2017 Adi Pooram: Arunachaleswarar Temple—Flag Raising

The below sequence of photographs were taken yesterday (Monday 17 July,  2017) on the first day of Adi Pooram as observed at Arunachaleswarar Temple. 

After puja and aarti Goddess Unnamulai is carried to the Flag Post mandapam where she views the Flag Raising ceremony in the 3rd Prakaram of the Temple.

Alankaram of Goddess Unnamulai

Aarti offered to the Goddess

Goddess Carried out of Shrine to view the Flag Raising Ceremony

The Goddess is to the right watching the Ceremony

Adi Pooram Flag Raising Ceremony for Adi Pooram Festival

Aarti being offered to the Mother not showing on photograph. Nice snap of Nandi in front of the Flagpost

The schedule for the Adi Pooram Festival is listed in my previous posting at this link here. However Adi Pooram will not only be observed at Arunachaleswarar Temple but at all other Shakti Temples throughout Tiruvannamalai. 

A favoured darshan for the final day puja, this year will occur on Wednesday 26 July, 2017 at 6 p.m. at the Temple of Sri Rajarajeshwari off the Girivalam Roadway. 

Adi Pooram Puja, Sri Rajarajeshwari Temple 2016

Mookupodi Swamigal Location

Many readers eager to contact Mookupodi Swami, have contacted Arunachala Grace asking where they can find him and take darshan. This posting is to help you locate Swamigal. 

He is usually at the Navagraha Shrine in the early mornings, and if he goes to other places, he will generally return there. The Shrine is located near the well-known Unnamulai Amman Temple about 3 kms on the Girivalam Roadway after it forks off from the NH66.

Unnamulai Temple, Arunachala Girivalam Roadway

Navagraha Shrine

Adi Pooram Festival 2014, Flag Hoisting

Today Flag Hoisting at the Unnumalai Shrine at the Big Temple was observed in celebration of the start of the 2014 Adi Pooram Festival. 

Flagpost at Mother's Shrine with Gopurams and Arunachala background

Devi Parashakti at Unnamulai Shrine

Flag Hoisting, 2014 Adi Pooram Festival

Arunachaleswarar 2014 Adi Pooram Celebrations

Arulmigu Arunachaleswarar Temple, Tiruvannamalai 

Adi Pooram Invitation

Dates: 

From: 21-07-2014 Monday 

To: 20-07-2014 Wednesday 

On all days and night from 21-07-20-14 to 29-07-2014 Lord Ganapati and Parashakti are brought out in procession. 

On the morning of 30-07-2014 there is a Panchamoorthi abhishekam and later a function at the Bangle Mandapam. 

In the evening there is a special abshishekam for Parashakti, a procession then Firewalk ceremony conducted in front of the Unnamulai Shrine at Arunachaleswarar Temple. 

Adi Pooram Fire Walking Schedule

Tomorrow, Friday August 9, 2013 around 4.00 p.m. marks the beginning of the Amman Worship by the Ladies at Arunachaleswarar Temple and later that night Fire Walking at Arunachaleswarar Temple in front of the Unnamulai Shrine.

For a full pictorial report of a previous Adi Pooram and Fire Walking at Arunachaleswarar Temple please go to this link here. The report includes the 2009 worship of Amman in Vallaikappu, her worship by the Ladies and preparations by devotees for fire-walking and also photographs of the fire ritual itself.

Fire walking is still a regular event in Tiruvannamalai and other South Indian towns. Usually wood or charcoal is burnt and the smouldering embers laid out onto the ground. Commonly the ceremony is held under the auspices of a Temple, and in the case of Arunachaleswarar Temple the occurrence takes place once year at the time of Adi Pooram. This year the Fire Walking ceremony will take place around 1.00 a.m. early morning of August 10, 2013, in front of the Unnamulaiamman Shrine at Arunachaleswarar Temple, which will be specially kept open for the function.

Many hundreds of devotees will turn up for the ceremony, but the fire walking itself will only be undertaken by devotees of the Divine Mother who have been observing a special sadhana over the previous 30 days (including a fast) in order to prepare themselves for the ‘test of devotion’. Those who participate are ordinary householders and largely non-Brahmins. In some cases devotees are given a mantra to recite during their fire walk.

Preparing Fire for later Fire Walking Ceremony, Unnamulai Shrine

In all Temples, where the fire-walking ceremony is practised, it is a Goddess that is worshipped. In the case of the Arunachaleswarar Temple, it is the Goddess Unnamulai that is duly placated. The actual ceremony will occur on the paved courtyard in front of the Unnamulai Amman Shrine, inside the compound of the Big Temple.

A Tamil legend narrates the story that in Singavaram there is a Temple dedicated to Sri Ranganadha. Here a king named Kandhan, after suffering a defeat, performed a fire walking ceremony in worship of Draupadi (from the Mahabharata). Draupadi, pleased with the worship, appeared before the king and promised that whoever should worship her as he had done would remain unscathed and also obtain whatever they prayed for. From that day onwards the fire-walking festival is observed with great enthusiasm in Tamil Nadu.

