Sparsa Hotel Update

Stopped by Sparsa, Tiruvannamalai, the luxury hotel of the area, to see whether the Hotel is fully finished. Well, no it isn't but its getting there.

The theme of the hotel is eco-heritage and throughout the complex both granite and thatched has been used extensively.

In the next photograph are the accommodation cottages - 2 rooms upstairs and 2 downstairs of each cottage with all rooms facing Arunachala.

The Kashmiri gift shop is already open for business.

On the right are reception, ayurveda centre, and health club. The shops on the left; a flower shop and a tea/coffee bar. The big building at the end is the restaurant with conference room upstairs.

The standard room, the theme of which is repeated in all accommodation units.

The entrance to the bathroom - with a very nice sink, which I think would look very nice in my own home - hmmm!

The swimming pool, with Arunachala in the background obscured by a young tree. The upstairs will be used for out-of-door functions.

A better view of the swimming pool. The logo in the centre is a 'fingerprint' and is repeated throughout the Hotel. The word 'Sparsa', is Sanksrit for 'touch' of which the fingerprint represents.

The next photograph is of the health club, which is still being equipped and organised. But nearly there.

The restaurant, will be open 24 hours a day with seating capacity for 48. I ate there on Christmas Eve and very nice it was too.

A view of Arunachala from the Hotel compound.

The accommodation units are distinctively two storey, with red facade. Most of the other buildings encompassing shops, administration etc., are single storey structures.

The landscaping is going very well and I noticed that the grass was laid in long, wide strips like carpet - the painless gardening method. Wonder what everything is going to look like after 3-4 months of the scorching summer heat - probably green will turn to brown!

These nifty old fashioned motor scooters are available for rent to Hotel guests.

There are several areas that need to be completed, the ayurveda centre and health club are not yet open and more landscaping work waits. But so far, so good, and everything looks fine. If you want more information about this Hotel you can get in touch at: arunachalana dot fastmail dot com

That Electric Supply!

There has been very little in the way of information and/or updates on Arunachala Grace for a while due to the combined circumstances of suspect electric supply, improvements to my house and the introduction of a new dog into the family that we have adopted from our local Animal Shelter. The dog is a very nice German Shepherd (Alastian) we have named Victor (much more about him in later posts).

On the electric front, the problem has been a dangerous and highly erratic electricity supply - so much so, that having the computer on was a nerve wracking experience. Well, everything came to a head one evening last week when in this area for the whole evening 440 current was passed through lines meant for 220 – consequently LOTS of blown T.V.s, lights, fridges etc. in the neighbourhood. On the night it happened, I fortunately had my computer off, but lots of other electric items in my home got 'fried'.

Happily the Electricity Board seems to have recitied the problem, so hopefully from now on computer access in this area will be simpler and safer.

Explore Vodpod

You may enjoy looking at the new 'Vodpod' at the bottom left margin of this site. The Pod, which is entitled 'Explore' invites you to explore both the inner and outer Universe. To begin with there is a very nice Shiva (who is representative of consciousness) montage. Which is rather appropriate as Mahashivaratri, the major Shiva festival celebrated both at Arunachala and throughout India, occurs (this year) at the beginning of March. The second video is a short compilation of Sri Ramana Maharshi's teachings with photographs of the sage and Arunachala. In the third video, Robert Anton Wilson, the brilliant and witty scientist, talks about perception. He explains how perception is a gamble and how we believe what we see and our interpretation of it without even realising that most of the time, we have even made an interpretation. And finally the fourth video of the 'Vodpod' is of ten extraordinary photographs of the Universe taken by the Hubble Space Telescope.

AKSP needs support

We have written many times on Arunachala Grace about the Arunachala Kattu Siva Plantation and about their excellent reforestation work. One of the most unique aspects of their work is that the structure of their organisation is such that it empowers the forest worker with a voice in decision making. Sadly, as is often true in the case of the worthiest of organisations, AKSP is in a precarious financial position and urgently needs the support of Arunachala devotees to help fund their work. Otherwise their organisation might have to fold - which will be sad day for Arunachala reforestation.

To understand exactly what it is they do, please check an earlier posting here. And also to meet some of the friendly, hardworking decent forest workers, please read about a recent Saraswati Puja at this link.

Funny House

This funny little house is a real head turner. It is located at the back of Kubera Lingam, and seems wonderfully bizarre. What happened? Is it some kind of strange joke? How is it possible that the construction has advanced to this point, without anybody seemingly to notice that it definitely is not safe or in anyway fit for habitation?

