A Trip to Divine Lord Shiva Temples - HolidayKeys.co.uk

A TRIP TO DIVINE LORD SHIVA
TEMPLES
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A TRIP TO DIVINE LORD SHIVA
TEMPLES
Day 1 - Arrival at Chennai airport.
Overnight stay.
Day 2 - Drive to Chittoor of Andhra Pradesh for 3 hours and 30 minutes.
Here is a one of the most famous Shiva temple of South India,
Srikalahasteeswara Temple. . This temple features an enormous, ancient
gopuram (entrance tower) over the main gate. The tower is 36.5 m (120 ft)
high. The entire temple is carved out of the side of a huge stone hill. The
temple is dedicated to kalahasteeswara worshipped as Lord Vayu or God of
Wind. Return to Chennai. Overnight stay.
Day 3 – After breakfast, check out from the hotel and leaving for Pondicherry
and kanchipuram enroot. Kanchipuram is just on a distance of 2 hours and 30
minutes drive.
Visit to Ekambareswarar Temple at Kanchipuram. It is a huge temple with
high rising gopurams dominated the skyline of Kanchipuram the historic
capital of Pallav dynasty. It is a temple town is considered to the foremost
among the seven prime pilgrimage centres in India. Shiva is the presiding
deity here, worshipped as Prithvi Lingam, symbolizing earth – one of the five
primordial elements. This ancient temple has been in existence even prior to
600 AD.
Later drive to Tiruvannamalai for 125 kilometres, 3 hours drive visit the
Annamalaiyar temple situated at Thiruvannamalai is dedicated to Lord Shiva
known as Sri Arunachalaswarar – Annamaliyar. It is one of the Panch
Bhootha Sthala, the Panch Bhootha are air, water, earth, fire, sky. The main
idol represents Agni (fire). .The temple is the result of more than nine
centuries of building process.
Drive to Pondicherry 98 kilometres for 2 hours drive. Overnight stay.

A TRIP TO DIVINE LORD SHIVA
TEMPLES
Day 4 – After the breakfast in the morning, drive to Chidambaram for 1 hour to visit the Chidambaram Nataraja
Temple.
It is a Hindu Temple dedicated to Lord Shiva and one of the five holiest Shiva temples, each representing one of the
five natural elements; Chidambaram represents akasha (aether). The temple complex spread over 50 acres in the
heart of the city. A unique feature of this temple is the bejewelled image of Nataraja. It depicts the Lord Shiva as
the Lord of the dance Bharatanatyam and is one of the few temples where Shiva is represented by an
anthropomorphic murthi rather than the classic, anionic Lingam. Later drive to Trichy for 3 hours.
It is the dusk when the Aarti is performed in the temple so be a witness of the Aarti, you can also wait there for the
Shayan Aarti, the last ritual of the day.
This temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva and one of the Panch Bhooth Sthala and represents water (Neer). So it is
also
known as “Appu Sthalam” and the Shivalinga (‘Swami’) here is called as ‘Appu Linga’. Even, today you can see
water oozing out near the Shivalinga idol in the temple. The goddess of this temple is ‘Akilandeswari’ (‘Amman’).
Overnight stay.

A TRIP TO DIVINE LORD SHIVA
TEMPLES
Day 5 – After the breakfast in the early morning, leaving for
Rameashram for 3 hours via Madurai.
Lord Rama made a lingam of sand and worshipped it and
asked to be blessed so that he could vanquish Ravana. Lord
Shiva blessed him accordingly. He also requested Lord Shiva
to reside eternally here so that entire mankind should benefit
from it. Shiva then manifested himself as the Linga and got
installed there for eternity.
After lunch drive back to Madurai.
Visit of Meenakshi Temple dedicated to Shiva, known here as
Sundareshvara and his consort Parvati or Meenakshi in
Madurai.
It is dedicated to Parvati, who is known as Meenakshi and
her consort, Shiva named here as Sundareswarar (beautiful
deity). The temple forms the heart and lifeline of the 2500
year old city of Madurai. The complex houses 14
gopurams(gateway towers) ranging from 45-50m in height,
the tallest being the southern tower, 51.9 metres (170 ft) high
and two golden sculptured vimana(shrine) over sanctum of
the main deities. The temple is a significant symbol for the
Tamil people, and has been mentioned since antiquity in
Tamil literature, though the present structure is built during
1623 to 1655 CE.
End of the services.
This trip takes you to divine temples of Lord Shiva.
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