More News of Rukku’s Death

Rukku was brought to Arunachaleswarar Temple at the very young age of 3 years. She remained alone and in service at the Temple for 27 years after she had been given to the Temple by the Tamil Nadu Government

Her death is believed to have occurred as a result of  injuries sustained when she was being walked on her way to her enclosure. While walking through the Temple’s fifth prakaram a pack of dogs barked and ran towards it. Rukku tried to run away and hit a barricade. The mahout and a few others managed to calm her and gave her water. After a while, she was taken to her shed. However, Rukku panicked when a dog ran towards it. When she tried to run away, she hit a tin sheet and sustained multiple injuries.

Temple authorities engaged a veterinarian, however Rukku died within two hours of the accident. 15 days before her 30th birthday

She was laid to rest near Anjeneyar Temple (Vada Othavadai Street) in the afternoon after a team of six veterinarians performed a postmortem.

A senior forest department official said they had collected samples of vital organs for a detailed analysis to ascertain the cause of the death. “It will take two week to get the report,” added the official.

Hundreds of devotees and residents of Tiruvannamalai paid homage to their beloved elephant whom they called ‘Rukku’. One of the priests in the temple said Rukku was gentle. “The sudden death of the elephant disturbs us. We offered special prayers.” 

[Abridged from report in Times of India]

Hundial Count March Poornima

Below are two photographs of March Poornima Hundial money count at Arunachaleswarar Temple. 

Sowmyanath Temple

Nandalur is a village in Kadapa District, Andhra Pradesh and on the west bank of the Cheyyeru River. It was once a famous Buddhist Centre and in 1913 Buddhist caves were discovered there.

I read recently that at Nandalur there is the Temple of Lord Sowmyanath, which has been patronized by Kings and Rulers since ancient times, and is situated on nearly 10 acres. The interesting aspect of this Temple is that supposedly it is a replica of Arunachaleswarar Temple in Tiruvannamalai. If anyone has information on this Temple would be happy to hear from you.

Blessing Hand

The below are the idols, Annamalaiyar and Unnamlai, that are carried during processions. The idols in the shrine rooms (sannidhi i.e. sanctum sanctorum) always remain where they are. So it is these representative idols that participate in many festivals and also are carried on circumbulation of the streets around the perimeter of the 25 acre Arunachaleswarar Temple. The last time this happened was on the day of Thiruvoodal, 16th January during Pongal. The story of that occasion is really fascinating and I hope to be posting information about it within the next few days.

The same photograph but in more close up so you can see the beautiful detail of the jewels and dress of the idols.

And in even greater closeup the blessing hand of Arunachaleswarar (Annamalaiyar). Click the photograph to get an even closer view.

Temples in Tamil Nadu

An article entitled, "For the record, TN temples bigger" appeared in National papers throughout India. The following narrative is taken from 'Hindustan Times, Friday, December 28, 2007':-

**************************************************

"Have officials of the Guinness Book of Records committed a blunder by declaring Delhi’s Akshardham Temple as the largest Hindu temple complex in the world? It appears so. Officials of the famous Meenakshi Temple in Madurai maintain that Delhi's Akshardham is smaller than at least three different temple complexes in Tamil Nadu alone.

Meenakshi Temple

“Even if one considers the measurements of the Akshardham Temple given by the Guinness officials, Madurai’s Meenakshi Temple and the Arunachaleswarar Temple in Tiruvannamalai are definitely larger temple complexes,” said B Raja, joint commissioner of the Meenakshi Temple.

He pointed out that the outermost wall of the Meenakshi Temple is 850 ft long and 800 ft wide. The total area of the complex is 17 acres or 7.40 lakh sq ft. This is much larger than Akshardham which, press reports have indicated, is only 356 ft long and 316 ft wide, its grounds covering merely 86,342 sq ft.

Akshardham Temple

When informed that the entire Akshardham complex was spread over 30 acres, Raja said, "A temple is a place for prayer. It is incorrect to include facilities for non-religious activities such as restaurants or boating arrangements as the Akshardham complex has, as part of a temple, just because they happen to be in the vicinity."

Raja also noted that the Tiruvannamalai Temple dedicated to Lord Siva is even larger — at 25 acres or 10.89 lakh sq ft — than the Meenakshi Temple. “However, the built-up area in Madurai covers a wider area than Thiruvannamalai,” he said. Also the main tower at Tiruvannamali is 217 ft high.

Tiruvannamalai Temple

Even these two temple complexes are dwarfed in size when one takes into account the massive Sri Ranganthaswamy Temple complex in Srirangam near Tiruchy, a noted historian pointed out.

“Srirangam, surrounded by the waters of river Kaveri, is a 600-acre island-town enclosed within the seven walls of the gigantic Sri Ranganathaswami Temple. There are 21 gopurams, among which the Rajagopuram is the tallest in South India — it is 72 metres (about 220 ft) in height, and dates to the 17th century, although it was fully completed in 1987. The temple complex measures 950 metres by 816 metres (about half a square mile) along its outer perimeter,“ writes Prof VS Seshadri.

Sri Ranganthaswamy Temple

"But we are curious to know if their officials visited our large temples like Srirangam, Madurai Meenakshi, Thiruvannamalai and Thiruvarur temples before arriving at this verdict," said a senior official of the Temple Administration Department.

State Temple Administration officials, however, said they have no immediate plan to challenge the Guinness classification of Akshardham."