Tiruvannamalai is a world renowned pilgrim centre located at the foot hills of Annamalai hills.

Lord Shiva and Parvathi are the two deities that are worshipped here at Arunachaleeswar temple. Lord Shiva is known by devotees as Annamalayar or Arunachaleswarar. The history of this Annamalayar temple dates back to thousand years.

The Arunachaleswarar temple has a unique structure with a 66 metre high tower consisting of thirteen storey tier. The temple has seven prakaras and nine towers. The tallest tower was built by King Krishnadevarayar of the Vijayanagaram kingdom in the fifteenth century and it is believed to be the second tallest tower in the South India. This tower is called as Rajagopuram located on the eastern side. Arunachaleswarar temple is spread over 25 acres of land.

This temple is also considered unique since fire being one of the five elements of Panchabootham is attributed to this Arunachalaeswarar temple and Lord Shiva is worshipped in the form of fire.

The other elements that falls under the Panchaboothas are space (Akash), water (Jalam), wind (Vayu), and earth (Bhoomi) Each of these five elements of Panchaboothas are associated to different places of worship in Tamil Nadu and Andhra. Water is associated with a temple in Thiruvanaikaval, Space is attributed to a temple at Chidambaram, Earth at Kanchipuram and Wind at Sri Kalahasthi in Andhra nearer to Tirupathi.