Unlike most Shiva temples where Nandi, Lord Shiva’s loyal attendant, faces the Shivalinga inside the sanctum, here, Nandi gazes upon the Arunachala Hill, recognizing it as the embodiment of Shiva.

Arunachala hill stands right in the middle of the city of Tiruvannamalai and it is considered as an incarnation Lord Shiva. The journey up along it amounts to a sort of pilgrimage itself with ...