Such tiny little columns to bear the weight of such a chunky house - how is it possible?

Now would you feel safe walking up this flight of stairs?

The below photograph shows the funny house in all its strange glory. But the scariest thing of all is that the reed bars on the top of the house, indicate that the builders intend going up another floor. Tell me it isn't true?

Arunachala Grace News, February 2008

This day, the February issue of Arunachala Grace News was sent direct to subscribers email inboxes. The issue includes a narrative and explanation of the Thiruvoodal Festival, an important Festival at Arunachala but hitherto mostly unknown to non-Tamil speakers as a result of lack of availability of information in English. There are also interesting narratives on Dakshinamurti, the relevance of 'colour' in our daily lives, a delightful short story entitled, 'A priest who worshipped luck,' which explores the adage; 'A fool's curse can be a wise man's blessing!' and an essay on 'Life Purpose'. Our indigenous bird and plant/fruit of the month; are the Brahminy Kite and the ayurvedic and health properties of the versatile Coconut. As usual we have a section on 'Arunachala Tidbits', inspiration and poems.

For a free subscription to this monthly Newsletter, please go to the facility at the lefthand margin of this website frontpage.

Balaji at Tiruvannamalai

Visited the beautiful new Temple of Lord Venkateshwara currently being constructed southeast of Arunchala near to the Kubera Lingam.

click to enlarge

The above is a photograph of the beautiful statue in the inner shrine, which is identical in all aspects to the famous Lord at Seven Hills, Tirupati. In front of Balaji are his consorts, Sridevi and Bhudevi. More soon.

Mantra Jam

As promised here is additional information on earlier events at Tiruvannamalai; Ramana Rocks and Arunai Rocks, check out this posting. Both musical evenings featured rather unusual musical fusion by a group of contemporary musicians. One of the members of the musical ensemble is; J. Jayaraman who has been a resident of Ramana Ashram since 1985. He heads the Ramanashram Library and handles the Book Review column of the Ashram’s, ‘Mountain Path,’ magazine and has also served on its editorial board. He is an editorial advisor to the Tamil Journal, Ramanadhayam. J. Jayaraman’s interests range from afforestation and modern science to metrical chanting, mantras and movies.

To find out more about the group and events, read in the following in his own words.

Ramana Ashram Jam

“A month ago I left for Bangalore for a recording of 3 mantras for the Dances of Universal Peace's workshop at Sao Paulo, March 15-22nd. I am hoping to have at least one of them, if not all eventually, to be incorporated in a Dance designed around the sacred meaning exuding off each mantra.

My maternal cousin, is the founder and Lead guitarist of a trio, progrock band, which was rated the Best Band by World Space Radio for 2007. I had jammed with his group [Thermal and a Quarter] at some varied venues, and it had sounded and felt good on every occasion.

After completing the recording and mailing them off as .mp3 attachments to email, I got to witnessing the next act in the slick and simple Studio of my cousin's Band in downtown Bangalore. There was to be a rehearsal of ‘The Karthik Mani Fusion Group,’ [a motley group composed of skilled musicians from across genres]. There was Prakash Sontakke, a triple graduate from BHU [veena, vocal and guitar] and honoured with several awards [his website is worth a visit, vast and well endowed as he himself is]. He is a consummate artiste, and freely flows across cultures.

Ramana Ashram Jam

Karthik Mani, the leader of the Fusion Group, is a master percussionist facile in all types of Carnatic percussion as well as Jazz-Rock explorations, and can work up the instant magic of the blur of multiplying limbs that gives soul to skin and metal.

Rzhude's electric Bass can pack a mean rhythm and yet alternate with ethereal softness.

Adarsh on Tabla, youngest of them all, is a perspicacious player, providing exciting Northern foil to the Southern percussion,. and oozes romance in the rub.

President of Ramana Ashram with J Jayaraman

The Fusion Group conferred among themselves and didn't take long to decide on their 'starter' number for the concert the following evening. They started the rehearsal with Prakash's guitar 'sliding' into a raga [Naattai, perhaps, one of the few ragas reserved for primal invocation to] Ganesha. Then it was a roller-coaster ride into Fusion -land, what with Prakash's solo succeeded by solos from Bruce's guitar, Rzhude's bass and back to Prakash, and ending in a rush of flaming percussion in a Drums-Tabla dialogue that could only rightfully end in a Konnakkol Bol [verbal percussion duel]. But did it?

