Tiruvannamalai

Tiruvannamalai lies at the foot of Arunachala, a hill revered as a manifestation of Shiva. The Arunachalesvara temple spreads across the town below, with great gateways and pillared halls built by generations of patrons. Worshippers circumambulate the sacred hill, and the annual festival of lights culminates in a beacon kindled on its summit.

Chola, Pandya and later rulers contributed to the temple. Under Vijayanagara, Krishnadevaraya endowed major works in the sixteenth century, including a great gateway and a hall of a thousand pillars; an inscription records his patronage. The Nayak Sevappa later helped complete the gateway. These additions turned an already ancient shrine into an extensive complex, while the hill itself remained the focus of the pilgrimage and of traditions identifying Arunachala with the fiery presence of Shiva.