Maharadham's New Garage

On my way to the dentist located off Sannidhi Street decided to make a quick detour to check out if the new "garage" has yet been completed for the Maharadham. The view and darshan of the Hill from this place is spectacular--can never take too many photographs!

Previously the Radhams (wooden chariots) for the Panchamoorthies (5 idols) have been covered with aluminum sheets and left on the side of Car Street. The sheer size of these enormous wooden chariots limit where they can be stored, but at last there has been a rethinking about exactly how they should be stored. In this respect the largest chariot used during the Deepam Festival i.e. the Maharadham has just been allocated a nice, new garage on Car Street. 

Spectacular new garage for the Maharadham

Posting the below photographs to show how devotees access the gigantic wooden chariot during the Deepam Festival. 

Climbing into the Maharadham during Deepam

Tunnel between the Yellow Building and Radham at Deepam

Devotees taking Deepam darshan before the Maharadham set off

4 Panchamoorthi Radhams await their own new garage

Vinayagar Ursavam—November 25, 2014

The celebration yesterday evening (Tuesday, 25 November, 2014) at Arunachaleswarar Temple of the Vinayagar Ursavam.

Palayam Puja -- Durga Amman Temple, September 2013

A Palayam Puja was performed at Durga Amman Temple on September 11, 2013 in connection with restoration and renovation work that is to be undertaken at the Temple. After the renovation work is completed next year, it will be followed by an elaborate Mahakumbhabhiskeham. 

Homam being conducted, Palayam Puja

Head Priest of Big Temple (in gold centre) in charge of Function

Blessing areas that are to be renovated, restored

The Durga Amman Temple is the only Tiruvannamalai Temple that actually participates in functions with Arunachaleswarar Temple during Karthigai Deepam. 

One reason for this is supposed to be because of the battle beween the Goddess Durga with the demon Mahishasura (see ‘The Fight with Mahishasura'). Before her battle the Goddess appointed four noble Bhairavis (celestial damsels) to keep watch on all four sides of Arunagiri. She ordered: 

"Admit only those who have come to worship Arunachala and are tired, hungry and thirsty. Others should not enter. She then appointed strong men to guard the boundaries of Arunachala and continued Her penace at Her ashram." [The Glory of Arunachala] 

For this reason, the first day of Deepam Festival is always a celebration of the Goddess, who is recognised as a Guardian of Arunachala. 

Deepam Festival 2012, Ayyankulam Tank

After the night of the lighting of the Deepam on the top of Arunachala, there are several subsequent days celebrated at Tiruvannamalai which are also part of the Deepam Festival. For three consecutive evenings after the lighting of the Arunachala Deepam, the Gods are taken upon the Ayyankulam Tank upon beautifully decorated floats. 

Also during one of the days after Mahadeepam the Gods perform a grand circumambulation of Arunachala, stopping at many spots along the way, allowing devotess to make offerings to the Gods, and for the attendant priests to perform aarti. 

Ayyankulam Tank in the daytime

First Evening Lord Chandrasekhara

Crowds at Tank Edge, First Evening

Second Evening, Amman Theppal

Amman

Gods on Circumambulation

Stopping whenever requested

Night of Deepam, The Golden Bull

After the lighting of the Deepam yesterday evening there was a wonderful procession of the Golden Bull, followed by Kamadhenu (the wish fulfilling cow). Depending upon astrological computations made by the Temple priests, the Deepam on top of Arunachala will stay alight from anywhere from a minimum of seven nights to a maxium of thirteen nights. 

As well as the Deepam on Arunachala, over the next several days in the evening the Gods will be put on floats on the Ayyankulam Tank located in front of the third most major Shiva Temple in Tiruvannamalai, Arunagirinathar Temnple. 

Golden Bull

Circumambulation of the Big Temple

Gods in concourse front of Big Temple Raja Gopuram

Another Deepam Festival

The following fascinating narrative of a previous Deepam Festival was written by a lady from Australia who spent many years living in Tiruvannamalai with her adopted Indian daughter.


