Arunachala Deepam Festival

[I am reproducing below an excellent article on the Arunachala Deepam Festival first published in 1981. The article has been edited]

"Behind the huge temple in Tiruvannamalai in Tamil Nadu, the holy mountain of Arunachala or Annamalai rises abruptly, with its high peak pointing towards the sky. It is a huge mass of igneous rocks covered with grass, herbs and low scrub. Like other high hills of those plains, Annamalai was thrown up from the depths of the earth by some volcanic eruption in the dim past, when the crust of the earth was formed. It is said that Arunachala was a fire mountain in the Krita yuga, a gold mountain in the Treta yuga, a copper mountain in the Dwapara yuga and a rock mountain in the Kali yuga, our current age.

Once a year, the top of Arunachala is alight with a fire that can be seen for miles around. It is the god Shiva, who is manifesting himself as a blazing pillar of light, the Lingodbhava. Rudra or Shiva has said, 'I am Agni or great energy and I am Soma; I am myself man together with nature.' Soma is the elixir of immortality, the amrita that when rising in the spinal column from Manipura Chakra brings eternal bliss. The macrocosmic concept of Shiva as Agni and Soma corresponds to the microcosm of the human body with its six psychic centres, adharas or chakras in the spinal column, of which Manipura Chakra is the third one, the centre of the fire element and of amrita.

In the Shiva Purana the story goes that once when Brahma, Vishnu and Rudra rose from the waters. Brahma and Vishnu embraced the shakti (energy) of Rudra and asked the lord to create everything as he wished. Rudra plunged into the waters and remained there for a thousand celestial years to contract energy for the creation. Meanwhile Brahma and Vishnu grew impatient, and after conspiring, Brahma created everything conducive to happiness with his shakti.

When that was all done, Sambhu (Shiva) emerged from the waters, lustrous with the thought of creation. But finding everything already created by Brahma, Shiva got very angry, and he opened his mouth and released a flame, which burnt everything. When Brahma saw everything on fire, he prayed to Shankara (Shiva) to cause his excessive energy to enter the sun, so that gods and mortals could live together in the energy of the sun. Shiva agreed to this and said to Brahma, 'There is no good use for this lingam except for the creation of progeny,' and with these words Shiva broke off his lingam and threw it upon the surface of the earth. The blazing lingam penetrated down through the earth and went to the very sky.

As Brahma and Vishnu could see neither the bottom nor the top of the fiery pillar, each of them took his Vahana (vehicle), and Brahma as the swan flew upwards while Vishnu as the boar dived down into the earth. But the farther they went the longer the lingam grew, and at last when the two unsuccessful gods had returned, the blazing column burst open, and Lord Shiva appeared in all his glory in the opening. He blessed the two astounded gods that had fallen to his feet and promised that he would appear in the form of a Jyoti, light, on the top of this mountain once a year on the day of Kartikeya in the month of Kartikeya (October-November).

At the bottom of the east of the hill, where the lingam had fallen to the earth, Shiva was worshipped as Tejo Linga in the temple of Annamalai. Thus this place became one of the mukti Kshetra (places of liberation), as it represents one of the five elements, or pancha bhutas, namely that of fire, tejo. Tiruvannamalai is then tejo sthala (the place of the fire's aura), just as Kanchipuram is prithvi (earth) sthala. Of the six chakra location (adhara kshetras), Tiruvannamalai represents the manipura kshetra. The manifestation of the Lingodbhava (symbol of creation) then resulted in the origin of the mountain and in the celebration of the Deepam Festival.

In the Deepam Festival is also reflected the union of Shiva and Parvati in the deity Ardhanarishvara. Once the goddess in play covered the eyes of her Lord Shiva with her hands, and thus the whole world was plunged into darkness. However, Shiva opened his third eye on the request of the gods, and the light was restored. Uma was ashamed of her childish behaviour, and she retired from Mount Kailasa to Kanchipuram to do penance and purge herself of her sin. Shiva then directed her to go to Tiruvannamalai to worship him there. Mother Uma became an anchorite and did hard penance, going around Arunachala hill with deep concentration on the holy name of the Lord.

