Famous Temples in India

Architecture

The legend of Adi Annamalai recounts that Brahma, after his dispute with Vishnu about the fiery column, made a lingam and went to the other side of the hill to worship Shiva. Thus, this lingam is supposed to be the first, ancient and original lingam of Annamalai and hence the name Adi Annamalai. In ancient times, the term "Annamalai" meant an inaccessible mountain. The word "Thiru" was prefixed to signify its greatness, and coupled with the two terms, it is called Tiruvannamalai. The temple is facing in East direction and built in Dravidian style of architecture. The Arunachaleswarar temple has a unique structure with a 66 metre high gopuram consisting of thirteen storey tier. The temple has seven prakaras and nine gopurams. The tallest gopuram was built by king Krishnadevaraya in the fifteenth century and it is believed to be the second tallest gopuram in the world. This tower is called as Raja gopuram located on the eastern side. The Raja gopuram which adorns the East gateway is 217 feet high with 11 storeys, its base measure 135 feet by 98 feet. This tower was built by King Krishna Devaraya of Vijayanagar and completed by Sevappa Nayaka of Thanjavur.

The Kili Gopuram means parrot tower. In a niche in that tower a mortar image of a parrot can be seen. It is believed that resting on the gopuram in the form of a parrot is Arunagirinathar who composed his famous Kandar Arunbhutti as well as other famous poems. The Kili gopuram was built by Bhaskaramoorthy whose statue along with his wife are still found in the tower. This tower belongs to the 11th century. In a niche at the left side of Kili gopuram, the images of Veera Rajendira Cholan and his ministers are found. This king ruled in 1063 A.D. All idols are taken from the temple for procession only through the tower gate of this gopuram. The Vallala Magaraja gopuram was built by the Hoyala King Ballala, who was exceedingly active in Tiruvannamalai during 1318 A.D., and 1343 A.D. This tower was started in 1328 A.D., and completed in 1331 A.D. by king Vallala. His statue of 2½ feet has been installed in the tower itself hence this tower is called Veera Vaiboga Vallala Maharaja gopuram.

The Nine gopurams - The temple has nine towers, four in the outer walls, each in every direction. It has nine vimanas with beautiful architecture. There are three miniature towers of 70 feet height which are called “Kettai gopurams” connecting the inner walls. Three towers are in the eastern side of the temple with two towers in each direction of South, West and North. Raja gopuram, Vallala Maharaj gopuram, and Kili gopuram are in the Eastern side of the temple. The southern tower is called Thirumanjana gopuram. The western tower is named Pey gopuram, which was originally Peyalvar gopuram. The northern tower is called Ammani Amman gopuram. These magnificent impressive towers are among the finest in Tamilnadu and can be compared with those of Chidambaram, Srirangam, Jambukeswaram, Madurai and Rameswaram.

Ammani Amman gopuram - The northern Ammani Amman gopuram is 171 feet in height and it has nine storeys. It was built by Ammani Amman who was a monk. Ammani Amman found the previous tower in the Northern side of the temple unfinished and it was she that completed the building of the gopuram with strenuous efforts. She was trained in yogic practices during her life and had a remarkable power of knowing the exact amount of money a person possessed and she was able to get a portion of that wealth from such people by guesses how much they had. These amounts Ammani Amman used in order to construct the northern tower the Ammani Amman tower. There is a mutt in her name in Northern Orravadai street with a statue of her installed nearby.

Thirumanjana gopuram - The Southern outer tower is called Thirumanjana gopuram. Thirumanjana means holy water for the bath of an idol. Every day in the morning before opening the gate of the temple, holy water is brought through the Southern tower and sprinkled near the flag post. Hence this tower is called Thirumanjana gopuram. This tower has nine storeys and is 157 feet in height. The base of all four towers of the outer court are generally ascribed to Krishnadevaraya. The tower might have been completed by later Nayak rulers.

