The Hindu Business Line : Tranquil moments

Thiruvannamalai is more than just a destination. While it may look like one of the many noisy townships one would bypass on the highway, if you do happen to stop, and you must, the serenity of Thiruvannamalai will surely make you pause and ponder about your hurried travels through life.

The temple at Thiruvannamalai has four awesome gopurams (towers) on its outer boundary. Together with the five inner gopurams, known as the kutti gopurams, these towers were added as tributes by emperors at different times — from Veera Rajendra Chola in 1063 A.D. to Krishnadeva Raya around 1690 A.D. The sanctum sanctorum itself is described in texts writrten as far back as 750 A.D.

Comparable to the Meenakshi temple in Madurai for its size and architecture, the temple of Lord Arunachaleshwara is awe-inspiring. Ask any local the way and they will simply direct you to the periya kovil (big temple). Besides, all the chaotic roads in town seem to lead to the temple. Thiruvannamalai is a town under pressure from rampant encroachment and the needs of a thronging floating population.

My grandmother still remembers taking her first born to the temple when "just 10 or 15 people would be visiting at a time.'' That was about 53 years back. One can only wonder about the splendour of this temple when it was first built.

However, all one can do today is forget the civic problems and step back in time. Walk slowly along the seemingly endless inner courtyards to take in the splendid ethos of an age gone by — from the statuesque pillars of the temple tanks (there are two) to the fierce gaze of the granite dwarapalakas (guardians to the Lord).

Perhaps, one should not criticise the eager crowds either — for this place of worship is alive and welcoming. There are many other temples deep inside the rural heartland of Thanjavur, perhaps smaller but no less a part of our architectural inheritance, which are crumbling from sheer neglect.

Though well connected by rail, a drive down to Thiruvannamalai on the National Highway 45 from Chennai, with a stop at the ancient temple at Madhuranthakam, is recommended. After bypassing Dindivanam, one can take a detour which meanders through a verdant countryside. Amidst the Aalampoondis, Servilagams and Kadamburs, you will sight other dust tracks announcing varied village nomenclature — the quaint pakkam (which means `nearby'), the quixotic salai (simply `road') and the questionable pattinam (a.k.a. `town' though it looks anything but). And in the middle of all this are the green and gold fields, innumerable tamarind trees, mud houses with thatched roofs, piles of drying hay and bundles of freshly harvested sugarcane. Make time for a trek up to the imposing 16th-century Gingee Fort. Drive carefully for neither the children nor the many calves seem to be afraid of traffic — the road invariably their playground.

About an hour's drive from Thiruvannamalai is the Sathanur dam across the river Thenpennai. Here you will find sunshine playing on the waves, winds teasing your fears of unknown depths, a marooned island or two and the courageous kattumaram (the saucer-shaped vessels made of tied reeds) that is a favourite mode of travel. If you wish you could go boating but you are glad no one thought of that commercial and disturbing exercise. On one side is a half-hearted amusement park, in the middle is the great wall of concrete and on the other, it's water, water everywhere.

The town of Thiruvannamalai is said to have nine entrances — from where the hill of Arunachala can be seen from up to 15 km depending on the weather. Arunachala, at an elevation of 2,668 ft, towers over and behind the temple. It is considered an embodiment of the Lord Arunachala, the presiding deity of the temple. Geological surveys have called it a classic Archaen model (earliest known rock formations dating back about 3.8 billion years ago) as opposed to the much younger Himalayas (less than 50 million years old).

Among the many devotees who were drawn to Thiruvannamalai was the great saint Ramana Maharishi. As a young boy of 16, he left home to seek the answer to a question that has now become synonymous with a searing treatise. "Who,'' he wondered, "am I?'' And he spent most of his life finding the answers at Thiruvannamalai. Although he chose to remain incommunicado for the greater part, he was widely documented by a visiting British scholar, Paul Brunton (author of the personalised spiritual diary A Search in Secret India), amongst others.

That foreign presence is still visible today, in the many overseas visitors to his legacy, the Ramanashramam, which houses a beautiful temple dedicated to the saint.

Behind the Ramanashramam, a mountain path leads up to Skandashram. Paved with boulders smoothened by countless feet trudging up over the centuries, the half-hour trek is an easy one — my five-year-old led the way. Being a shrine itself, the hill is circumnavigated by scores of devotees in the venerated giri pradakshinam (walking around the 14-km base of the hill which takes about four hours).

The peak of the Arunachala hill also becomes the torchbearer for the karthigai deepam — the sacred light that is lit at its crest once every year on Karthigai Pournami (the auspicious full moon day in the Tamil month of Karthigai which falls in November-December). An enormous fire is lit with a 30-metre wick dipped in 2,000 litres of ghee. Seen and venerated for miles around (and even telecast live on television), this has been documented as the earliest festival of South India. Its antiquity is traced to the oldest available Tamil work, Tolkappiyam, which dates back to 2000-2500 B.C.

At Skandashramam is the cave-hut at which Ramana Maharishi meditated for seven years. From his limestone washed cottage, one gets a spectacular view of the temple below.

If there is anything that matches the beauty of this abode, it has to be its peace. It is completely understandable that the saint did not wish to come down to earth. Thiruvannamalai can never be just the end of a journey. It can, however, very easily be the beginning of one.

Picture by R. Sridhar

Fact file

How to get there: Chennai, the nearest airport, is 190 km away. The town is well connected by bus from most major towns in Tamil Nadu.

When to go: The best season to visit this temple town is from November to February.

Where to stay: The Seshadri Swamigal Mutt adjacent to the Ramanashramam offers functional, neat rooms with or without air-conditioning (95-4175 36999). Hotels and lodges are many.

Tips: Avoid full moon days if you don't like the crowds. Be wary of touts and rely on bottled water.

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