Museum Progress

Wondering how progress on the Museum/Visitors Centre at the Mountain of Medicine was going, so decided to drop by and have a look. The Park is located a short distance on Chengam Road, west of Ramana Ashram. Below is the front gate of the Mountain of Medicine.

Currently work is underway on improving the beginning of the (inner) mountain path around Arunachala and developing walkways; trees are being planted, and lovely paintings of local birds and wildlife are being placed in strategic spots around the walks and parks.

Lots of young saplings and plants both for the Mountain of Medicine and for sale to the general public for their own homes and land.


And the next series of photographs show the progress of the Visitors Centre.


The Visitor's Centre will be the focal part of the Mountain of Medicine eco-park. As soon as agreement was reached with the District Collector regarding the development of this Centre, an architect set to work and came up with a concept envisaging three separate blocks in one harmonious complex.



The blocks will house; a museum, environmental centre and office with herbarium of Hill plants, library, craft shop and cafe. To make use of the cooling mass of the earth, the buildings will be into the ground around the base of a small hillock in the eco-park.

Temple Museum

The Thousand Pillar Hall in Tiruvannamalai Arunachaleswarar Temple, kept closed throughout the year despite its sculptural richness, will now house a Museum which will feature various aspects and information about the Temple.

The Thousand Pillar Hall, situated near the Raja Gopuram of the Arunachaleswarar Temple, possesses carved stone pillars, and once served as a rice warehouse for the Tamil Nadu Civil Supply Corporation. After that use was abandoned the Hall was then used to house the Temple elephant. Since the time the elephant was given other housing, the Thousand Pillar Hall has remained locked and used only during the annual 'Arudhra Darshan' festival, when it was opened for the murti of Lord Nataraja to give 'darshan' to thousands of devotees, waiting outside the Hall.

As interested parties were worried about the plight of the Thousand Pillar Hall which is believed to have been constructed during the Krishnadevaraya period, (early 16th Century) the Government proposed to establish a Museum in the Mandapam. The Temple administration has sought suggestions on the setting up of the museum from the Commissioner of Museums, and as a consequence detailed recommendations have been given to the Temple authorities.

In the report, it has been recommended, that the proposed Museum should be set up utilising 12,700 sq ft (nearly half) of the Hall featuring hundreds of bronze, metallic and wooden objects, small stone sculptures, portraits collected by the Temple administration and a model of the temple. Also a sculpture garden could be set up in 8,400 sq ft land near the Hall, in which old stone-carved Temple works could be exhibited.

The proposed Museum work would need funding of about Rs.50 Lakhs.