misdeeds and aids liberation from the cycle of rebirth. Ramana Maharshi, a Hindu sage who taught self-inquiry as a path to spiritual realization, regarded Arunachala as his guru (spiritual teacher), and his teachings have drawn seekers to the mountain from many countries.

History & Structure

Arunachala rises about 800 meters above the surrounding plain. The Arunachaleswarar Temple at its eastern base is documented in Tamil devotional poetry from the 7th century CE. The main stone structures of the temple were built from the 9th century CE by the Chola dynasty, the rulers of much of South India in that period, and were expanded under the Vijayanagara Empire in the 16th century. The temple covers about 10 hectares and is enclosed by four concentric walls, with a gopuram (gateway tower) at each of the four cardinal directions. The eastern tower, built in the 16th century, rises about 66 meters over eleven storeys. The complex contains shrines, halls, and temple tanks (ritual water basins), including a thousand-pillared hall from the Vijayanagara period (14th–17th century). The Girivalam path around the mountain passes eight lingams (the aniconic form in which Shiva is worshipped), each associated with a direction. Sri Ramanasramam was established at the southern base of the mountain in the early 20th century.

Additional Resources

• Book: Be As You Are: The Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi edited by David Godman (1985)