The lineages of regent Kings of Tiruvannamalai and their
Architectural contributions to the Arunachaleshwara temple
Chola Dynasty
1012-1054
Under Chola rule, the construction of the first circumambulation of the Arunachaleshwara temple was completed.
Invasion into Tiruvannamalai & The Brave King Vallalah Maharajah
1342
With the onslaught of Mughal invasions, the enlightenment ecosystems in South India underwent brutal attacks, where temples were pillaged and the wealth plundered .The Mughal King, Giazuddin, turned his attention towards Tiruvannamalai when he heard of enormous wealth that would be in the temple treasury. As King Vallalah III of the Hoysala Dynasty reportedly engaged in massive temple construction with collected tax revenues, Giazuddin sent his army to loot the temple. When his army arrived, there were only devotees safeguarding the Temple as per the directions of Deivasaigamani Desikar. From the Adi Shaivite tradition, Deivasaigamani Desikar was a protector of Hindu temples in the South and worked in conjunction with King Vallalah. Today, the sculptures built by the Hoysala dynasty are found in damaged condition and located in different parts of the Temple, showing that the Mohammedan army indulged in iconoclasm. The devotees who were resisting the first onslaught were likely killed. From 1342 to 1348, the most massive attacks were launched against Hindus in Madurai and Tiruvannamalai.
While under Hoysala rule, the Mughal invader Giazuddin attacked Tiruvannamalaimto loot the enormous temple treasure. For 30 years, King Vallalah Maharajah defended the kingdom from Mughal invasion. Under the guise of a peace treaty, the Mughal terrorist invited King Vallalah for a meeting where he captured, killed, and skinned him at 80 years of age. Before giving his life as a martyr, the king ensured that the Arunachaleshwara Temple and Tiruvannamalai were protected.
Horse factor and ruining of economy
Another invader, Malik Kafur, looted wealth as well as elephants and horses, which held great value. The taking away of 20,000 horses inflicted a great loss on the treasury. Moreover, the Mohammedans were using horses for their swift raids, speedy runaways and quick-loots. During the raids, wealth in all forms was plundered. In Hoysala period, imported horses were mated with local horses to produce cross breeds. Analyzing the impact of breeding imported horses on the control of the economy, Desikar and King Veera Vallalah banned horse breeding in their kingdoms. This decision earned the vengeance of Mughal leaders who became even more determined to wipe out the Hoysala Empire and to seize the city of Tiruvannamalai.
Paramaśiva Demonstrates The Ultimate Responsibility
“When the King left the body and went to Kailāsa, Paramaśiva did not just let his kingdom suffer without the King. Paramaśiva Himself comes down and takes the responsibility of the sṛṣṭi (creation). He gets coronated. He starts ruling the whole dynasty because the dynasty always trusted Paramaśiva as the real King. They are representatives of Paramaśiva and rulingthat kingdom.”
– THE SPH 7 March 2023
Hoysala Dynasty
14th century
Built the Vallalah-gopura tower in honor of Vallalah Maharajah
Countering the Terrorism of Islamic Invaders
The role of King Vallalah III in encountering and restricting Mohammedans in South India has been significant. In such an extraordinary and prodigious task, he sacrificed two capitals, Dwarasamudra and Kannanur, and of course his life at 80 years. Incidentally, Deivasaigamani Desikar cooperated, collaborated, and strategically worked with him. He might have been instrumental in bringing the ViraShaiva people to Tiruvannamalai to protect the temple. As both confronted Mohammedans in all possible ways, they were mercilessly eliminated (as found in historical documents and other circumstantial evidence). For 30 years the king had successfully defended against the Mughal invasion in Tiruvannamalai. When he was 80, King Vallalah III was captured and taken to Madurai, killed, and skinned. Before giving his life as a martyr, the king ensured that the Arunachaleshwara Temple in Tiruvannamalai was protected. After him, the rising emperors Hakka and Bukka of the Vijayanagara Empire would be inspired by his sacrifice and motivated to pour their resources into protecting the Shaiva religion, development of the Shaiva-philosophy, and construction of the Arunachaleshwara Temple.
Vallala Maharaj Gopuram in the Arunachaleshwara Temple of Tiruvannammalai
Vijayanagara Kings & Nayak Kings
late 14th century
After the decline of the Hoysala kings, the Vijayanagara dynasty and the Nayak dynasty ruled.
The Vijayanagara kings built the 100-pillared, 1000-pillared halls (mandapams), and the 11-story tower.
The Nayak kings built the main and largest temple tower, the Raja Gopuram.
Eroding the Sanctum : HR&CE Takeover
1951
With Indian independence in 1947, Tiruvannamalai fell under the Indian Union. Under the guise of protecting this ancient, invaluable heritage, the HR&CE brought the Tiruvannamalai temple under its control. The Tiruvannamalai temple is the largest Shaivite temple in the world and draws millions of devotees from across the globe annually, and along with it large revenue. Since HR&CE, has taken over, resources of the temple have been steadily misappropriated and the hard-earned wealth given by devotees has been illegally funneled into other activities.
