Arunachaleshwar Temple Thiruvanamallai
Arunachaleshwar temple at Thiruvanamallai is one of the biggest and grandest Shaivite temple in South India. The temple has four stately towers on all the four sides and four high stone walls just like the rampart walls of a fort. The eastern tower is called the Rajagopuram and is the highest. The southern tower is called Thirumanjanagopuram, the western one is called Peygopuram and the northern one is called Ammaniammagopuram. The temple occupies an area of about 25 acres of land and is one of the biggest in South India. The walls on the east and west measure 700 feet each. The southern wall is 1479 feet long and north wall is 1590 feet. The Rajagopuram, which adorns the east gateway is 217 feet high with 11 storeys, its base measure 135 feet by 98 feet. There are five inner rounds and the temple is said to have seven prakaras.The fifth prakaram (enclosure)
One enters the temple by the main gate in front of the sanctum. Before entering the eastern gate we see the sixteen-pillared mandapam and the four-pillared mandapam. When we pass the eastern tower gate we see the Gopura Ganapathi. To the south there is the sacred tank called Sivaganga Theertham. In the south-east corner is the fifth prakaram. The Siddhi Vinayagar shrine is found in the north-west side of the tank. To the west of the tank is the Theerthawarimantapam. There is Mangalavinayagar Sannidhi in the fifth Southern prakaram and Thiruvarul Vilasa Mantapam just to the west of the south tower. There is the Kothala Vinayagar shrine in the western prakaram. Between Sivaganga Tank and thousand pillared mantapam there are the Rudrakshamantapam and the Big Nandhi mantapam.
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