Arunai Hotel Jam

I couldn't help noticing how complete the whole thing would be if the Vedic mantra to Ganapati could be heard just at that juncture. When the Bol stopped on the 'samam', I was ready and chanted out the mantra for the rest to play along without break:

Arunai Hotel Jam

gaNAnAm tvA
gaNapati gam havAmahE
kaving kavInAm
upama sravastamam

Thou art the Lord of all groupings
To thee we offer Worship
O Poet of the poets
Whose fame is well-known

jyEshTha rAjam brhmaNAm
brhmaNaspata AnasruNvan nUtibhih sIda sAdhanam
mahA gaNapatayE namah

The Foremost thou art among the Great groupings
O thou Lord of the Chanters
Come to hear us
Heal the road by thy Presence!

It was an electric moment. When the chant got over, there was unanimous exclamation that the chant should start the song at the show.

Arunai Hotel Jam

As I got onto the bus after the show the following night, it was clear to me this group would serve as an admirable vehicle for my purposes of making mantra-jam. There was spontaneous acceptance all round by the members to come to Tiruvannamalai for a concert at the Ashram that I'd wanted focussed on selected verses from Bhagavan's ‘Monday Tamil Parayana’, the short poems of Sankara alongside their equivalent Tamil verses composed by Sri Ramana and sung at the Parayana.

As I returned, I was witness to a miracle in the form of an amazing coincidence ...A Concert video had been placed on my table at the Library by a friend on the day of my departure to Bangalore. When I returned I found it was the fusion concert of the group Khanda-5, with Karthik Mani's parents [both of whom are the founders of the Karnataka College of Percussion] jamming with Bulgarian and Irish musicians. What a coincidence that the parents of a person who was outside my domain of contacts had 'arrived' at my space in a DVD, weeks before I met the son incorporeal jam.

Arunai Hotel Jam

When I returned to the ashram and spoke about the concert and the rest of it, I found the President and Sri Mani very positive about having such a concert in the Ashram.

It was obvious that The Mantra-JJam Sextet would have to work out its game within the restriction of the impossibility of group practice before a concert, given the facts of location and careers. Pushing decision easily onwards to a focus on Spontaneous Unfoldment was the fact that the none of the five had ever been exposed to Ramana lore's poems while most of us here are well acquainted with their resonance. It was obvious it was a momentum intended to flow on its own powered by mantric vibratory presence amplified thru the manifested rhythm ornamenting the self-declared metric structures of the mantras.

The rest just flowed...and what followed as an unfolding flower was there for all to hear and see.”

THE MANTRA-JAM SEXTET
[Composed of]

Vocals: J Jayaraman [ashram]
Slide Guitar: pt. Prakash Sontakke [Bangalore]

www.prakashsontakke.com
Electric Guitar: Bruce Lee Mani [Bangalore]

www.ThermalAndAQuarter.com
Electric Bass: Rzhude [Bangalore] [Thermal and a Quarter]

Jazz & Carnatic Percussion: Kartik Mani [Karnataka College of

Percussion]
Tabla: Adarsh [Bangalore] "

The above narrative is all in the words of J Jayaraman. The Mantra-Jam Sextet hope to be performing soon in Chennai. Will post information as to venue and dates of their performance as soon as it is available.

************************************************

What the MJS hopes to present at its concert at Chennai under the auspices of the Chennai Ramana Kendra:

Excerpts highlighting metres and enunciation so that meaning flowers as experience as one sings along.

From:
[1] Arunachala Mahatmyam/Navamani Malai/Ashtakam

[2] excerpts from Sankara's small poems which Bhagavan had translated into Tamil verse

In original Sanskrit followed by Tamil

[3] Appalap-paattu/Anma Vidya Keertanam

[4] excerpts from 40-verses Anubandham

[5] excerpts from Kavya Kantha's Ramana Chatvarimsat, Guru Stuti, Ramana Gita and UMa Sahasram.

This is a Fusion which aims at manifesting the foot-tapping rhythms inherent to all metres. These lie hidden in most our metres since Indian metres are on hierarchical [binary] structure and so are very vast in their 'progeny'.

