Sunday, February 21, 2016

Annamalaiyar Temple – Girivalam Path (Seventh Prakaram)

Annamalaiyar Temple – Girivalam Path (Seventh Prakaram)
As of today the temple includes Seven Prakarams in total. Actually the temple has five prakarams only. Sixth prakaram is the car street and seventh was the Girivalam path.

The Holy Mountain of Annamalai rises up with an elevation of 2669 feet (800 m). The Road encircling the mountain, where devotee’s circumbulate is 8 1/2 miles which is 14 kms long. On Full Moon days and festival days (like Karthigai, first day of the Tamil month, Tamil New Year day) hundreds of thousands of devotees circumbulate (GIRIVALAM) the mountain and get the blessings of the Lord Annamalai.

At Annamalaiyar temple there are eight lingams known as Ashtalingam. They are positioned at different locations and facing various directions. Each lingam signifies different directions of the earth.

These lingams are named as
1.    Indralingam
2.    Agnilingam
3.    Yamalingam
4.    Niruthilingam
5.    Varunalingam
6.    Vayulingam
7.    Kuberalingam
8.    Isanyalingam.
Each lingam addresses different aspects of man’s life and they bless the devotees with different types of benefits. It is believed to be installed by various gods. Also these lingams have a dominant navagraha and praying to each lingam brings forth various benefits that is being bestowed by that navagraha on the devotees who prays to that particular lingam to achieve the desired results.

The first lingam on the Girivalam is the Indra lingam and this lingam has east as its cardinal direction. It is said to be installed by lord Indiran the celestial king. The dominant navagraha of this lingam are the sun and sukiran. Worshipping this lingam blesses the devotees with long life coupled with prosperity in abundance. 

The second lingam on the Girivalam is the Agni lingam. This faces the south east direction. The uniqueness of this lingam is that it is the only lingam that is placed on the right side of the path on which one goes Girivalam on the full moon night every month. Praying to this lingam helps one to keep away sickness and to maintain good health. The dominant navagraha of this lingam is Chandran. It also helps the ardent devotees to counter the problems that they come across in the life’s journey. This lingam is located near the lotus tank. 

The third lingam on the Girivalam is the Yama lingam. This lingam signifies the south direction. It is said to be installed by the god of death Yama. The dominant graham of this lingam is Sevvai. It has a holy tank known as Simma theertham. Worshipping this Yama lingam relieves the devotees of their financial constraints. 

The fourth lingam on the Girivalam is the Niruthi lingam. The cardinal direction is South East. The dominant graham of this lingam is the Ragu. This was installed by the king of the giants. This lingam also has a holy tank called as Sani theertham. Devotees worshipping this Niruthi lingam are freed of their problems.

The fifth lingam on the Girivalam is the Varuna lingam. This lingam signifies the west direction. This lingam is installed by the Varuna god who is the creator of rain on this earth. The dominant graham of this lingam is the Sani. There is a holy tank named as Varuna theertham. Devotees worshipping this lingam are protected from all critical illness. This Varunalingam also takes care to elevate their social development.

The sixth lingam on the Girivalam is the Vayu lingam. This lingam is placed facing the North West direction. Vayu lingam is installed by the god of air himself known as Vayu Bhagavan. The graham that is dominant is the Kedhu. Offering prayers to this Vayu lingam gives strength to fight all heart ailments, stomach problems, lung problems and general illness.

The seventh lingam on the Girivalam is the Kuberalingam. This faces the northern direction. The dominant graham is the Guru. And the Kuberan or the god of wealth has installed this lingam. Offering prayers to this lingam regularly helps the devotees to achieve prosperity.

The last lingam on the Girivalam is the Esanya lingam. And this lingam faces the north east direction. The god that installed this lingam is the Esanyan. The graham that dominates this lingam is the Budhan. Praying to this lingam gives peace of mind to devotees and develops a positive attitude in them to achieve success in all their pursuits.

Ashta Lingams:
For brief details, please refer the below link;