Tiruvannamalai

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Tiruvannamalai

At Thiruvannamalai, the west car-street behind the temple has very few houses because the mountain slopes upward almost immediately. As for the east and south streets, which follow the main regional highways, they are quite naturally crowded with shops, and also hostels for pilgrims, who thus benefit from the passing processions.

Besides occupying a large area, the great temple radiates its influence throughout the whole town due to its connections with outlying tanks. The sacred bath which takes place at the close of each of the numerous temple festivals is performed either in one of the two temple tanks, or in one of the outlying tanks: Indra Tirtha, Tamarai Kulam, Agni Tirtha, and Ishanya Tirtha. The last two of these lie at the two extremities of the circumambulatory route around the mountain; that is, at the outer limits of the town, where the cremation grounds lie.

For this reason they are used for ablutions after funerals. In Thiruvannamalai the Shiva temple is omnipresent and all-powerful, so that there is no Vishnu temple. Apart from three abandoned Shiva temples, there are about a hundred temples to the goddess or to Ganapati. These are street shrines or community temples, all of which relate to the great Shiva temple. During their festivals the processions from these proceed through the four car-streets of the great temple. The final bath takes place, depending on the location of the temple,either in the Ishanya Tirtha to the north or in the Agni Tirtha to the south.

TamilNadu District - Tiruvannamalai

Home » TamilNadu Districts » Tiruvannamalai