2 Brass Deities Missing
A recent audit of the Arunachaleshwara temple reveals that 2 ancient deities are missing. As the case with many temple deities in Tamil Nadu, it is likely that these deities have been stolen and traficked.
2 September 2023 Temple Land Besieged
HR&CE decides to build a commercial shopping complex on the sanctifed temple grounds, funding the project with the temple’s own funds, estimated at $771K.
UNESCO has expressed concerns about this infringement on such an important ancient cultural heritage.
The entire ecosystem of Tiruvannamalai revolves around the temple. For the townspeople, the temple is a central part of their day. For the endangered indigenous communities, it was a part of the irvery livelihood. With the destruction of this ecosystem, these communities are on the verge of extinction.
1757 Attacked &occupied by the French
1760 Under British control
1790 Captured by Tipu Sultan
1760 Under British control
2006: THE SPH being felicitated by the Arunachaleshwara Temple priests during the Karthigai Deepam festival
A Royal Lineage
THE SPH’s family is a direct descendant of Vallalah Maharajah and is from the temple community (Kovil Saarndha Kudi or the community dedicated for the temple), who run the administration. Before the HR&CE’s takeover, THE SPH’s grandfather was the head of the temple administration (dharmakartha).
THE SRI NITHYĀNANDA JANMABHŪMI
- The very enlightenment ecosystem that birthed the Avatar
- Lies in the 6th circumambulation (prakara) of the temple, where the administrators of the temple live
- Just as Paramaśiva descended after the death of Vallala Maharajah to rule the kingdom, Paramaśiva once again descended as THE SPH to protect this ancient enlightened Sanātana Hindu civilization.
The more than 100 stone inscriptions of Tiruvannamalai reveal that Cholas were the early regent kings of Tiruvannamalai who built the smaller shrines of the Arunachaleshwara temple. They were followed by the Kadavarayas, the Hoysalas, the Pandyas, the Vijayanagara kings and the Nayaks, who progressively developed the temple architecture to its full fledged state as seen today.
The Kadavarayas were feudatories of the Chola kings in the 13th century but later defied their authority. One of them – Kadavan Kopperunjingan – even imprisoned king Rajaraja Chola III. It was then that the Hoysala Kings who were ruling over the Dwara-Samudra in Mysore intervened and re-established the Chola reign briefly. The Hoysala chieftains were in de facto power under the Cholas until the Pandya kings expanded their territory and assumed power in this region (13th – 14th century). Later, the Muslim kings invaded from the North (A.D. 1310 – 1327). At that time, the Hoysala King Ballala III became active and countered the Muslim attacks (A.D. 1318 to 1343). In 1338, he assumed the title ‘emperor of the South’. His stone inscriptions (499 and 509 dated A.D. 1340) in the walls of the first prakara (circumambulation path of the temple) call him Pratapachakravartin – Vira Vallaladeva. The region was later ruled by the Vijayanagara kings (14th century). From them the power went to the Nayak kings (15th century). In the 10th century, the region came under the rule of the Rashtrakuta king Kannaradeva.
The central Sanctum Sanctorum of the Arunachaleshwara temple was built during the reign of King Aditya Chola I (A.D 871-955) as indicated in the stone inscriptions (469 – 76; 50 – 65) and it has taken nearly 1000 years to complete the configuration of the Tiruvannamalai Arunachaleswarar temple. The inscriptions are in Tamil Sanskrit and Kannada languages and reveal important data on the social, political and economical happenings of the early pre-historic years.
The first prakara (circumambulation path around the temple) has been built during the period of King Rajendra Chola I and Rajadhiraja Chola I (A.D. 1012 – 1054) as per inscriptions (478, 489, 492; 67, 68, 82). The Vimana (tower) of the central shrine of Annamalayar, the presiding deity, was gilded, gilded by a Bana dynasty chieftain Rajarajan Ponparappinan also called Vanakovaraiyas of Arkalur (Inscription No. 557) . The Bana dynasty served the Chola dynasty and was therefore involved in its architectural works.
To name a few important architectural works, succeeding the Cholas, the Hoysalas built the Vallala-gopura (tower) named after the Hoysala king Veera Vallala Maharaja (Stone inscription 498), the Vijayanagara king Krishnadevaraya built the 100-pillared and 1000-pillared mandapam (hall), the tank near it and the eleven-storey gopura (Stone inscription 574, 165), while the Nayak King Sevappa of Thanjavur built the main and tallest Eastern Gopura (tower) called the Raja Gopura.
(The Raja Gopuram (main temple tower facing East) built by the Nayak King Sevappa.)
Stone Inscriptions on the Tiruvannamalai temple walls that depict as evidence, the ecosystem and lifestyle of the Kings and their subjects.
