At the foot of the sacred Arunachala hill in Tiruvannamalai, Tamil Nadu, the great Arunachaleswarar (Annamalaiyar) temple enshrines Shiva as the Agni Linga, representing the element of fire among the five Pancha Bhoota Sthalas. Its central legend, sung in the Tevaram, tells how Brahma and Vishnu disputed their supremacy, and Shiva appeared before them as an infinite column of fire and light whose summit and base neither could find — humbling their pride and revealing himself as the boundless flame. The hill itself is revered as that column of fire made still.
Each year the Karthigai Deepam festival crowns the hill with an immense beacon-fire visible for miles, a living emblem of that primordial light, and devotees perform the Girivalam, circling the sacred hill on foot. One of the largest temples in India, Arunachaleswarar is a supreme seat of fire-element worship and of the path of inner renunciation.
