Arunachala- Legendary background of the holy hill

A vivid description of the glory of this sacred hill and bliss enjoyed by earnest devotees who worshipped here is given in many Puranas, such as the Siva Mahapurana, Brahmananda Purana, Sri Sivarahasyam, etc. The following story is found in most of the Puranas regarding the origin and sanctity of this Hill and the Lingam at its eastern foot over which stands the grand temple of Sri Arunachaleswara.

Lord Siva has taken the form of this hill for the welfare of the world, to grant liberation. Arunachala is regarded as superior to Meru, Mount Kailash and the Mandara by all Maharishis as it is the Supreme Being itself.

Three important factors constitute the greatness of Arunachala.  Firstly, the dispute between Brahma and Vishnu which resulted in the origin of Arunachala (Tiruvannamalai) and celebration of Karthigai Deepam festival; secondly, Goddess Parvati’s penance here and ultimate union with Lord Siva; and thirdly, the sanctity of  Tiruvannamalai is borne out by its association with great realised souls. In the Skanda Purana it is mentioned that when Lord Subramanya marched from north to south to wage war with Surapadma he visited Tiruvannamalai. Arunachala has been the abode of great siddhas, sages, saints, rishis, devas, vidhyadharas, yakshas, gandharvas and apsaras. It is one of the Saivite shrines sung by men of rare devotion, Saints Appar, Sundarar, Sambandar and Maanikkavaachakar. Saints Arunagirinathar, Guhai Namasivayar, Isanya Gnana Desikar, Deivasikamani Desikar and Seshadri Swamigal and many others who lived here, left their fragrant footprints in the annals of spiritual thought, to be spread across the length and breath of this land. Not very long ago, the brightest luminary of Spiritual Masters and sages of all times lived here. With the advent of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi on September 1, 1896 and his total identification with Arunachala, its renown spread across the globe as the traditional and ever shining symbol of Self-Perfection.

Arunachala is the Mountain without a Beginning and without an End. It is indescribable, beyond the ken of words. The name Arunachala is a Sanskrit word, made up of two words: ‘Aruna and ‘Achala’. An inscription in the temple refers to the Hill as Sonachala (golden or red Mount). ‘Aruna’ means the rising Sun, the Sun God who illuminates the whole world and ‘Achala’ is serene or that which cannot be moved. The hill therefore represents the sources of Enlightenment. The popular Tamil name is ‘Annamalai’ which is also made up two words ‘Anna’ and ‘malai’. The Hill is regarde as Tejo linga (the fire symbol of God) or jyotir linga. Arunachala is also referred as Hill of the Holy Beacon, as a jyoti is lit on its summit every year when th constellation of the holy star Krittika pertaining to fire-god is in conjunction with the moon in the Tamil month of Karthigai to commemorate the unique event of appearance of Siva as a light on top of Arunachala.

It is said that Arunachala was a mass of fire in the Krita Yuga (the earlier age), a mountain of jewels in the Treta Yuga, a hill of gold in the Dwapara Yuga, and in Kali Yuga (the present age), it is copper coloured (reddish) rocky mount. The hill has a high status in the Puranas which mentions it as the oldest rock on the crust of the earth. Owing to its great sanctity, Arunachala is regarded as the heart of the earth. Eminent Scientists have established the Deccan plateau to be the oldest land of the earth. The Arunachala Hill is in the eastern ghats. The hill is of igneous rock (connected with fire) which is one of the four kinds of mountains classified by geology. It is interesting to note what an American geologist states: “Arunachala should have been thrown up by the earth under the stress of some violent volcanic eruption in the dim ages before even the coal bearing strata were formed. This rocky mass of granite may be dated back to the earliest epoch of the history of our planet’s crust, that epoch which long preceded the vast sedimentary formations in which fossils records of plants and animals have been preserved. It existed long before the gigantic saurians of the prehistoric world moved their ungainly forms thruogh the primeval forests that covered our early earth. It was contemporaneous with the formation of the very crust of earth itself. Arunachala was almost as hoary andas ancient as our planetary home itself”.