Goddess Parvati once playfully closed the eyes of Lord Siva, when the Divine Couple were in Kailasa. As a result the world was plunged into darkness. In order to atone for this, Parvati decided to do penance. She went to Kancheepuram, and fashioned a Linga out of sand and began to worship it. Lord Siva then appeared before Her and advised Her to go to do penance in Thiruvannamalai, elaborated Malayaman, in a discourse. In accordance with Siva’s instructions, Parvati went to Thiruvannamalai and did penance there. Lord Siva, pleased with Her penance, gave Her the left half of His body, thereby assuming a half female and half male form, and became Ardhanareeswara. It is said that sages like Viswamitra, Agastya, Patanjali, Vyagrapada and Durvasa have worshipped here. Lord Siva here is called Annamalai and the Goddess is Unnamalai. The Lord is also known as Arunachaleswara. Aruna means red, and is a reference in this context to fire; achala means a mountain. So, Lord Siva here is referred to as a mountain of fire. Fire is one of the panchabhutas — five basic elements, and Thiruvannamalai is identified with fire, showing its significance. Since the hill itself is the embodiment of Lord Siva, circumambulating the hill is considered auspicious. The most important festival here is the lighting of the deepam on top of the hill. A huge cauldron is filled with several litres of ghee, and stout wicks, specially made, are lit exactly at 6 p.m., using a few kilogrammes of camphor. The resulting flame can be seen for miles around. Thiruvannamalai is one of the 275 temples praised by the Nayanmars in the Thevaram. It is said that worshipping in Chidambaram, being born in Thiruvarur, dying in Varanasi are all guaranteed to grant moksha. But merely thinking of Thiruvannamalai can give one moksha.