Shiva was pleased with her, and he told her that she was now relieved of her sin which was causing the untimely pralaya (complete destruction of the world). He blessed her and said to her, 'Come and unite with me,' and disappeared in the hill. Then on Kartikeya day the Lord appeared as a blazing light, a jyoti on the top of the hill, and asked Mother Uma to circumambulate the hill. So she did, and when she rounded the western side of the hill, Shiva appeared on his white bull and blessed her. When she rounded the hill on the north-western side he absorbed her into the left half of his body. Thus came into being the form of Ardhanarishvara, the deity that is represented as half male and half female.

Arunachala is indeed the abode of Shiva. On the sides of the hill are many caves and small shrines where sadhus have been living for as far back as this holy place has been known, and some of them are indeed old themselves, being about two hundred years of age. There are several ashrams at the bottom of the mountain, including the ashram of Ramana Maharshi. When climbing up the steep hillside to the top, it becomes noticeable that the hill itself and its immediate surroundings are vibrating with a bright light, as if the sun and the atmosphere unite with the earth on this hill. The borders between the triloka (three worlds) become fluid and interchangeable, and the borderline between macrocosms and microcosms, between the universe and man, becomes thin and transparent. The universal energy is all pervading.

The Deepam Festival lasts ten days, and on each evening a special celebration takes place, that is somehow connected with the history of the holy place. The pilgrims are ordained to fast completely on Kartikeya day and to walk around the hill the entire distance of eight miles. By imitating Mother Uma in this way, the pilgrims draw on the energy that she manifested by her penance, and they also receive the blessings of Lord Shiva. One of the days before Deepam is the Car Festival, where the pancha murtis, the five deities of the temple – Vinayaka, Arunachaleswara-Unnamalai, Amman, Kartikeya and Chandeshwara are taken around the perimeter of the 26 acre Arunachaleswara Temple in huge, towering temple chariots fifteen to twenty meters high drawn by hundreds of pilgrims with big heavy iron chains.

On another evening, Shiva and Parvati form a procession in the streets on their huge silver bull Nandi, or the utsavas, the processional bronze images of the deities, are taken out in a magnificent silver cart. Or the deities enjoy a merry boat ride in beautifully decorated boats on the temple tank. All processions are headed by musicians playing flutes and big temple drums, and the light of many torches gleam from the jewelled dresses of the utsavas and light the faces of the devotees, who receive their gods with folded hands, bowing down to the ground. Wherever the deities are carried through the streets, mostly at night, people stand in front of the houses with plates prepared with prasad, which is then blessed by the gods and the coconut broken, when the pundits are doing arati (worship) in front of the deities.

Before a procession, the utsavas of the pancha murtis have hours of abhisekham (ritual anointment), when milk, water and a mixture of various substances is poured over them and arati, the circling of light, performed in between. All the silver and gold emblems and ritual tools are brought out from the treasury of the temple, and after the abhisekham the utsavas are dressed up in robes of pure gold studded with precious stones, and the main puja begins.

For hours on end the gods are showered with scented rose petals, sprinkled with rose water and garlanded under continuous recitation of mantras in the mist of the smoke from oil lamps and burning ghee. In this way the deities are well prepared for the manifestation of divine light on the evening of Kartikeya. In the early hours of the morning on Kartikeya day, the solemn ritual of preparing the five holy fires in five agantams (round vessels) is performed in the sanctum sanctorum of Annamalaiyar and they are kept burning until the evening.

At the mystic hour of dusk (pradosham), when millions of people have gathered in the courtyards and on the roofs of the temple, waiting since early morning, the pancha murtis, are carried out into the courtyard in a fast running motion, sitting in their golden palanquins covered with festoons. The deities are placed in a Mandapam (ceremonial pavilion) opposite the entrance to the Arunachaleshwara's temple and facing the holy mountain. At the moment when the sun is setting behind the western horizon and the full moon is rising in the east, the five deepams are brought out from the temple and placed in a big cauldron near the flagstaff. At that same moment the beacon light is lit on the top of Arunachala, and with one voice the crowd roars 'Harohara to Annamalai'. At that time also the deity Ardhanarishvara is brought out and placed on the stairs of the temple close to the big Deepam. The excited pilgrims are crowding and pushing to touch the holy fire, and puja is done before the pancha murtis in the Mandapam until the early hours in the morning.