“Deepam Festival lasts fourteen days. The Big Temple displays its treasures every night of the first nine days in processions around the circuit of streets in town. Millions of pilgrims come, perhaps two million sometimes, perhaps more; they camp out in the temple complex and fill every available hut, home, shop, guesthouse, ashram, room, corner, balcony, corridor, niche, stone bench, and nook under trees and rocks. They all walk around the hill; some many times because it is exceedingly auspicious to do so. Lord Siva may very likely grant a pilgrim’s wishes.

Many years ago when my daughter was small, the old infirm lady who lived with us - an elderly Brahmana woman of ninety-nine-odd years - used to bundle her pots and pans, condiments, clean white saris – she’d bundle them all up in a cloth and scoot off by rickshaw into town for Deepam every year. She had an age-old arrangement with a family in the main street, she used to camp on their verandah for the ten days, staying awake at night to worship the gods as they came past. The divinities would no doubt reward her for all her trouble.

Although we are tempted to conjecture that the motivation to partake of this exceeding auspiciousness arises from other-worldly concerns lured by the possibility of relinquishment from the cycle of birth and death, this is not entirely true. For the Hindu it is considered monumentally difficult for an individual to achieve the freedom from attachment to this world that is essential for absolute freedom. It is love of this world that fires the hearts of the devotees; the possible fulfillment of desires sustains arduous pilgrimages. The number of pilgrims walking around Arunachala has increased so much during the past ten years that we now have a mini-Deepam every single month. A famous film star’s pronouncement that Arunachala grants wishes at full moon as well as at Deepam is what started it all off. Since then, the entire town has to be frozen of incoming traffic for the duration of the moon’s radiant fullness and thousands of extra buses are scheduled. The ostensibly other-worldly Deepam festival is actually a tremendous affirmation of confidence in life on Earth.

Hawkers come with their wares: food in particular and pictures of gods, film stars and politicians. Hawkers bring spiritual books, protective talismans, plastic toys and bunches of grapes, things to hang on your rear vision mirror and stand on your TV, wind chimes, socks, belts, warmers for heads, underpants, bangles, molded plastic divinities, fruit trees, pillows and blankets, jewels, hair clips, watches, fruit trees and motor bikes – to name a few conspicuous items. The religious festival becomes a vast marketplace. The Holy Hill is garlanded with opportunities.

Beggars come by the busload with their leprous legs and stumpy arms and their begging bowls; some have little vehicles. Sadhus come in orange - the mendicant’s uniform. Businessmen also come. Families come with plastic carry bags of clean clothes and blankets. With their shaven scalps smeared with turmeric paste; they wash their saris, dhotis and shirts in the tanks beside the hill-round road route and walk with one wet sari end tied modestly about their body - the other held by a family member up ahead, the cloth streaming out to dry in the breeze. Skinny people with big feet and wide eyes: these are the true-blue pilgrims who camp on the flagstones of temples and mandapams. Modern middle class families stay in expensive hotels. Groups come with musical accessories and flower garlands, voices joining footsteps. The Hill becomes garlanded in humans, encouraged by the voices of the hawkers and bucket loudspeakers blaring from the frequent stands selling tapes of devotional music.

A recent upsurge in progress has resulted in the construction of several sheds along the way, in which pilgrims can rest and watch TV. A special cable was laid to provide video images of the festival happenings including much film of pilgrims walking around the Holy Hill so that resting pilgrims can even see themselves perhaps, by courtesy of our recent technological achievements.

It is widely believed that the provision of Free Food at Deepam is rewarded by the Lord more than any other provision of Free Food! Down at little shrine area in the only remaining virgin forest adjacent to my house, on one side of the road every year we have The Big Temple servants feeding ten thousand persons a day, and on the other side another group feeding another ten thousand. Crowd Control Barriers sprout and the vast distribution of free food manifests itself all along the Hill Round Route.

