The Thiruvannamalai or the hill of Thiruvanmiyur is believed to be Lord Shiva himself.
Long ago, there arose a dispute between Lord Vishnu and Lord Brahman on who is superior. Lord Shiva agreed to be the supreme judge. He became a mountain of fire and asked both the disputers to find the top and bottom of the fire. Whoever finds it first will be superior to other.
Both Lord Vishnu and Lord Brahman started their search. After a long search Lord Brahman found a flower of screw pine falling downwards. He found out that the flower is falling for thousands of four-fold Yugas from the crest of the fire. Lord Brahman asked the flower to lie with him that they had traveled down together and he had seen the crest of the fire.
However, Lord Brahman could not take in omniscient Lord Shiva with his falsehood. As a punishment, Lord Shiva condemned him that he wouldn’t be worshiped in any temple and the false witness of screw pine cannot find a place in his crown too.
In the meanwhile Lord Vishnu had meditated and humbled by his devotion. Now, both Lord Vishnu and Lord Brahman prayed to Lord Shiva to abide his presence in the place forever. In an answer to their prayer Lord Shiva established himself as the Arunachaleswara hill and also as Tejo Lingam at the eastern foot of the hill. Also , the ‘Ashta Dikpalalakas’ prayed to Lord Shiva and worshiped him in 8 Lingams- Indra Lingam, Agni Lingam, Vayu Lingam, Varuna Lingam, Niruthi Lingam, Yama Lingam, Kubera Lingam and the Isaanya Lingam- around the hill.
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On the second evening at Thiruvannamalai, We planned to do ‘giri vallam’ to complete our pilgrimage. We started our journey with devout minds from the door of Arunachaleswara temple. Being the first visitors to this place, we decided to take the complete ‘giri vallam’ of 18 kilometres by visiting the Asthalingas too.
We had barely visited the first two temples that we started checking the kilometres ahead to us. Soon after the visit to the third temple, chanting started to wear off from my lips. After one or two kilometres, our bare foot started pulling us back. The concentration entirely shifted to the pain on my feet after the visit to the Varuna Lingam.
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| A View From Giri Vallam |
Poonam and Priya enjoyed the initial stroll feeding the stray dogs with biscuits. I and Anurupa kept the safe distance from their pampering sessions.
I between these, I kept on checking my mobile. My betrothed had called and spoke to me for two hours on the day of my arrival at Thiruvannamalai. (It was indeed a miracle for me since he never used to call me or talk more than two minutes over the phone). The lack of calls irked me and I really prayed to Arunachaleswara to give me answer to the question that dominated my mind-Should I go with this proposal and get married to the guy?
My confusion and question to the Arunachaleswara made me forget the physical uneasiness. Soon, darkness spread over the sky and stars started to shine over the mountains. Arunachaleswara appeared as a mighty elephant to me. My mind vibrated with ‘Om Namashivaya’ to Priya’s chanting. Priya’s constant answers to the questions regarding the distance became monotonous “You’ve to walk a little more! Think of God and nothing else. Don’t think of the distance.”
A lot of aged devotees passed us. It was then that Priya told us the incident of superstar Rajinikanth. Though an ardent devotee of Arunachaleswara, he never can do Giri vallam due to the fear of mob. Once he attempted ‘Giri vallam’ in disguise but couldn’t complete it since people recognized him. However a commoner got the luck of taking him on his bike.
Giri vallam got thornier as we reached Isaanya Lingam. The dirt in the city started troubling us just as some funny men who walked around. We were sighing in relief as we reached the door of Arunachaleswara temple once again. Priya asked us whether we would like to go inside and pray. The answer came unanimously:
“NO”
We were fatigued and famished to the extreme. However, as we reached the gates of Saravana Bhavan, I got the answers to the long standing question before getting the plate of food. There came a bridal procession in its full glory with the newlyweds smiling in full glee. Yes, my prayers have been heard and answered. All the confusion lifted from my mind and I could just close my eyes in prayer of Arunachaleswara to promise him that I would visit this place again with my husband!
Continues in The Dance Of Peacocks
Continues in The Dance Of Peacocks
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