Many tons of ghee have been carried up the steep, stony hill on bare feet, and the divine light will be shining from the top of Arunachala for nearly one week. All through the night, pilgrims climb the mountain to bring down the holy fire in small earthenware deepams, so from below a constant row of flickering lights can be seen zigzagging down the hillside like a line of small glow worms. Throughout the next day a stream of pilgrims murmuring the mantra 'Harohara' climb the steep and stony path on bare feet to worship the divine fire, burning in a huge copper urn, and fill their deepams or containers with holy ghee to burn in their small temples or puja rooms at home, a symbol of lighting the inner fire or Jyoti, dispelling the darkness of the soul.

Thus in the life of the pilgrim, the Deepam Festival is an experience of transcending time and space and of being elevated to participate in the powers of the divine world; one leaves this holy place after ten eventful days purified, renewed and in an altered state of being. By the grace of God, the pilgrim might even have undergone a slight transformation through being exposed to the manifestation of so much spiritual energy, rising one step higher on the path towards enlightenment."

[By Birgitte Dessau – edited]

The Deepam Festival -- Part Two

The full 2008 Deepam Programme is listed in an earlier post on Arunachala Grace -- so please check the link to keep up-to-date with the Deepam schedule. As promised I will be posting many 2008 Deepam photographs throughout the Festival -- in this respect you can check this Blog on Wednesday when I hope to upload many photographs of processions and daily life of devotees and inhabitants of Tiruvannamalai.

Below I post Part Two of the excellent 'The Deepam Festival' by Apeetha Arunagiri, whose website is at this link HERE. You can view Part One of this narrative at this link.

"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." -- To be Contd.

[By Apeetha Arunagiri]

Durgambal Procession

Saturday 29th November marked the beginning of the 2008 Deepam Festival with the procession of Durgambal seated on Kamadhenu (the wish fulfilling cow) being taken on a clockwise procession from Durga Amman Temple around the perimeter streets of the 26 acre Arunachaleswarar Temple and thereafter returning back to her own Temple. The first photograph is of the statue at the Durga Temple before being placed on the Kamadhenu.

Below a close-up of the Goddess.

This year large screens have been installed around Arunachaleswarar Temple, and one giant screen inside, so that later days of the Festival can be seen by the greatest number of devotees. The procession through the town plays a very important role in maintaining a living relationship with the ordinary folk going about their business throughout the day, who sometimes may not have sufficient opportunities to attend functions inside the Temple itself. As is always the case in such functions, the procession stops whenever people along the route make offerings.

In the above photograph the Goddess is seated on Kamadhenu (the cow) at one of the Gopurams (entrances) of the Big Temple (Arunachaleswarar). Decorations are already up at the Big Temple and like last year I hope to post a photograph from Arunachala Hill looking downwards to the Temple, to show the beautiful brightly-lit Arunachaleswarar Koil.

Deepam 2008 Photographs

For last year's Deepam I posted many excellent photographs covering various functions during the Festival. This year I will be doing the same and in this respect am working with a photographer who will be supplying me with unique photographs of each function. The below is of the Maha Radham (Big Car) in 2007 circumbulating Arunachaleswarar Temple -- it was taken by the same photographer that I am using this year. You can view the full size photograph by clicking on it.

Maha Radham-- 2007 Deepam Festival
click to enlarge

There will be some Deepam photographs posted on Arunachala Grace, however this year I am offering readers the opportunity to acquire a full pictorial history of the Deepam Festival 2008. In this respect there will be well over two hundred photographs (same size as 'enlarged' photo sample above) of the Festival. As the photographer is professionally accredited, he is able to take photographs in areas of Arunachaleswarar Temple etc., which generally restricts the taking of photographs, he is also able to get exceptional access to cover the actual lighting of the Hill Deepam.

If you wish to receive a DVD pictorial history of the 2008 Arunachala Deepam, please get in touch at the contact link situated top left of Arunachala Grace. A donation is required in order to cover costs and expenses. There is a PayPal facility located at the left column of this page. In the case of International readers please add an additional U.S.$10 to your donation to bear the cost of registered, airmail.