We wandered down to the little shrine area around midday on the seventh day of last year’s festival - the day of The Lighting. The Free Food queue in the crowd control barrier on one side of the road extended back for more than a kilometre, forming a static block against the jabbering stream of thousands not interested in free food just then. The field behind where the forest watchman lives was full of onionskins, vegetable peelings, big pots being filled with food and big pots on fires. Full steaming-hot big pots were carried on palanquins by strong men across to the awning on the roadside where more big pots of hot food were lined up and many men were dishing spicy rice onto leaf plates for the long barricaded queue of hungry Tamilians extending out of sight.

We ate our free food on a bench segregated from the crowd by thorns, watching a big fight between temple bouncers and persons trying to eat their food too near to the distribution spot, thereby creating untold congestion in a greatly congested situation. There was no alternative since there was nowhere to go to eat, because the sea of human beings takes up every available space. Discarded leaf plates smeared with spicy rice covered the road and particularly the shoulders of the road, where one had to wade through a great mess in order to move. Huge religious festivals have an agonizingly sordid side.

But the ecstasy is something else."

[By Apeetha Arunagiri]

Wish Fulfilling Arunachala

Another aspect of Arunachala Girivalam, is the Hill’s reputation as a fulfiller of wishes. This aspect of the Hill is particularly emphasised every year during the Deepam Festival; during which time two of the Radhams appearing in night time processions around Arunachaleswarar Temple are the Kalpavriksha (of which the wish-fulfilling divine Kalpataru Tree is a synonym) under which Lord Arunachaleswara and his Goddess, Unnamulai are seated, and Kamadhenu (upon which sits Goddess Saraswati), the miraculous cow of plenty that gives whatever is desired.

Kalpavriksha

It is often this wish fulfilling aspect of Girivalam that brings so many pilgrims each Poornima (Full Moon) to the Hill, whatever the difficulty or weather, to perform circumbulation. In fact many pilgrims prefer it when the conditions are extreme (cold, heavy sheeting rain, previous tapas such as fasting and mortification etc) as they believe that the greater the difficulties they overcome in performing girivalam, the greater will be the focus of their sankalpa (intention) and success of their wish.

Kamadhenu

The now deceased Annamalai Swami explains the power of the Hill as thus:-

. . . It is not an ordinary hill. It is spirituality Itself. It has a powerful, magnetic pull to the Self. Seekers who come to this place with the intention of realizing the Self will have untold benefits to do pradakshina on a full moon.

In the proximity of this holy hill the presence of the Self is more powerful and more self-evident than anywhere else. Indian mythology speaks of a wish-fulfilling tree. If you find this tree and tell it what you want, your wish will be granted. Arunachala also has this reputation. This is why so many people come here on a full moon night and walk around it. But very few people come here and ask for their complete freedom, for undisturbed peace.

Arunachala is a light. It shines whether or not you believe in it. It is the light of the Self, and the light of the Self will continue to shine on you whether you believe it or not.

Arunachala is greater than all other religious places. There are other holy, powerful places in the world, but none have the power of Arunachala . . . There is a huge amount of shakti, or spiritual energy, here.

[Annamalai Swami]

Winding Down

Last night (Saturday, December 20th) the Deepam Flame was still alight on top of Arunachala but I think thats probably the end of it for this year and we will now have to wait until December 1st, 2009 for the next Bharani Deepam and all attendant festivities.

On my way home yesterday afternoon through town on a desperate search for a cup of tea, I met up with a wagon being hauled to the Big Temple which was carrying the levers used with the Maha Radham chariot. The photograph gives a good idea of the size and weight of the huge levers.

I took the below photograph also whilst on North Sannidhi Street (in front of the Big Temple) of a deserted ride named "Break Dance" located at the Temple entranceway and with a rather incongruous 'Statue of Liberty' by the side of the ride.

However I still have photographs which I hope to be posting on Arunachala Grace of later Festival functions, so keep checking back.

The Festival of Light

This completes the narrative, ‘The Festival of Light,’ by Apeetha Arunagiri. To read the first parts of this narrative go to these links; part one, part two and part three.

“Many are the occasions of inspiration throughout this festival but the outstanding event is the lighting of the Light.

