Widening Arunachala Girivalam Path: July 29, 2016

The below is an abridged version of a article that appears today in a National Newspaper about the decision which has now been taken regarding the widening of the Arunachala Girivalam Path. To read the unabridged version, go to this link here. 

 

Girivalam roadway Outside Rajarajeshwari Temple 2009

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The widening of the Girivalam at Arunachala, which has been mired in controversy over the felling of trees, is is to be reviewed by an expert panel, headed by a retired IFS officer. 

Though locals and activists pressed for cancelling the work that would entail cutting 125 full-grown trees, the southern bench of National Green Tribunal declined, while assuring them to protect the green cover in the hills. 

After considering the concerns expressed by local villagers during the hearing of a petition filed by S Krishna Kumar, the bench comprising judicial member P Jyothimani and expert member PS Rao observed that the government was correct on widening the Girivalam path. 

“Yes, so far no untoward incident was reported. But, we can’t wait for a stampede to happen, which we see often in shrines in North India. Considering the massive crowds witnessed especially during every full moon night and during ‘Karthigai Deepam Mahotsavam’, there is a need to widen the pathway. The project can’t be stalled,” justice Jyothimani said categorically. 

However, the expert committee, yet to be appointed, would conduct a case by case study of these 125 trees so as to ensure that not a single tree is cut unnecessarily. “No tree will be allowed to be felled in the Sonagiri forest area, which is an ecologically sensitive belt in the entire 14-km stretch,” the bench assured. 

According to the report submitted by Tiruvanamalai District Collector earlier, lakhs of pilgrims undertake circumambulation around the 14-km path of the famed Arunachaleswarar temple. The existing path was inadequate to accommodate the sea of devotees, making the widening of the path necessary. This would also facilitate movement of emergency vehicles. 

The tribunal on Thursday (July 28, 2016) said Girivalam should have a dedicated lane for emergency vehicles like ambulances especially during peak season. The expert panel will be appointed during the next hearing on August 17. 

Meanwhile, the Highways Department, executing the project, sought modification in the interim stay passed by the National Green Tribunal. The Highways Department have been assured that no tree would be felled in the Sonagiri forest area, which forms 5.2 km out of total 14 km. Further they have requested that: 

“Let the tribunal decide related to works in Sonagiri forest area, but we request the activists and the Court not to stall the work in the remaining 9 km. The stay order has hampered work in the entire 14 km, which is leading to unnecessary cost escalations,” he said. 

The proposed expansion is divided into five works. Pondy-Krishnagiri Road, Sonagiri forest area, Hill round road, Kanji road and Anna arch road. The majority of widening has been already carried out except in the Sonagiri forest area. 

Local activists have promised that a separate census with the help of locals will occur on the number of trees felled and submit it before the Tribunal at the next hearing. They remarked: 

“Every tree is part of a 600-year-old heritage attached to the sacred hill. Many are several hundred years old. To our estimate, 50 trees are already cut. The footpath that the contractors are laying is unscientific covering the root area, harming growth of the trees. If you cut a 300-year-old banyan tree that can shelter 50 pilgrims and compensate with 10 saplings, what purpose will it serve?” 

Rajarajeshwari Temple Homam

I previously mentioned the very nice hill round girivalam performed by bullock cart last Tuesday, February 10th by a group from France. This same group of 18 members escorted by Dominique Vincent and his companion Rahina, also sponsored a very beautiful Sri Chakra Homam at the Rajarajeshwari Temple on the evening before their departure. The Group is currently at Varanasi on the second stage of their Indian visit.


Even though the Group was not able to remain for the actual Homam at the Temple, they were able to participate in the Sankalpam and view the elaborate and beautiful preparations that had been made for this powerful Homam.

Below is the Temple's exquisite Sri Meru Chakra upon which abishekam will be performed after the Homam.

Some fresh, young sugar cane arrives for the Goddess.

And so it starts.

Sri Rajarajeshwari's new jewels

The Rajarajeshwari Shrine on the Hillround Roadway is absolutely one of my favourite places at Arunachala. This Goddess is held as the first God of the Devi Mahatmyam, in which all others are centred, and what is now the Rajarajeshwari Temple has been located at the same .25 acre site, in some form or another, for the last 100 years.

The small and exquisite Temple is located at Parvati Hill, which itself has a very curious association, to read more about it, go to this link here.

If you click on any of these images of this Goddess, they will all enlarge to a nice size. I actually visited the Shrine today as I was in that part of the world on my way to a function hosted by the Nithyananda group, at their new facility located at the foot of Parvati Hill.

Happily on my visit to the Goddess shrine I was able to view her beautiful new jewels and golden dress.

Inside the Mother's Shrine is a Sri Meru Yantra, a 3-Dimensional multi-Pyramid Cosmic Grid signifying unlimited abundance and positive powers. The Sri Yantra is the worshipping place of the form of the Mahatripura Sundari (Rajarajeshwari).

