सनातन पुस्तकालय Sanatan Cultural Library

The sthala purana of Thiruvannamalai tells that Brahma and Vishnu once disputed which of them was supreme. Shiva appeared between them as an endless column of fire and challenged them to find its ends; Vishnu as a boar dug downward and Brahma as a swan flew upward, and neither succeeded. That column of light, tradition holds, cooled into the hill Arunachala, and the Maha Deepam lit on its summit each Karthigai renews the vision of Shiva as pure flame. The festival is among the oldest attested in Tamil culture — the lamp-festival of Karthigai is mentioned in Sangam-era poetry, older than most pan-Indian festival observances in the region. A second strand of the tradition belongs to Murugan: the six sparks from Shiva's third eye were nursed in the Saravana lake by the six Krittika maidens — the Pleiades — and joined into the six-faced god, which is why the Krittika full moon is dear to Murugan's devotees as well.

At Thiruvannamalai the festival runs about ten days, ending on Karthigai Deepam day. Before dawn that morning the Bharani Deepam is lit inside the Arunachaleswarar temple; at dusk, as the full moon rises, its flame is carried up the 2,600-plus-foot hill and the Maha Deepam — a huge cauldron of ghee with a thick cloth wick — is kindled on the summit. The flame burns for days and is visible far across the plain; enormous crowds walk the fourteen-kilometre girivalam path around the hill through the night. At home, Tamil families wash the front entrance, draw kolams, and set out rows of clay agal vilakku at doorways and windows — the saying goes that Karthigai lamps continue the lamps of Deepavali. Special foods include pori urundai (puffed-rice balls in jaggery) and appam. In Andhra Pradesh the whole of Karthika masam is a month of lamps for Shiva, and temples hold Karthika Deepotsavam on the pournami, with the Jwala Toranam flame ceremony at Srisailam.

The household side of Karthigai Deepam transfers beautifully to a Canadian winter: on the evening of the Karthigai pournami — which falls in late November or early December, when Ottawa is already dark by five o'clock — families light rows of oil lamps or tealights at the window and doorway, draw a kolam, and offer pori urundai. Battery lamps are a sensible substitute where open flames near curtains or on snowy porches are unwise. The Maha Deepam itself belongs to Thiruvannamalai; it cannot be replicated, but the lighting is streamed live each year, and Indian dusk corresponds to morning in Ottawa, so many diaspora families watch the flame appear on the hill with their coffee. Devotees of Ramana Maharshi, whose ashram sits at the foot of Arunachala, often mark the day with girivalam-style walking meditation or extra japa. Some plan pilgrimage visits around the festival — accommodation in Thiruvannamalai books out far ahead.