Tiruvannamalai, Nov. 14 -- As part of the annual Thirukarthigai Deepam festival celebrations, Goddess Pidari Amman, the guardian deity of the Arulmigu Arunachaleswarar Temple in Tiruvannamalai, was taken out in a grand procession on a lion vahana on Friday.

The annual Thirukarthigai Deepam festival at the Arulmigu Arunachaleswarar Temple, one of the Pancha Bhootha Sthalams representing the element of Fire (Agni), will commence on the 15th of this month with the ceremonial hoisting of the temple flag. The ten-day festival is expected to be celebrated with great religious devotion and grandeur. The temple is also considered a sacred destination, believed to grant liberation merely by thinking of it.

As part of the Deepam festival celebrat...