The duration allotted to a guru is twice that of laghu
The duration allotted to the gap at the end of each pada is more flexible, even a laghu could be uttered as laghu and the gap that follows before the start of the next pada, is solely a function of the filler needed to complete the counting of say a given number [say 32, or 16, or 8 or 4 for an even gait
OR
36, or 18, or 12, or 9, or 6 or 3 matras of matras per pada, for a Waltz-like gait [all Tamil venbas, for example].

Mysterious Neem Tree

On Tuesday this week was in Ramana Ashram bookshop when I overhead a couple of folk talk about the 'milk' from a Neem tree. A couple of hours later at Ramana Ashram Library, JJ (J. Jayaraman) the Librarian, asked me whether I had yet gone to visit the mysterious Neem Tree. Well it was all too fascinating and as soon as I had finished my work at the Library, headed of for the Gokulam at Ramana Ashram.

Arrived at the pretty Gokulam at the back of Ramana Ashram and headed for the much discussed Neem Tree.

And here it is, exuding some strange kind of white liquid - which is not the colour of Neem sap - and also the tree has been exuding for nearly three days. Frankly, people are rather perplexed by the strange phenomenon of this 20 year old tree. What is going on? Certainly ashramites are regularly visiting the tree and some are taking little drops of the exude, in the form of a kind of prasad.

In the next photograph the tree with Arunachala in the background.


And the last photograph of the series, the curious exuding Neem tree in closeup.

Speed of Development

The result of the last quiz on Arunachala Grace asking readers thoughts on the speed of development of the Tiruvannamalai area; 69% believe the area is developing too fast, 24% said that there were too many tourist concessions, 22% think tradition is being ignored. Interestingly NOT one person voted that the speed of development of Tiruvannamalai is a good thing. (readers were allowed to vote for more than one option)

Thiruvoodal Festival

An important festival connected with Arunachala occurs during the time of Pongal and is known as the Thiruvoodal Festival. This Festival is celebrated on January 16th and is ennacted inside the compound of Arunachaleswarar Temple, on the streets delineating the perimeter of the Temple, and on the girivalam pathway itself, by iconic representations of Shiva/Parvati in order to convey moral and social truths to their devotees.

The word 'Voodal,' means 'petty quarrel' or 'tiff' and emissaries are employed by both of the Divine Couple to convey messages between the deities and participate in ‘brokering a deal’ between them.

A variety of sagas (all listed below) concerning the Gods are used to create the scenario of the 'petty quarrel' that needs resolution.

And at the end of their quarrels, finally:

Returning to his residence at the Arunachaleswarar Temple, Shiva knocks at the door but it has been bolted by Parvati. As if he didn’t know, Lord Shiva asks,
‘Oh my darling why have you locked the door?’
‘Sir after we came to an understanding still you went without me. And see now look you have lost everything there is no ornament or clothes. Not, only that but you went and gave darshan to all kinds of people. So, I am now requesting you must establish your manliness to me and retrieve everything that is lost and give the special one-legged dance.’
Shiva starts the dance, Parvati forgets everything and opens the door.

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Thiruvoodal Sagas

Story of Ganga

Goddess Parvati is happy watching the one-legged dance of Lord Shiva, but on noticing Goddess Ganga in the matted locks of her Lord, Parvati becomes recalcitrant and withdrawn. Shiva asks his emissary Sundarar to;
‘Please go and tell her the reason. My dear friend Sundaram, I do not do anything for my own self-interest; Bhagavati did intense tapas to bring down the river of the Gods, the Ganga, in order to pacify the souls of the 1,000 ancestors that had been burnt by the look of Kapala Rishi. Because Bhagavati did tapas, the Ganga was brought down, I had nothing to do with it and when the water came down it was so forceful, everyone said it had to be stopped or it would destroy the earth. So, what was meant to be the medicine is turning out to be another story. So they asked me to do this thing, so please explain this to Parvati. Tell her that all the creatures of the world, her creatures would have been destroyed unless I had helped negate the power of the water cascading unto the Earth.’

Mohini and the Sages

Because the Rishis of Dwaraka got too proud in that they had technology that could yield anything and attain all fruits, they started to believe that there was no need for any divine person as they had the use of; ‘yagna’ technology. In addition they had wives of unquestionable chastity.
Shiva informs Sundarar to convey to Parvati that;
‘To show the Rishis, that they are born of you (i.e. Parvati) and me and are our progeny and shouldn’t think that power is coming to them on its own. If their activities bear fruits it is because we have laid down the laws for it.
To show this, I ordained that the enchantingly beautiful Mohini (a manifestation of Lord Vishnu) appeared to the Rishis, who were completely ensared by her, as too were the rishis’ wives to my own Form as an mouna ascetic. I did this to the reduce the ego of these rishis and also grace their wives by affording them darshan of my mouna ascetic manifestation.