This year I walked with our friend around to the temple dedicated to the feminine aspect Unnamalai lying on the west of Arunachala where the Shakti - the female power point of the hill - peeks up from behind the main protuberance. Unnamalai Temple has a gorgeous stone-pillared Mandapam, or hall, now newly painted and overflowing with pilgrims. And across the road, on the hillside, spreads a newly cleared Rest-a-while Park with a modern iron umbrella above cement benches. The Rest-a-while Park is a perfect viewing place for the lighting of the Light.

Underfoot is conspicuously sordid by this time in the Festival so our walk to the temple had meandered around piles of garbage. We passed a balloon man with his happy crowd of prospective little buyers and the nice clean boys selling ‘Healthy Milk Drinks’ next to the stacked plastic bottles of unhealthy pop shop. Outside Unnamalai a stall selling cheap audiotapes was blotting out existential consciousness entirely yet the ceremonies in the temple were going strong - assisted by other loudspeakers, and the pilgrims were slapping their cheeks and bowing down in obeisance the way they do.

We sat for awhile under a tree near to the shrine next to dear sadhu Ramana in yellow, who spends all his livelong days sweeping the hill round roadway; he had merged with the tree and didn’t look too enthusiastic. Across from me on the hillside sat the irascible sadhu, for once amused, and behind him rose a crassly painted modern iron umbrella sheltering the concrete benches which provide sadhus with such an excellent place to dry their cloths, two sadhus were diligently folding dry their orange dhotis.

As dusk approached we sat down near to the sadhu to wait for the flame to appear. Gradually the Rest-a-while Park’s uncontaminated spaces filled with quiet orderly pilgrims. We had to wait about an hour -- nobody was eating, smoking, talking or drinking. Some had lit incense. For thirty kilometers radius surrounding Arunachala at this time several million people were waiting suspenseful, staring up to the top of the hill, as they always do.

Up on the narrow rocky top of the mountain stands a gigantic copper lamp laboriously carried up that morning by a team of old blokes in loincloths who are traditionally honored with this task. The east face is swarming with humans on their way up with clay pots of ghee to replenish this lamp; a colorful pilgrim snake weaves the traditional path and more adventurous persons scramble up in other directions. The almost top plateau becomes a mini-market, even bangles and balloons can be bought up there, and many will spend the night beside their wares. The very top is standing-room-only of course – for men only; bare feet negotiate the brittle remains of broken clay pots softened by the sticky ghee surface of centuries. Everyone takes up flowers and incense to enhance the honour of presence.

A special ceremony in the Big Temple in town early this morning accompanied a flame-seed from the inner sanctum out into the enormous flagstone courtyard where it first lights another flame-seed set waiting beside another huge copper lamp, before traveling carefully up the path on the east face to the top. There it will be sheltered by the priests in breathless expectation of the rise of the auspicious full moon. Any parts of this ritual which are now left out or compromised by human weakness are just the effects of the degeneration of the times.

The moment our Celestial Orb appears on the eastern horizon the giant lamp on the very top will be lit and the moment the little flame on top appears, the priests in the Big Temple will light the big lamp in the vast courtyard so packed with humans now chanting “Om Namo Sivaya” that if the festival is pelting rain - as it sometimes is - it is surprising how the heat of so many bodies keeps them somewhat warm and dry. The temple elephant also waits with the crowd; this is part of her job. She loves festivals.

The appearance of the light on the top will also signal orchestration of thousands and thousands of small Deepam lamps set waiting outside huts and households as far as eye can see. Many household lamps are mountains of sweet rice-flour, with ghee to carry the flame. After the flame has consumed the ghee, family members share the tasty mountain in tribute to Arunachala. Even dogs get some sometimes.

At the cattle market on the south side of the mountain, thousands of immaculate cattle face the mountain, bells tinkling to the chewing of their cud and the cattlemen squat together in huddles - blankets across scrawny shoulders, by the little bonfires that contribute their own rustic gesture of affection for this wondrous world. Light is eternal.

