Girivalam on a full moon day ....

Last saturday (4/11/06) was a full moon day and for the first time i was in thiruvannamalai for girivalam. It was a long time plan which got fulfilled last week. Thiruvannamalai is 187kms from chennai. Myself, Sreeram, Gopi and Balaji were present. We were there by 20:45hrs. It was a 210mins drive from chennai. (Thanx for balaji for giving his van). The road was really wonderful. Then we started to walk by 21:00hrs and completed the 14kms round the hill by 00:45 hrs in the morning. It was good and i liked it very much. Then we started by 1:00 and reached chennai by 4:30. I had a solid sleep from 6:30 to 13:00hrs.

Anyway, I can share some basic info about this which i got to the readers, if its a repeat i am sorry.

Giri means the hill or the hillock and Valam means circumambulation.

Basically, Girivalam places an emphasis on the circumambulating the divine hill which hosts the Lord's temple and the thousands of the Siddhas and Sages who are penancing towards the Lord to invoke His divine blessings.

Girivalam is normally observed during the Full Moon Day (Pournami, in Tamil/Sanskrit).

Tiruvannamalai the home of Annamalayaar or Arunachaleswarar (Shiva worshipped as a Shiva Lingam) is one of the largest temples in India.It is regarged as one of the Pancha Bhoota Stalams (one of the five grand temples associated with the five basic elements)

Thiruvannamalai also earns the pride of being the Theyu or Agni Sthalam

the other four being

Tiruvanaikkaval (Water/neer),

Chidambaram (Space / aahayam),

Kanchipuram (Earth/bhoomi) and

Sri Kalahasti (Wind/vayu) respectively.

Shiva is said to have manifested himself in the form of a massive column of fire, whose crown and feet, Bhramma and Vishnu attempted in vain to reach. A celebration of this manifestation is seen today in the age old traditions observed in the Shivaratri and the Kartikai Deepam Utsavams held here.

To know abt lord shiva his nature, why snake around his neck, etc., this site gives you a better information. http://www.koausa.org/Gods/God9.html