Also located at this beautiful Shakti Shrine are statues of the Dasa Mahavidyas, The Ten Forms of the Goddess representing knowledge (wisdom) and also what is hidden, secret, subtle and sensitive, what has to be searched out and discovered.

If you love the Divine Mother, you will undoubtedly very much appreciate this beautiful Shrine.

Beautiful Ganesha

I went on giripradakshina yeterday evening and noticed the new amazing 3-D statues of the Gods; Ganesha, Lakshmi and Saraswati on the outer wall of Vallalar Complex off the hillround roadway.

So here is the statue of Ganesha taken from the leftside.

Now, from the right side.


And from his very best side.

The Vallalar Complex is really fascinating with lots of different features that I hope to feature in an upcoming newsletter sometime. A really interesting new development in the area.

Visiting Swami Ramanananda

A pleasurable and informative time is always spent when visiting Swami Ramanananda and it takes little to persuade me to stop by and have a chat with him. Although Swami in no way encourages visitors and lives quietly and reclusively off the Hillround Roadway, he is unfailingly courteous and friendly whenever a pilgrim stops by his house. Swami Ramanananda has played a crucial role not only in the renovation and re-popularisation of Adi Annamalai Temple but also in helping the many seekers who find their way to him.

He was born in Burma approximately 70 years ago and when he was around 7 years of age, he returned with his family to India. Swami believes that the foundation of his character and his commitment and focus was established during the period of his schooling at Adayar, Madras (now called Chennai) at the Besant Theosophical High School. Swami recalls the time of Sri Ramana Maharshi’s death on April 14, 1950, as a period that caused great distress to many at the school.

The book introducing Bhagavan to Swami was; “Ramana Maharshi: Path of Self Knowledge,” by Arthur Osborne as it opened his eyes to self-enquiry and convinced him that the discipline of self-enquiry was his allotted spiritual path. Within 3 months of reading the book, Swami was drawn to Arunachala and in 1959 he visited Tiruvannamalai for the first time, staying at Ramana Ashram for 20 days.

Swami recalls, of that first trip, that although he was totally focussed on Ramana Maharshi, the energy was very subtle and he didn’t receive the shakti he had anticipated, so he felt disappointed. Before leaving Bhagavan’s Samadhi, Swami prostrated and asked for Ramana’s blessings by somehow giving him the answer to four questions/doubts he had. That night in the train the young man (later to be Swami Ramanananda) dreamt of Bhagavan as radiating golden light who smilingly answered the questions the despondent pilgrim had put to him at the Samadhi, thus:

(1) You didn’t come, I brought you
(2) This is your path – i.e. Self Enquiry
(3) You are not to be running around here and there
(4) Keep quiet

Swami woke up near Madras and his melancholy state changed to that of joy enabling him to return to his work and duties in North India with a new spirit of confidence.

Swami Ramanananda’s father came to Tiruvannamalai in 1962 as a result of his son’s friendship with Hugo Maier – who was Swami’s best friend and who visited the family in Calcutta. The brother and father of Swami were impressed with Hugo Maier - and the conversations they had with him served to give the family a very positive idea about Ramana and Arunachala.

Swami continued his work as a structural engineer for the British Consortium Braithwaite, Burns and Jessup (BBJ) a Construction Company that constructed; Howrah Bridge in Calcutta, floating docks for the British Admiralty in Bombay, bridge railways and steel factories throughout India. Swami Ramanananda worked for a total of 14 years in the world before renouncing and moving permanently to Arunachala in 1969

Swami took Sannyasin in 1982 at Tiruvannamalai where he was initiated by a Swami from North India. He has never married and lives as a Brahmachari.

An unorthodox sadhu!

On the day of the Saraswati Puja, I bumped into this rather unorthodox sadhu on my way back to the hillround roadway. I have no idea of his background or history but he definitely has some kind of connection with motorbikes - because as well as having a rather remarkable wrist watch, on arriving back on the pradakshina path, he also offered me a lift on his rather massive Harley Davidson motorbike. An unorthodox sadhu indeed!

Sad Monkey Tale

A Bonnet Macaque Monkey

Monday was a sad day for me, because it was a day in which I saw a monkey die. But although the day was sad it was also beautiful because the bonnet macaque monkey experienced the love of many in its final moments – should we all be so fortunate to meet our end in such a light-filled way. What happened was this, at the Tamil Nadu Housing Estate, some kind but careless person coaxed a monkey out of a tree with the offer of a banana. This was a good and loving thing to do, unfortunately the person did not pay attention to what was happening close by because as soon as the monkey came for the banana – it was set upon by seven street dogs. Monkeys and dogs are bitter enemies mainly because they are food rivals – so you often see clashes and confrontations between them. Anyhow, the folk at the Housing Estate had to vigorously thrash the dogs with sticks to get them off the monkey – but sadly the bonnet macaque was seriously injured.

The monkey was taken to the Animal Shelter where the vets sewed up the monkey’s wounds, gave it antibiotics and pain killers and then put it in a large cage to sleep and recover.

