2012 Arunachala Maha Deepam Live Streaming and Live Telecast

A website at this link has posted the below information regarding Live Streaming of the 2012 Karthigai Arunachala Mahadeepam:-

"Thiruvannamalai Maha Deepam 2012 Live Streaming and Live Telecast: 

The Thiruvannamalai Maha Deepam 2012 will be aired live on following TV Channels – Jaya TV, Raj TV, Vasanth TV, Podhigai TV, Zee Tamil, SVBC TTD TV, Sri Sankara TV, etc. 

Live Streaming of Thiruvannamalai Maha Deepam 2012 will also be available on Ustream.com and Justin.tv"

 --- oOo ---

Last year Vasanth TV as well as having a live TV Telecast also had a wonderful live online streaming of Bharani Deepam from 3 am or 3.30 am in the morning and a live telecast of Maha Deepam from 4.00 pm in the evening 

The photograph is of last year’s live feed from the inside of the Arunachaleswarar Temple Compound. It is expected that Vasanth TV will also have a live stream this year 2012 at this link, (I hope to confirm that early tomorrow morning). 

For Ramana Maharshi devotees, the Ramana Maharshi ashram will be running a live feed on their website of a Deepam function to be held at their Ashram, which will include film of Arunachala from a distance with the deepam on top. 

Deepam 2012 Sixth Night Silver Ratham

As its starts getting closer to November 27, 2012, the day of Mahadeepam, processions around the perimeter of Arunachaleswarar Temple are beginning to become more elaborate. On the evening of the sixth night of this year's Deepam Festival, it was the evening of the Silver Ratham. 

Even though there was a sprinkling of rain on the sixth evening, there was a surging crowd both in the Temple and on the concourse outside the Raja Gopuram. 

Right Click to view photo enlargements

Arathi to the Gods

Carried on palanquin perimeter of Siva Sannidhi

Darshan in concourse outside Temple Raja Gopuram

Large crowds lining the streets

Gods on Silver Ratham on Thiruvoodal Street

Gods on procession Car Street

Deepam festival 2012, Fifth Night

The below photographs are of the fifth night of the Deepam Festival, 2012 dedicated to the Risabha (bull) Vahanam and accompanying Panchamoorthigal Purappadu. 

Enjoy these wonderful photographs taken by an official press photographer inside the Temple during the preparation and puja of the Gods, and later of the huge crowds overflowing the concourse outside the Raja Gopuram of Arunachaleswarar Temple. 

Right click on all photographs to view enlargements. 

After Deepam I will be posting an in-depth narrative on my website Arunachala Samudra, with photographs of the 2012 Karthigai Deepam, which will give more insight into the more esoteric meanings of the Gods on their varieties of Vahanam. To view details of the 2011 Karthigai Deepam on Arunachala Samudra, go to this link here. 

Bharani Deepam Meaning

Below is a rare photograph of the 2011 Bharani Deepam flame which was taken directly outside the Siva Sannidhi at Arunachaleswarar Temple.


Right Click below photograph to view enlargement

The below narrative is an extract explaining Bharani Deepam.

To read the full report go to this link here:

Bharani Deepam in 2011

“The all-pervading quiet of early morning is suddenly disrupted by a mad clamor of thunderous sound. Ringing bells, pounding drums and piercing nagaswarams (temple horns) almost overpower the belting voices of hundreds of devotees who are singing songs in praise of Siva, the Lord of Arunachala. It is 4:30 am on the 8th December, 2011, and the main sanctum sanctorum of the massive Tiruvannamalai Siva temple in Tamil Nadu is packed with souls who have been waiting all night for this moment.

The chief priest has just finished a simple ritual called bharani deepam and now ceremoniously waves a huge camphor flame in the direction of nearby Arunachala mountain. Although he is chanting Sanskrit slokas, he cannot be heard amidst the deafening furor of devotion that surrounds him. Finally, he touches the flame he is holding to the wicks of five huge, earthen, ghee-filled pots, representing the sacred elements earth, air, fire, water and ether.

As these five flames loom up with red-yellow light, the famous, one-day, South Indian festival of Krittika Dipam officially begins. A single flame is then taken from the pots and kept burning in the Temple throughout the day as a symbol of the merging of manifestation back into God, the one source of all. This single flame is referred to as the Bharani Deepam.

Around 10:00 a.m. this Bharani morning, a group of fishermen were blessed by a priest in a ceremony at the Temple. Amidst ringing bells and temple music, the priest gave the fishermen a lamp in a protected container that has been lit from the Bharani Deepam in the Temple.

This lamp, also called Bharani Deepam, is taken to the top of the Hill by fishermen from hereditary fishing families. Others of the same hereditary fishing family will remain at the Temple and this evening light the Deepam flame outside the Arunachaleswarar Siva Sannidhi.”

Deepam 2012 Ghee Offerings

Am posting this information because I know many readers will wish to make a ghee offering to the Deepam Cauldron, and thereupon receive prasad taken directly from the inside of the Deepam Pot after the Festival is concluded. Tickets in payment of the ghee offering will be available from the Temple from November 10, 2012. The prasad is a black sticky residue packed individually in small plastic sleeves. 

“Devotees are welcomed to pay and send their offerings towards "Ghee Pots". Devotees can arrange Rs.200/- for a half kg (500gms), Rs.100/- for 250 gms and Rs.50/- for a small offering, in person or through DD (Demand Draft) or MO (Money Order) or Bank Cheque in favour of; "Executive Officer, Sri Arunachaleswarar Temple, Tiruvannamalai" Landline: (0)4175-252438. 

The devotee should include their proper contact address. Devotees who send a Ghee Pot offering will receive the Deepam Cauldron prasad through the post after the Aarudhra Festival which is celebrated during the Tamil month Maarghai (i.e. will be mailed around mid-January).” 

I regularly participate in the Ghee Pot scheme, however I have never done so by post, so cannot give any specific information as to how efficiently the Temple runs the prasad postal scheme. But the ghee will be purchased and offered into the Cauldron. 

The Deepam will be lit at dusk (around 6.00 p.m.) on the evening of November 27, 2012 and thereupon it will be kept alight for between 7 and 13 days (the exact time is calculated by the priests). 

Below are photographs of the preparation of the Deepam pot in the morning of the 2011 Deepam.