Pey gopuram - The tower in the West is called Peygopuram which is merely an aberration as its name erroneously indicates there is neither ghost (pei) nor devil in it. It was actually Mel gopuram (i.e. Western tower). The tower was also called Periya gopuram (big tower) before the other towers of the temple were built. But as years passed, this name got corrupted into Pey gopuram. According to an inscription dated 1388 A.D., the base of the tower was constructed by king Ballala-III and the spire was presumably built by king Krishnadevaraya. The height of the seven storey tower is 144 feet.

There is a dhwaja stambham with height of 73 feet, to mark the beginning of the Karthigai deepam festival, the traditional flag was hoisted on dhwaja stambham. The deity is the representation of Agni (fire) and you can feel the heat in the sanctum sanctorum. The garbha griha (sanctum sanctorum) contains a sacred Siva Linga and a Sri Chakra Meru sanctified by Sri Maharshi’s own touch. A special worship known as the Sri Chakra puja is conducted here on all fridays, full moon days and the first day of all twelve solar months. On the outer walls of the garbha griha are the sculpted images of Dakshinamurti, Lingodbhava Murti, Vishnu and Lakshmi. At the South-West and North-West corners one finds two diminutive shrines dedicated to the gods Ganesa and Subramanya, respectively.

Out of the seven prakaras,the first two prakaras is said to be built by the Pandiya kings and the remaining prakaras by the Cholas and other kings.The walls on the East and West measure 700 feet each. The South wall is 1479 feet long and North wall is 1590 feet. This is perhaps indicated by a single inscription of Kannaradeva (Krishna-III) found in the temple. Vijayanagar inscriptions in Arunachaleswarar temple are large in number and range from the period of Harihara-II to the late Vijayanagar ruler Venkatapatideva Maharaya of the late 14th to the 17th centuries A.D. A brief period of Pandya supremacy over this region is indicated by the inscriptions of the Pandyas of the second empire such as Jatavaraman Srivallabha and Tribhuvanachakravartin Kulasekhara in the 13th century A.D. The inscriptions of Kopperunjinga clearly show that by the second quarter of the 13th century, the Kadavarayas had established complete mastery over this region leading to the final decline of Chola power.

The temple has a massive thousand pillar hall built by the Vijayanagar period.. In the thirteenth century the Hoysala kings from Karnataka built some sannadhis and prakaras in the temple. The thousand pillared hall in the fifth prakaram was built by Krishnadevaraya. This thousand pillared hall has exactly 1000 pillars. The pillars are carved with sculptures of the Nayak period and some divine images of sages. Vishnu’s incarnations too find a place with floral designs. It was engraved with figures and the roof with numerous stone Nandis. The basement of this mandapam is adorned with the designs of girls playing kolattam, warriors, sports etc. This mandapam is used for the deities to be seated and for ablutions and worship on Ani Thirumanjanam and the day of Thiruvathirai.

A copper plate of sagam 1435 reveals that the land site of 275 feet east west and 295 feet north south was sold to Krishnadevaraya for 500 sovereigns of gold by the members of a great mutt in Tiruvannamalai. There is the Patala shrine in the underground chamber of the thousand pillared mandapam. This type of thousand pillared mandapam has also been built in the temple of Thirvanaikaval, Thirunelveli, Thiruvarur, Srirangam and Madurai. On entering into the third prakaram one can see the spectacular temple of Annamalaiyar and the Aruna Linga mountain. After crossing the entrance of the Kili gopuram. One will first step into a vast sixteen pillared mandapam. This mandapam is called Katchi mandapam because the Panchamurthis give darshan on the day of Karthigai deepam. Arthanareeswara too gives darshan from this place. Devotees watch the holy beacon from this mandapam on deepam day. Hence this is also called Deepa Tharisana mandapam. This mandapam was built by Mankaiyakarsi a devote in 1202 A.D. Hence it was originally named as the Manakaiyakarasi mandapam. From this place one can see the flagpole and a small Nandi in front of Arunachaleswarar temple. The temple has two big tanks named as Brahma theertham and the other as Siva Ganga theertham. Vinayagar which is made of pink stone and granite.