Arunachaleswara temple, Tiruvannamalai, Tamil Nadu India

The temple at Tiruvannamalai is one of the biggest and grandest temples in South India.  With the hill as back ground it gives the appearance of a fort to those who see it from a distance. It is unique on account of its stately towers, high rampart walls, broad quadrangles, spacious gateways, large mantapams and fine tanks.  It has also much architectural importance and sculputural beauty.

Tiruvannamalai should have been under the sway of the Pallava Kings who ruled from Kancheepuram before the ninth century A.D. We do not find any inscription in the temple prior to A.D.850 and hence the present temple could not have existed then. Saint Sambandar in his Thevaram relating to this place mentions a temple. Saints Appar and Sambandar belonged to the Seventh Century, Sekkizhar, the renowned author of Periapuranam mentions that both the Saints Appar and Sambandar worshipped Arunchaleswarar in the hill Temple. The Chola Kings ruled over the country for more than four Centuries from 850 A.D. to 1280 A.D. Some earlier Kings of Vijayalaya dynasty must have begun to construct the inner shrine(Garbegraha). In the fourteenth Century the Hoysala Kings had their capital at Tiruvannamalai. Afterwards the Kings of Vijayanagar and Nayak Kings of Thanjavur ruled over this part of the Country. In the Seventeenth Century it came under the sway of the Nawabs of Carnatic. There was confusion and chaos after A.D. 1753. Muraru Raya, Krishna Raya, Mrithis Ali Khan, Burkat Ullakhan, French Soupries and Sambrinet, English Captain Stephen Smith besieged this place and had their successes and defeats. In A.D. 1790 it was captured by Tippu Sultan. During the first half of the nineteenth century it came under the British rule.