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During each Deepam Festival the God statues from Adi Annamalai Temple join with those of Arunachaleswara Temple to perform girivalam of Arunachala. This year Bharani Deepam was on December 11th and following tradition, the night after Deepam around 11 p.m. on the 12th December, the statues of Shiva-Parvati, Parvati and Shakti from Adi Annamalai were taken to Arunachaleswara Temple where they spent the night.
The next morning on the 13th the three statues from Adiannamalai seated on pandals pulled by tractors, led the three statues from the Big Temple; Arunachaleswara-Unnamalai, Parvati and Shakti-Durga -- and together the statues seated on six separate pandals performed girivalam of Arunachala Hill.
The below is of Shiva-Parvati from Adi Annamalai Temple, which is leading the procession around the Hill.
The statue of the Goddess.
The below pandal carries Arunachaleswara-Unnamalai of the Big Temple. Throughout the girivalam the pandals stop whenever devotees wish to make an offering to the Gods.
Deepam is the only time in the year that statues from both major Temples (Adi Annamalai and Arunachaleswara) perform girivalam together and visit devotees living throughout the area. The only other time Arunachaleswara-Unnamalai perform girivalam is during the Tiruvoodal Festival celebrated at Pongal (Tamil harvest festival in January).