Proposed schedule of Adi Pooram and Fire Walking at Arunachaleswarar Temple

Friday August 9, 2013

5.00 a.m. Amman Abhishekam

6.00 a.m. Alangaram

8.00 a.m. Amman from Sannadhi to Vallaikappu Mandapam

4.00 p.m. Amman in Vallaikappu and the worship of Amman by ladies

4.00 p.m. Abhishekam

6.00 p.m. Valaikappu

8.00 p.m. Amman goes around the Temple and returns to Vallaikappu Mandapam

Large Crowds will begin to build up. TEMPLE REMAINS OPEN.

11.00 p.m. Preparations for Fire Walking Ceremony.

Saturday August 10, 2013 Midnight

1.00 a.m. Adi Pooram Fire Walking 

Deepavali Blessings from the Goddess at Arunachala

WISHING ALL, GRACE AND LIGHT DURING
THIS JOYOUS FESTIVAL

Lord Arunachaleswarar and Goddess Unamulai

Goddess Shrine at Arunachaleswarar Temple

Goddess Rajarajeshwari,
Shrine on Girivalam Roadway

Goddess Rajarajeshwari

Goddess Durga Amman Temple

Goddess Periyar Karuamman Temple

Pavala Kundru Temple, Arunachala Hill Spur

Goddess Pachaiamman Temple,
South East Arunachala

Fire Walking Arunachala

Fire walking is still a regular event in Tiruvannamalai and other South Indian towns. Usually wood or charcoal is burnt and the smouldering embers laid out onto the ground. Commonly the ceremony is held under the auspices of a Temple, and in the case of Arunachaleswarar Temple the occurrence takes place once year. This year the Fire Walking ceremony took place around 2 a.m. this morning in front of the Unnamulaiamman Shrine at the Arunachaleswarar Temple, which was specially kept open for the function.

To view enlarged version of all photographs right click on each snap

Many hundreds of devotees turned up for the ceremony, but the fire walking itself was only undertaken by devotees of the Divine Mother who had been observing special procedures over the previous 30 days (including fast) in order to prepare themselves for the ‘test of devotion’. Those who participated were ordinary householders and largely non-Brahmins. In some cases devotees were given a mantra to recite during their fire walk.

In all Temples, where the fire-walking ceremony is practised, it is a Goddess that is worshipped. In the case of the Arunachaleswarar Temple, it is the Goddess Unnamulai that is duly placated.

The actual ceremony occurs on the paved courtyard in front of the Unnamulaiamman Shrine, inside the compound of the Big Temple, a fixed day during the month of Adi (mid-July to mid-August). At that time a fire of burning embers is spread out after midnight for people to walk upon.

A Tamil legend narrates the story that in Singavaram there is a Temple to Sri Ranganadha. Here a king named Kandhan, after suffering a defeat, performed a fire walking ceremony in worship of Draupadi (from the Mahabharata). Draupadi, pleased with the worship, appeared before the king and promised that whoever should worship her as he had done would remain unscathed and also obtain whatever they prayed for. From that day onwards the fire-walking festival is observed with great enthusiasm in Tamil Nadu.

In the upcoming Arunachala Grace Newsletter there will be a narrative explaining the history and esoteric significance of the fire walking ceremony as it is performed at the Unnamulaiamman Shrine at Arunachaleswarar Temple.

If you are not receiving your copy of the bi-monthly Newsletter direct to your email inbox, please visit the Newsletter subscribe facility which you can find at the left column margin of this page.

High quality professional photographs of the actual fire walking will be posted in the upcoming week. Please keep checking back to view updates of this ceremony.

Shakti Fire Walking

[The photographs are of the firewalking ceremony of a previous year in front of the Unnamulai Shrine, Arunachalaeswarar Temple].

Fire walking is still a regular event in Tiruvannamalai and other South Indian towns. Usually wood or charcoal is burnt and the smouldering embers laid out onto the ground. The ceremony is usually held under the auspices of a Temple, and in the case of Arunachaleswarar Temple held once a year during this the month of Adi. In this respect the fire walking ceremony will actually take place this week at different Shaktis Temples at Tiruvannamalai and in respect of the Arunachaleswarar Temple, the fire walking ceremony will occur in front of the Unnamulai Shrine in the Arunachaleswarar Compound.




Those who participate are ordinary householders and are largely non-Brahmins. In some cases the devotees are give a mantra to recite and may fast for some days before the ritual. In all temples where the fire-walking ceremony is practised it is a Goddess that is worshipped. In the case of the Arunachaleswarar Temple, it is the Goddess Unnamulai that is duly placated. The actually ceremony occurs on the paved courtyard in front of the Temple of Unnamulai, inside the compound of the Big Temple, on the full moon day of the month of Adi (mid-July to mid-August). At that time a fire of burning embers is spread out after midnight for people to walk upon.




There is a Tamil story that in a place in Singavaram, there is a temple to Sri Ranganadha. Here a king named Kandhan, after suffering a defeat, performed a fire walking ceremony in worship of Draupadi (from the Mahabharata). Draupadi, pleased with the worship, appeared before the king and promised that whoever should worship her as he had done would remain unscathed and also obtain whatever they prayed for. From that day onwards the fire-walking festival is observed with great enthusiasm in Tamil Nadu.