Kenopanishad and
Tiruvannamalai
Tiruvannamalai is one of the
most sacred shrines in Tamil
Nadu. It is considered
superior to all the other
eminent shrines. While Tiru
Arur confers salvation or
mukti to one who is born
there, Kasi confers salvation
to one who dies there, and
Chidambaram to one who
worships there, Tiruvannamalai
confers salvation to one who
merely thinks of it. No wonder
this shrine is most important,
as it points out the easiest
way to salvation.
The tradition of
Tiruvannamalai is that the
Supreme Power appeared there a
long time ago to remove the
ignorance and ego of Brahma
and Vishnu, the two great
divine powers, when they
quarrelled among themselves as
to who was superior. This
story has its origin in the
Kenopanishad where we find it
in another form.
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Kenopanishad is the second of
the ten principal Upanishads
commented upon by Sankara and
now studied by all students of
Indian philosophy. Its
importance is such that
Sankara is said to have
written two bhashyas on it. It
consists of four sections. The
first two sections define the
idea of Brahman as the one
Supreme Power and show its
distinction from the created
world. The third section deals
with a story where Brahman
appeared before the devas in
the form of a blazing light to
remove their ignorance and ego
when they boasted that their
victory over the asuras was
due to their own might. This
is a kind of allegory where
the senses are depicted as the
devas. The fourth section sums
up the definition and the
story, and sets forth ways of
meditating on the Brahman. The
story is as follows:
The fight of
the gods against the asuras was
made by Brahman. When the battle
was won, the gods thought that
to them went the glory of the
victory. Before them appeared
Brahman in the form of a Light.
The devas did not know Him. They
asked one another what it was
and whether it was worthy of
adoration. They called Agni,
Jatavedas the All-knower, and
asked him to go and ascertain
what the Light was. So Agni ran
up to it. On seeing him, the
Light asked who he was and what
was his power. Agni replied that
he was Agni and that he could
burn anything on earth. The
Light then placed a bit of straw
before Agni and said, "Burn
this". With all his might, Agni
was not able to burn it. So he
returned to the devas
crestfallen and said that he
could not ascertain the nature
of the Light. Then the devas
deputed Vayu the God of wind.
When he approached the Light and
said that he could blow off
anything on earth, the Light
placed before him a bit of straw
as before and asked him to blow
it off. With all his might Vayu
could not even move it. When he
returned to the devas and
reported his failure, they
deputed Indra. Indra the
mightiest of the gods went but
the Light vanished when he
approached it. Instead, he met
there a celestial lady, most
beautiful, Uma the daughter of
the snowy mountains, Himavan. He
asked her what it was. She told
him that it was Brahman the
Supreme who gave them all their
glory. Through Her Indra first
came to know the Brahman.
The story is very remarkable as
forming part of an important
Upanishad. It is also
particularly significant for the
Saivas in this that it refers to
Uma the daughter of Himavan. In
the Saiva religion, Uma is the
consort of Siva, His inseparable
Sakti, representing His Grace;
Indra learns here about the
Supreme only through His Grace,
Uma.
The important legend of
Tiruvannamalai has the same
story. In Saiva religious lore,
five ancient shrines are held to
denote the five elements. Tiru
Arur is the Prithvi Sthala,
dedicated to earth; Tiru Anaikka
is the Appu Sthala, water;
Tiruvannamalai the Agni Sthala,
fire; Tiruk-Kalatti is the Vayu
Sthala, air; and Chidambaram is
the Akasa Sthala, subtle
ether. There is a
relevance in calling
Tiruvannamalai the Agni sthala.
Siva enshrined here is the
Jothir Lingam. Annamalai is also
known as Arunachala, the hill of
fire (Aruna - red, achala - hill).
The Tamil name also is
significant. Anna-malai means
the hill (the peak of which
could not be reached. The
consort of Siva here is known as
Unnamulai; Jnansambandha
mentions Her name in his devaram
song of this place. A beautiful
legend, probably derived from
the Kenopanishad legend, will
explain the name Arunachalam.
In ages gone by, Brahma the
Creator and Vishnu the Preserver
disputed between themselves as
to who was greater and who was
Supreme. This dispute was a
prolonged one and so Lord Siva
decided to teach them the truth.
He appeared before them in the
form of a column of fire, an
effulgent Light. When the two
saw It, they referred their
quarrel to Him. He told them
that he could discover the crown
of the Light or Its foot first
might be considered as the
superior. Accordingly Brahma
took the form of a swan and flew
up in an attempt to find the
crown of the Light, while Vishnu
took the form of a boar (Varaha)
and began to dig down to find
the foot of the Light. Neither
succeeded. Then light dawned
upon them that the Light was
superior to both of them. This
is the significance of
Arunachala. The Karttikai
festival is celebrated to bring
out this great truth that the
Supreme God is far beyond the
ken of the Creator and the
Preserver. Brahma and Vishnu
thereupon prayed to the column
of Light, Siva, to be ever
present in the place in the form
of a lingam. Siva agreed. The
hill of Tiruvannamalai is that
linga, the Sthavara Linga.