Very frequently it rains at Deepam. Most of the year it doesn’t rain but at Deepam, it does. This year it is not raining and we are waiting in the Rest-a-while park on the western side of the mountain. The silence deepens towards the golden glow heralding the auspicious first appearance of the flame. Our moon is on its way. A soft golden glow stirs our suspense. Then an irrepressible upsurge of human aspiration arises, it’s palpable: everyone stands up. Loving palms are brought together above uplifted heads while millions and millions of voices carry the stupendous sound “Ahrhoroghorah!” up to the appearance of a tiny little flame.

Ahrhorghorah!

I don’t need to tell you what that means.”

Deepam Festival

Greatness of Deepam Festival

Sage Gowthama said: “I shall describe to you the glory of that which liberates people from all sins and bestows all prosperity. In the mount of Karthika, on the day of the star Krittika during pradosha (i.e. thirteenth day country from the new moon/full moon) the fortunate ones who perform giripradakshina are not born again. All karmas are destroyed on performance of giripradakshina. ‘It is customary to circumambulate the Hill for a Mandela or forty days. One who is not able to do this may perform giripradakshina at least for eleven days. If even this is not possible, then one should go round the Hill on the day of Deepam. This is equivalent to performing crores of Yagnas. (one crore 10 million). He who worships the Deepam lit atop the Hill derives countless blessings. A person residing elsewhere may light lamps in front of any shrine of Siva, atop His temple towers or on the peaks of other hills and he will be blessed. Whatever may be the attitude of the devotee, the mere lighting of the lamp on this day with any type of oil available confers great merit on him.

He who has darshan of this light on Arunachala Hill acquires the merit of having performed great charity and of having bathed in the sacred rivers. Who can express in words the benefits enjoyed by the one who has darshan of the peak of Arunachala with the beacon light glowing?’

The Glory of Arunachala
[Skanda Upapuranam]




Deepam Festival – Another Legend:

Long ago, King Vajresan of Panchala who was childless, was blessed with a son after having darshan of the Arunachala Deepam in the month of Kartika. The son was named Shatrujith. The prince grew up to be lecherous man. He once eloped with the wife of a Vedic scholar and came to Tiruvannamalai and entered the Temple of Arunachaleswarar.

It was the day of the festival of the beacon. The paramour made a wick out of her sari and lit the lamp with castor oil. At that moment the Vedic scholar came there and in a fit of rage stabbed his wife and the prince. And in turn the prince killed him.

Since it was a gruesome murder committed in the sacred precincts of the Temple the three were about to be taken to hell by the messengers of Yama, lord of death. At that moment the messengers of Siva intervened and claimed the prince and the woman as their own and took them to the abode of Siva. Their blasphemous acts were condoned by Arunachala Himself because the wife made a wick and the prince helped her to light the lamp for the Supreme Lord.

But the Vedic scholar was puzzled, as he was held by the messengers of Yama. The prince, moved by the plight of the Vedic scholar, ordered the vessel used for lighting the Karthika lamp to release the scholar. Immediately the Vedic scholar was liberated. Thus all the three, despite their misdeeds, were taken to the abode of Siva, as the merit gained by the simple act of lighting a lamp on Kartika day in his Temple outweighed their devilish acts.

The Glory of Arunachala
[Skanda Upapuranam]

The Deepam Festival -- Part Three

"It is widely believed that the provision of Free Food at Deepam is rewarded by the Lord more than any other provision of Free Food! Down at little shrine area in the only remaining virgin forest adjacent to my house, on one side of the road every year we have The Big Temple servants feeding ten thousand persons a day, and on the other side another group feeding another ten thousand. Crowd Control Barriers sprout and the vast distribution of free food manifests itself all along the Hill Round Route.

We wandered down to the little shrine area around midday on the seventh day of last year’s festival - the day of The Lighting. The Free Food queue in the crowd control barrier on one side of the road extended back for more than a kilometre, forming a static block against the jabbering stream of thousands not interested in free food just then. The field behind where the forest watchman lives was full of onionskins, vegetable peelings, big pots being filled with food and big pots on fires. Full steaming-hot big pots were carried on palanquins by strong men across to the awning on the roadside where more big pots of hot food were lined up and many men were dishing spicy rice onto leaf plates for the long barricaded queue of hungry Tamilians extending out of sight.

