TranslateWhen: November/December
Karthigai Deepam is the oldest recorded festival of lights in Tamil Nadu, celebrated on the full moon of the Tamil month Karthigai. Homes line their doorways and windows with rows of clay lamps, and at Thiruvannamalai a giant cauldron of ghee is lit on the summit of Annamalai hill, creating a flame visible for many kilometres across the plains.
When
Full moon of the Tamil month Karthigai (November–December)
Where
Statewide; the Maha Deepam at Thiruvannamalai is the focal point
Duration
Ten days at Thiruvannamalai, one main day elsewhere
Main highlight
The Maha Deepam flame lit on Annamalai hill
Households light agal vilakku lamps at dusk along thresholds, balconies and courtyards. Temples illuminate their corridors and towers with thousands of oil lamps. At Thiruvannamalai, the festival runs for ten days, culminating when the Bharani Deepam lit inside the temple is carried to the hilltop to light the Maha Deepam at sunset.
Sweets such as pori urundai and appam are prepared and offered. Devotees perform girivalam, the 14-kilometre barefoot circumambulation of Annamalai hill, in enormous numbers on the full moon night. Temple chariots are drawn through the streets during the ten-day Thiruvannamalai festival, and Shaivite hymns are recited continuously.
Thiruvannamalai is around 185 kilometres from Chennai and reachable by road or via Katpadi and Villupuram railheads. The town becomes extraordinarily crowded on Deepam day, with lakhs of pilgrims walking girivalam. Vantage points along the girivalam path give clear views of the hilltop flame. Elsewhere, temples in Chennai, Thanjavur and Kanchipuram hold beautiful lamp displays.
