A trip to Tiruvannamalai was on my list for a few years now. When I finally went there recently after 10 years, the place had changed more than I had expected. Narrow roads, bad traffic especially near the main temple, unauthorised dwelling units on many roads, congested market area, dirty bylanes..... the list goes on.
But of course the Sri Ramanashram remained intact and serene as always. A quiet surrounding welcomes you where a visitor could choose between (a) listening to the chanting of slokas (in the evening) and (b) listening to a multitude of birds calling out to each other. Sadly, bird calls is not something that one hears anymore in the city. I sighted sparrows, wood pecker, myna.... to name a few.
The infrastructure on girivalam path/ road itself is improved quite a bit. Tiled platform on most of the stretch, street lights on both sides of the road, drinking water and toilet facilities throughout the stretch. It seemed quite safe to walk even at 10 pm on an amavasya night as I spotted many devotees doing the trek at that time. People still do it without footwear. And of course there are innumerable number of small Shiva temples in the path. The important ones being the 8 Lingams and the Aadi Annamalaiyar temple. If you are adventurous you can squeeze your way in the idukku pillayar koil.
The Arunachaleswara temple was the real highlight of my trip. It's so huge that it could take a full day to see, observe and assimilate everything that is there in all the praharams. You would realize how large the temple is only when you go around the temple in the buggy meant for senior citizens! But sadly there are no sign posts and no guide to take you round the temple and explain the various sannidhis and architecture. For this, you may have to pre-read the government tourism website on the temple. I adopted the Indian way of tipping a kurukal who promised to take me around the temple, but he ended up taking me only to the sannidhis of Shiva and Ambal. Since this is an Agni sthalam (one of the Pancha bootha sthalams of Shiva) of Shiva, the garbagraham was immensely hot even today, not because I went there during summer. I wonder how the kurukkals perform pooja through the day in that heat.
There are several temples near Tiruvannamalai and one other temple that I visited was the Thiruvikrama swamy temple at Thirukovilur (on the Villipuram road). This is one of the Pancha sthalams of Krishna and the Perumal here is Ulagalantha Perumal. The temple was marked on my GPS, but one needs to walk the last 100 metres since the road to the temple is also a market place.
A picture perfect sight on way to Thirukovilur was the vision of all 9 gopurams of the Arunachaleswara temple with the mighty Tiruvannamalai itself in its background. Indeed the Tiruvannamalai could be sighted from all roads in and around the town - a magnetic sighting to say the least. Will go again!
But of course the Sri Ramanashram remained intact and serene as always. A quiet surrounding welcomes you where a visitor could choose between (a) listening to the chanting of slokas (in the evening) and (b) listening to a multitude of birds calling out to each other. Sadly, bird calls is not something that one hears anymore in the city. I sighted sparrows, wood pecker, myna.... to name a few.
The infrastructure on girivalam path/ road itself is improved quite a bit. Tiled platform on most of the stretch, street lights on both sides of the road, drinking water and toilet facilities throughout the stretch. It seemed quite safe to walk even at 10 pm on an amavasya night as I spotted many devotees doing the trek at that time. People still do it without footwear. And of course there are innumerable number of small Shiva temples in the path. The important ones being the 8 Lingams and the Aadi Annamalaiyar temple. If you are adventurous you can squeeze your way in the idukku pillayar koil.
The Arunachaleswara temple was the real highlight of my trip. It's so huge that it could take a full day to see, observe and assimilate everything that is there in all the praharams. You would realize how large the temple is only when you go around the temple in the buggy meant for senior citizens! But sadly there are no sign posts and no guide to take you round the temple and explain the various sannidhis and architecture. For this, you may have to pre-read the government tourism website on the temple. I adopted the Indian way of tipping a kurukal who promised to take me around the temple, but he ended up taking me only to the sannidhis of Shiva and Ambal. Since this is an Agni sthalam (one of the Pancha bootha sthalams of Shiva) of Shiva, the garbagraham was immensely hot even today, not because I went there during summer. I wonder how the kurukkals perform pooja through the day in that heat.
There are several temples near Tiruvannamalai and one other temple that I visited was the Thiruvikrama swamy temple at Thirukovilur (on the Villipuram road). This is one of the Pancha sthalams of Krishna and the Perumal here is Ulagalantha Perumal. The temple was marked on my GPS, but one needs to walk the last 100 metres since the road to the temple is also a market place.
A picture perfect sight on way to Thirukovilur was the vision of all 9 gopurams of the Arunachaleswara temple with the mighty Tiruvannamalai itself in its background. Indeed the Tiruvannamalai could be sighted from all roads in and around the town - a magnetic sighting to say the least. Will go again!
