The term Dakshinayanam literally means southern journey. Here it refers to the Indian Summer solistice, for in hindu puranic yore the Sun is believed to move towards the South at this time. It seems to accentuate the  idea that we are entering the darker part of the year – less sun, more rain, longer nights…

As Arunachala is also revered as the Sun mountain, events involving the Sun are always celebrated here as a festival.

The Dakshinayanam festival begins in the big temple exactly 10 days before the summer solistice which, in India, falls around the 17^th of July. It takes place on the usual course of an Utsavam (temple festival). Even though the meaning of the festival is not very explicit, one can eventually glean the cosmic dimension in it, for, at this time of year such a festival seeks to define the auspicious period in which the idea of death leading to ascension is highlighted in a most subtle way.

Each day in the morning around sunrise and in the evening around sunset the different gods of the hindu pantheon are taken out on procession. The yagasala is opened since the first day and two kalasams representing the Sun (Surya) and his wife, Chaya (the Shadow) are venerated according to vedic rituals for the first 9 days. On the 10^th day, at the culmination of the festival, the kalasams are brought outside on procession with the gods and taken inside the main shrine for bathing the deities.

The main difference between the Dakshinayanam and the Uttarayanam (Northern Journey – winter solisice festival) is the place accorded to the Tiruvoodal (divine quarrel). Whereas it stays as a private affair now and is only performed within the walls of the temple shrine, at Uttarayanam, the Tiruvoodal is a public affair and taken right to the streets and enacted in the view of the public. One wonders why and the answer is “even the Gods like to keep their affairs in the dark at this time!”

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