Spirits Delay Mountain Path

The following narrative is an extract from Richard Clarke’s fascinating posting at this link here in which he gives detailed information about a recent project to extend a pathway by way of restoration of an old passage between Ganesh and Parvati Hill, west of Arunachala. The path marked in white in the below aerial photograph is about 1.5 km long.

After conforming to procedure by filing an official plan with the Department of Forestry and Collector, through a local Trust organisation, ‘Global Watch Trust’, work on the new pathway commenced.

Pathway with Steps
being Created 1

After commencement of work, the leader of the mountain work group reported problems manifesting in injuries to crew members, slow progress, workers feeling drained of energy and infighting amongst themselves. It was concluded that these problems were happening because of resistance from mountain spirits.

Pathway with Steps
being Created 2

The crew leader also reported a scream heard in the area which he thought to be from the Goddess Mohini who is believed to reside there. He also had a vision of being visited by Goddess Mohini in which he felt her physical presence pushing his body. He reported that the Goddess told him that the spirits were upset because the work crew were moving rocks that the spirits enjoyed sitting upon. The crew leader then had a vision of his Guru, telling him to conduct a puja to placate the spirits and ask for their blessings to continue with the pathway.

Old Path before Work

A special puja was thus arranged in the forest to placate the disturbed spirits. Although the puja was acknowledged a success, the old work crew continued to feel uncomfortable resuming work on the pathway. Thus work was disbanded for a short time until a new crew could be hired to complete work on what is now a finished pathway.

Completed Puja

To read Richard Clark’s fascinating report in full and also to view the many photographs he posted with his narrative please go to his original posting at this link here.

Lord Murugan Puja

The Subramanya Temple which is located on the Vellore Road, opposite the Collectorate is only about forty years old however the statue of Lord Murugan, ensconced in the Temple's shrine room is more ancient and hails from the Siva Temple at Kadaladi.

In 2003 work was started on the enlargement of the Subramanya Temple and was finished in 2006 with abhisekham performed in 2007.






Even though Lord Murugan is a beloved God in Tamil Nadu, there are few Murugan Temples in Tiruvannamalai probably the most famous being the Pavala Kundru Temple set on a spur on the face of Arunachala.







For more information and photographs of this Subramanya Temple go to this link here.







This particular Temple specialises in performing pujas to overcome obstacles and problems in one’s life. The below photographs are of a recently performed fire homam sponsored by a private party which lasted nearly five hours, was performed by five Brahmin priest and dedicated to the alleviation of difficulties
























This Temple is privately run through a Trust and to learn more about how to arrange for a homam to be performed at this Subramanya Temple please use the 'contact me' at the top left of this page..