Shiva’s ascetic manifestation

Shiva says in the course of the Thiruvoodal;
‘Don’t put your trust into anything, everything is reduced to bone – all is reduced to ashes. So this is the symbol of the final residue. So, that is the reason I am found with this skull, no other reason.’

Sage Bringi

In order to give darshan and blessings to the Sage Bringi, Shiva sets off to perform circumbulation of Arunachala, and thus enrages Parvati who is angry with the sage for his refusal to worship her.** Parvati’s anger, creates maya (Maya Swarupa), and from that maya emerge thieves who strip Shiva of his ornaments and clothes, whilst he is performing pradakshina. This stripping of Shiva is actually yearly enacted at the same spot (during Voodal Festival) upon the idol that is being carried around the Hill.
Shiva explains to Parvati (through his emissary Sundarar) that, to satisfy the desire of devotees, he has taken a vow to appear in the form in which he is worshipped. In accordance with that vow he has given darshan to Bringi. He further tells his emissary Sundarar to convey to Parvati;
‘My darling you know Sakti can never be separated from Shiva in just the way the mud pot can never be separated from the mud. You can’t say, “Give the pot without all that other stuff!” You cannot have the form just like that. You know it my dear that Shiva-Sakti can never be separated, so in accordance with the understanding of devotees, I am appearing in this form.’
‘Sundarar please explain to Parvati so that she will reduce this tiff.’
Returning to his residence at the Arunachaleswarar Temple, Shiva knocks at the door but it has been bolted by Parvati. As if he didn’t know, Lord Shiva asks,
‘Oh my darling why have you locked the door?’
‘Sir after we came to an understanding still you went without me. And see now look you have lost everything there is no ornament or clothes. Not, only that but you went and gave darshan to all kinds of people. So, I am now requesting you must establish your manliness to me and retrieve everything that is lost and give the special one-legged dance.’
Shiva starts the dance, Parvati forgets everything and opens the door.



Story of Bringi’s maya**

“Sage Bringi considered that Shiva’s Grace the ultimate source for existence. He was an ardent votary of Lord Shiva to the exclusion of any deity in the worship including Parvati! He refused to worship Shakti, a woman. Even during his daily worship, he would circumbulate only the Lord ignoring Mother Shakti, with a flashing spark of arrogance.

The divine couple wanted to enlighten the sage and hence assumed a unique form sharing his body with Parvati. The couple took the form of Ardhanareshwara and stood unified inseparable to every atom. Even then the egoistic sage took the form of a bee (Bringa is a Sanskrit for Bee and the sage came to be called Bringi because he once became a bee) and tried to pierce through the body of the Lord so that he could go around only the Shiva part.

In every human body the static force of Shiva constitutes the bone and the skin and the dynamic force of Shakti triggers the blood and flesh. Goddess Shakti, being the power as the name indicates, pulled out her energy from Bringi's body. Now he was a mere skeleton and was even unable to stand. The Lord pacified Parvati and gave the sage one more leg to stand. The sage soon realized his folly and understood that life becomes dynamic only by the blending of both grace and force which are not contradictory but complementary to each other.”

[Sage Bringi story with thanks to Aravind Venkatraman]

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In this month's Arunachala Grace News the 'Thiruvoodal' is examined in greater depth. So if you are not yet a subscriber to the Newsletter, please check out the subscribe facility at the left hand column of this page, under Newsletter.

The Nandis

Pongal, Harvest Festival is followed by Mattu Pongal; the Cow Festival and Thiruvoodal Festival. The below photograph is of a decorated Temple Nandi during the recently celebrated Pongal Festival.

click image to enlarge

During this time the five Nandis; Pradosha Nandi, in the Moolastanam, Ratha Vilaku Nandi in the Second Prakaram, Kodi Kampathu Nandi in the Third Prakaram, Chinna Nandi in the fourth prakaram and the Periyar Nandi that stands in front of the Vallala Gopuram in the Fifth Prakaram, are all decorated with garlands and foodstuff.

Big Temple Photographs

Am posting a series of beautiful photographs recently taken of Arunachaleswarar Temple. Click on the photographs to view enlarged version.