Karttikai is the name of both a
month and nakshatra in the Tamil
calendar. The month corresponds
to November - December and the
nakshatra is Pleiades according
to the Western reckoning. Any
number of interesting legends
have grown round this Karttikai
Festival. The constellation
Karttikai appears as a group of
six stars in the firmament, in
the shape of a pendant from the
ear. The stars are considered in
Indian mythology as the six
celestial nymphs who reared the
six-faced Muruha in infancy in
the Saravana tank. Muruha is
consequently called Kartikeya,
one brought up the Krittika
nymphs. Usually the annual
Karttikai Festival is celebrated
in Tamil Nadu when the moon is
in conjunction with the asterism
karttikai. This is specially
important in Tiruvannamalai for
various reasons.
The Tiruvannamalai Temple is
located at the foot of a hill,
over 2,500 feet in height. This
hill itself is considered by
geologists to be of igneous rock
which means that it is related
to fire; probably the rock was
more lustrous in the very remote
past and hence the
appropriateness of the Jothir
Linga concept to this place. The
temple is a very large one,
occupying an area of twenty-five
acres. It has tall towers on all
the four outer walls but the one
over the main eastern gateway is
the tallest, reaching a height
of 217 feet in eleven tiers.
This legend of Siva appearing
before Brahma and Vishnu as a
column of light is today
celebrated not only in this
place but in all the Siva
temples in Tamil Nadu on the
karttikai day. The appearance of
the Light is believed to have
taken place on this day. It is
celebrated everywhere as the
dipam festival (dipam-lamp). A
column of fire is created in
front of each temple and the
utsava murti of the local shrine
is taken out in procession and
He gives a darshan to His
devotees after the fire is lit.
Generally this takes place
immediately after dusk. People
fast for the whole day and take
their food only after this jothi
darshan.
In memory of this Light, the
whole temple is illuminated with
thousands of lamps, big and
small, and every home also is
illuminated in the evening with
hundreds of lamps. It is indeed
a grand sight to see the temple
tower lights shedding their
twinkling light throughout the
darkness so the whole night. A
special offering is made to Siva
on this day, consisting of fried
or puffed rice mixed with
treacle.
In the city of Tiruvannamalai,
the same procedure is adopted
for the festival even today.
Hundreds of thousands of bhaktas
and pilgrims gather in the outer
courtyards of the temple from
early afternoon waiting for the
appropriate time in the evening
when the symbolic fire will be
lit. Sri Arunachaleswarar is
taken in a procession around the
courtyard. At the appointed time
(usually about 6 p.m.) the fire
on the hill in the background is
lit. This fire is made of vast
quantities of camphor supported
by more than a hundred litres of
ghee. The fire continues to burn
for the whole of the night and
is visible even at a distance of
eight miles. It continues to
burn for several days and nights
following. The moment the fire
is lit on the hill a
dipa-aradhana (waving of camphor
lamp) is made to Sri
Arunachaleswarar. The assembled
bhaktas have a simultaneous
darshan of the Lord in the
temple as also of the column of
Light on the hill. There is a
great surge of devotional
fervour when the sea of humanity
sounds with one voice
"Annamalaik-karohara" (hail,
Hara, Lord of Annamalai) and the
sound lingers for a long time,
echoing from one way to the
other and back, and even going
as far back as the hill and
resounding. Caste, class, creed,
age and sex are all forgotten
and everyone seems to have a
feeling that he is enveloped in
the grace of Lord
Arunachaleswarar. The ordeal of
fasting and pilgrimage to the
temple by several lakhs of
people has now reached its
culmination and everyone now
departs for his home after
receiving His prasadam in the
form of sacred ash.
The same ritual is gone through
in every temple. In the place of
the huge light on the hill of
Tiruvannamalai each temple
creates a sokkappanai in front
of the shrine, some distance
away from it. This is mostly
made of combustible materials
such as palmyrah leaves.
Lighting of this sokkappanai and
karpura-aradhana to the deity in
procession are done
simultaneously and this marks
the end of the Karttikai
festival.
The lighting of a large number
of lamps, both in the temples
and in the devotee's homes on
the Karttikai day has been a
very ancient observance. Saint
Jnanasambandhar refers to this
in one of this songs. In the
moving song sung by him at
Mayilappur in order to bring
back to life the young maid
Pumpavai from her ashes, he
addresses her and asks: "Will
you go away from this work
without witnessing this
festival?" The first verse
refers to the general feeding of
Siva-ganas as a festival ritual.
The second refers to an Onam
festival in the month of
Ayppasi. The third verse speaks
of the Karttikai Festival. He
asks: "Will though go away,
Pumpavai, without witnessing the
festival of lamps lit by young
damsels on the ancient Karttikai
day sacred to the Lord of
Kapalisvara?"
The image of Lingodbhava,
installed at the goshta (niche)
just behind the Mula linga on
the outer side of the
garbhagriha in all the Siva
temples is symbolic of the
manifestation of the Jothi in
Tiruvannamalai.
[By M. Arunachalam]
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