The next day the vets were feeling optimistic that the monkey was going to make a quick recovery. When I arrived at the Animal Shelter, I witnessed most everyone who works there, hanging around outside the cage calling out encouraging words to the monkey. A couple of resident dogs at the shelter were happy to lie outside the cage and the monkey, in spite of its recent traumatic experience with the pack of seven street dogs, didn’t seem to be worried that he had some nice, new canine friends hanging around outside his cage keeping him company.

Shanti, a woman who loves all animals and works at the Shelter brought a bowl of milk for the monkey and some nice, fresh, juicy papaya. The monkey drank his milk and was hand fed his fruit and then lay down. Suddenly it got up and started to move about restlessly. It stood in its cage looking out at his numerous supporters like it was trying to talk and tell us what the problem was. All of us there started to encourage him by calling out, ‘What’s the problem monkey? Tell us what the problem is?’ It was so frustrating for us not to understand, because the monkey kept opening its mouth making guttural noises almost like it was trying to communicate some kind of message to us, but we didn’t understand what it wanted to say. ‘Come on monkey – what’s the problem?’ It tried and we couldn’t figure it out and all of a sudden the monkey slumped to the bottom of the cage and died. Immediately one of the vets arranged for the the cage to be moved into the examination room. Whereupon it was opened and the monkey taken out and the vet frantically tried to resuscitate it. But nothing worked and the monkey remained inert and dead.

Everyone at the Shelter was upset as the monkey had made many friends in the short time it had been there. It was a male, very gentle, elderly (around 20 years old), had really bad teeth, and was obviously socialised as it absolutely no fear of people. Sadly the monkey died because a well meaning, kind person gave it food in an inappropriate manner. So please if you are visiting Tiruvannamalai – where there are many monkeys in the town, on the Hill and on the hillround roadway remember a few tips.

Dogs and monkeys are not friends. Be aware if there are dogs around.

Don’t throw food onto the road – otherwise monkeys lose their fear of the road and of traffic. So always throw the food away to the sides of the road.

As adorable as monkeys are, don’t get too close to them. For the monkeys’ health it is better for them to be less friendly and more suspicious of people as there are bad people around who work for the exotic pet industry or for animal testing laboratories who try and steal monkeys or even kill the mother and take the baby.

Monkeys like things besides bananas – if you really want to give a monkey some nice treats – give it some carrots, crunchy vegetables, seeds or nuts.

Rajarajeshwari Shrine

In an earier posting I mentioned a few details of Rajarajeshwari Temple on the hillround roadway and its location at Parvati Hill. Below is some more interesting information about this small, fascinating Temple.

What is now the Rajarajeshwari Temple on the Girivalam pathway has been at the same .25 acre site in some form or another for the last 100 years

The family who maintain the Trust of this independent Temple is that of A.Valagurumudaliar Annaporni and comprises 7 brothers and 2 sisters, all of whom are actively involved in the running and development of the Temple. The family, who come from a merchant tradition, are Mudaliars, a sect famous for their support of Temples and Religious endeavours in many area throughout Tamil Nadu.

Of the seven brothers of the Valagurumudaliar Annaporni family, Arul Arasu, who trained as an engineer, is currently the priest and manager of Rajarajeshwari Temple.

Rajarajeshwari is held as the first God of the Devi Mahatmyam, in which all others are centred.

In the shrine room at the feet of the goddess is a Koorm Pristhiya (Meru) Sri Yantra of which you can more details at this link:

Below is the statue of Sri Ganesha which is stationed at the doorway of the Inner Shrineroom.

The next photograph is of the statue of Rajarajeshwari which is located outside the Shrineroom and is used for various other kinds of puja and processions around the Temple.

The metal carving of Gaja Lakshmi is positioned outside the Shrineroom.

Facing the Shrineroom, instead of the usual Nandi one always associates with the Shiva Lingam, is the Simha (lion) associated with the Goddess aspect, particularly that of Durga.

Below one can get a better idea of the Simha dais facing the Shrineroom inside the Temple.

The blue panel at the back of the outside of the Shrineroom is the back of where the Rajarajeshwari statue is located.

When this Temple was established a 100 years ago by the ancestors of the current A.Valagurumudaliar Annaporni family, the small pink structure was the whole of the original Temple. As time progressed what is now the current Rajarajeshwari Temple grew around the original Shrineroom below.

The next photograph is of the Goddess, in another of her aspects, located inside the Compound but outside the Shrineroom.

Currently a small Shiva Temple (i.e. Rajarajeshwaran) is being constructed adjacent to the current Goddess Shrine. The Lingam in the below photograph will get moved into its own small Temple when complete.

The Nandi below is also awaiting completion of the new Temple, afterwhich it will be positioned facing the Shiva Lingam.

A view of the small garden surrounding the Rajarajeshwari Temple.

This lovely Amman Temple is becoming increasing popular for people performing Girivalam. It is estimated each month during the day of Poornima over 50,000 people visit this Temple. The number increases to 100,000 on the day of the annual Bharani Deepam (which this year is celebrated on November 24th, 2007).

For full information of Poornima and Deepam dates please check this link.