In the below the flagpole located directly infront of Siva Sannidhi, the sanctum sanctorum of the whole Arunachaleswarar Compound, and wherein is the Siva Lingam.



The next series of three photographs are taken from upstairs, a view not often seen by visitors as it is generally off limits.

Topsoil disappearing

I previously posted water problem which talks about farmers in Tamil Nadu, cultivating water-intensive crops and indiscriminately exploiting groundwater for irrigation, thus leading to a steep fall in the water table. In this respect it is only in comparatively recent times that such water intensive crops as paddy (rice) started to be cultivated in Tiruvannamalai District. The proliferation of 'bore-wells' allowing individual farms, independent water access, is responsible for the intensive, inappropriate crop cultivation in this area. When all is said and done this is just not the right climate for yearly rice cultivation! In the above mentioned posting, it was also stated that by the juidicious planting of less water intensive crops the area would achieve a 10% reduction in the agricultural sector, thereby considerably easing the impending water shortage situation. At this time agriculture accounts for 85-90% of the total use of water in Tamil Nadu.

The current easy access of existing groundwater is also encouraging farmers to indulge in continuous crop rotation, never allowing the soil to rest and revitalize and exacerbating the disappearance of topsoil. In ths respect, the below abridged article from the U.S. investigates problems faced there with the gradual disappearance of topsoil.

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“Call it the thin brown line. Dirt. On average, the planet is covered with little more than 3 feet of topsoil; the shallow skin of nutrient-rich matter that sustains most of our food and appears to play a critical role in supporting life on Earth.

The estimate is that we are now losing about 1% of topsoil every year to erosion mostly caused by intensive agriculture. To combat this some farmers in the U.S. are beginning to adopt ‘no-till’ methods, which involves not tilling the land between plantings, leaving crop stubble to reduce erosion and planting new seeds between the stubble rows.

David Montgomery has written a book entitled, "Dirt" to call public attention to what he believes is a neglected environmental catastrophe. A geomorphologist who studies how landscapes form, Montgomery describes modern agricultural practices as ‘soil mining’ to emphasize that we are rapidly outstripping the Earth's natural rate of restoring topsoil. The National Academy of Sciences has determined that cropland in the U.S. is being eroded at least 10 times faster than the time it takes for lost soil to be replaced.

Healthy topsoil is a biological matrix, a housing complex for an incredibly diverse community of organisms; billions of beneficial microbes per handful, nitrogen-fixing fungi, nutrients and earthworms whose digestive tracts transform the fine grains of sterile rock and plant detritus into the fertile excrement that gave rise to the word itself ("drit," in Old Norse).

As such, true living topsoil cannot be made overnight and grows back, very slowly, at a rate of an inch or two over hundreds of years. Erosion rates in some U.S. regions have recently improved because of better conservation farming practices, including leaving some natural ground cover in areas of high erosion. Another way of losing soil is by paving it over with regards to urban development. But while some land is lost to development, pollution or changing weather patterns, it is believed that global soil loss is a crisis mostly rooted in agriculture. Soil tilling also seriously exacerbates mud and muddy runoff.

Every year fields are tilled and rains come, washing away the soil - which is just powder, brown dust. It's dead. There's no worms, no life in it. However in no-till fields the dirt is coarsely textured, darker and full of roots, debris and bacteria.

Switching to ‘no-till’ farming requires investment and learning new techniques and also depends more on herbicides because weeds are no longer controllable by ploughing them into the soil. Organic farming methods also can reduce soil loss and has been shown to increase soil health, water retention and regrowth when organic methods are used rather than the traditional methods.”

[Abridged from a report by Tom Paulson)

Aerial View Arunachaleswarar Temple

Click photograph to enlarge

The above is a brilliant Google Map satellite view of the 25 acre Arunachaleswarar Temple Compound and some of the surrounding Tiruvannamalai.

Sowmyanath Temple

Nandalur is a village in Kadapa District, Andhra Pradesh and on the west bank of the Cheyyeru River. It was once a famous Buddhist Centre and in 1913 Buddhist caves were discovered there.

I read recently that at Nandalur there is the Temple of Lord Sowmyanath, which has been patronized by Kings and Rulers since ancient times, and is situated on nearly 10 acres. The interesting aspect of this Temple is that supposedly it is a replica of Arunachaleswarar Temple in Tiruvannamalai. If anyone has information on this Temple would be happy to hear from you.