We ate our free food on a bench segregated from the crowd by thorns, watching a big fight between temple bouncers and persons trying to eat their food too near to the distribution spot, thereby creating untold congestion in a greatly congested situation. There was no alternative since there was nowhere to go to eat, because the sea of human beings takes up every available space. Discarded leaf plates smeared with spicy rice covered the road and particularly the shoulders of the road, where one had to wade through a great mess in order to move. Huge religious festivals have an agonizingly sordid side.

But the ecstasy is something else." To be Contd.

[By Apeetha Arunagiri]

Arunachala Grace Update

Some regular readers may have been wondering at the unaccustomed lack of recent postings on this Blog -- which is due mainly to my own recent ill health. However things are much better and hope to be posting regularly from now on -- particulary as the great Deepam Festival is almost upon us.

Even though I haven't been posting I do in fact have lots of interesting information to share. The most curious being the news of a visit of a group of four camels to Tiruvannamalai who have travelled from distant Rajasthan -- definitely hope to get some nice snaps of them soon.

Also work has started on the current Arunachala Grace Newsletter -- which will have lots of information on the legends and stories surrounding Deepam -- a Festival not only celebrated in Tiruvannamalai, but all around Tamil Nadu -- albeit with different stories and mythologies explaining the relevance of the Festival.

Vinayaka Chariot

These photographs are from Wednesday the 21st November; the day of Maha Radham, the biggest and grandest procession of Deepam Festival. I was very eager to attend so decided to turn up early. Walking towards Arunachaleswarar Temple around 9 a.m. I met up with the oncoming Vinayaka chariot which was preceded by Rukku the Temple Elephant. On this day a total of five chariots will go around the perimeter roads of the Temple; Vinayaka, Lord Murugan, Parashakti, Chandikeswarar and finally on the giant chariot, Arunachaleswarar (Shiva) with Unnamulaiyaal (Parvati).

Rukku is very nicely dressed for the day wearing her cover of the Goddess Meenakshi.

In the below photograph the ladies are tugging on a huge linked chain that is pulling along the chariot.

Whenever the chariot gets stuck the men insert large wooden clogs under the wheels.

Which they jump upon to move along the chariot. Once the chariot is moving again, the clog lever is removed until the next jam-up.

Festival of Lights

Karthigai Deepam — the festival of lights celebrated throughout Tamil Nadu during the month of Karthigai (November-December), is the oldest festival celebrated in the State. Also, unlike many other Hindu festivals, Karthigai is basically a Tamil festival and is virtually unknown in most other parts of the country.

One of the earliest references to the festival is found in the Ahananuru, a book of poems, which dates back to the Sangam Age (200 B.C. to 300 A.D.). The Ahananuru clearly states that Karthigai is celebrated on the full moon day (pournami) of the Tamil month of Karthigai. It was one of the most important festivals (peruvizha) of the ancient Tamils. Avaiyyar, the renowned poetess of those times, refers to the festival in her songs.

Inscriptions in Tamil temples also refer to the festival. A mid-sixteenth Century inscription at the Arulalaperumal temple in Kancheepuram, refers to the festival as Thiru Karthigai Thirunal. Karthigai is essentially a festival of lamps. The lighted lamp is considered an auspicious symbol. It is believed to ward off evil forces and usher in prosperity and joy. While the lighted lamp is important for all Hindu rituals and festivals, it is indispensable for Karthigai.

[By S.Suresh]

The Big Chariot

As always the Big Chariot is parked on Car Street, in front of Arunachaleswarar Temple. Besides the usual maintenance checks and upkeep, it only gets moved around and used once a year and that is during the Deepam Festival on the 7th Day.

Its parked on the road and anyone can get close and look at the beautiful detail and finishing of the Chariot.

And in the below photographs, you can see part of the chains that will be used to haul the chariot all around the outside perimeter of the Big Temple. It is considered a great blessing to pull this chariot and there is never a shortage of willing souls to join the massive lines of people needed to haul it.