Journey
Pancha Bhuta Sthalams
The Pancha Bhuta Sthalams are five Shiva temples in South India where the god manifests as one of the five classical elements. Together they form an elemental map of the southern Shaiva landscape, each shrine's lingam embodying earth, water, fire, air or space. Four are within a hundred and fifty kilometres of each other and the fifth, Kalahasti, is three hundred away in Andhra, which is how the scheme was extended.
Stops (5)
- Kānchī / Kānchīpuram / Kanchipuram · Prithvi – Earth
Ekamranatha at Kanchipuram represents prithvi, earth. The lingam is a swayambhu mound of sand and cannot be bathed with water. Priests anoint it only with jasmine oil and a mirror is placed nearby for the abhisheka to be performed symbolically. Parvati is said to have embraced this lingam as Kamakshi.
- Tiruvannāmalai · Agni – Fire
Arunachaleshwara at Tiruvannamalai represents agni, fire. Shiva manifested here as an infinite column of fire that Brahma and Vishnu could not measure. The Arunachala hill itself is worshipped as the lingam, and the annual Karthigai Deepam festival lights a massive fire atop the hill visible for miles across the Tamil plain.
- Chidambaram · Akasha – Space or ether
Nataraja at Chidambaram represents akasha, space or ether. The sanctum's central shrine houses no image, only empty space behind a veil, called the chidambara rahasya or secret of Chidambaram. It is revealed at darshan as the formless void within which Shiva performs the ananda tandava dance as Nataraja.
- Tiruchirappalli/ Trichy · Ap – Water
Jambukeshwara at Tiruvanaikaval near Tiruchirappalli represents ap, water. A perennial underground spring keeps the lingam's sanctum sanctorum flooded, and water visibly seeps around the base year-round. Parvati worshipped Shiva here as Akhilandeshwari, and the priest performs a daily ritual in her sari at midday, an unusual gender-crossing observance.
- Kālahasti / Srikālahasti · Vayu – Air
Kalahasteeshwara at Srikalahasti in Andhra Pradesh represents vayu, air. The lamps in the sanctum flicker constantly despite the absence of any perceptible draft, taken as proof of the wind element's presence. It is also famed as the site of Kannappa Nayanar's devotion, and as a principal rahu-ketu dosha remediation shrine.