More than six decades ago, a humble man from Tirunelveli arrived in Tiruvannamalai with almost nothing to his name.
No wealth. No influence. No organisation backing him. Yet, he carried with him an unshakable belief that Arunachaleswarar Temple and Lord Arunachaleswarar himself had brought him there for a divine purpose.
That man was Mooppanar Swami. When he first arrived around 1965, life was far from easy. For nearly five years, he survived by selling sacred fruits near the temple, living a simple life while quietly holding on to his devotion.
But destiny had something far greater planned for him.
At the time, the eight sacred Ashtalinga shrines situated along the famous Girivalam path had fallen into complete neglect. Centuries of abandonment had left the shrines damaged and forgotten. Worship had stopped. Temple lands had been encroached upon, and many structures were in ruins.
While most people saw abandoned shrines, Mooppanar Swami saw sacred spaces waiting to be revived.
Once he was offered a small place to stay, he dedicated his entire life to restoring the Ashtalingas.
With his own hands, he began rebuilding what time had nearly erased. He repaired temple structures, cleared encroachments, restored worship practices, installed electricity, dug bore wells, built water tanks and even arranged facilities for devotees visiting the shrines.
His mission was not easy. Mooppanar Swami fought several legal battles to reclaim temple lands that had long been occupied. The pressure and stress from these struggles reportedly affected his health deeply and even led to a heart attack.
But he never gave up. For nearly 30 years, on the first day of every Tamil month, he would undertake the full 14-kilometre Girivalam walk at night. Alongside devotees, he carried water in carts and performed abhishekam at all eight shrines with unwavering dedication.
To many in Tiruvannamalai, he was not just a devotee. They lovingly called him the “64th Nayanar.”
Even during his final days, Mooppanar Swami reportedly refused to leave Tiruvannamalai for treatment in Chennai. If he was to leave this world, he wanted it to happen at the sacred feet of Arunachaleswarar.
He passed away on April 10, 1999, at the age of 76. But his service continues to live on in every devotee who stops at the Ashtalinga shrines during Girivalam today.
Every lamp lit there…Every prayer offered there…Every barefoot step taken around the holy hill…stands as a silent testimony to the life and sacrifice of one humble devotee who refused to let these sacred shrines disappear.
As Mooppanar Swami himself once said:
“If I do not carry out the restoration, there is no point in having taken birth.”
