Pancha Bhoota Stalam
— — five temples, one for each element.
Not only on a wall.
“Five Shiva temples, each holding one of the classical elements. Earth at Kanchipuram, water at Thiruvanaikaval, fire at Tiruvannamalai, air at Srikalahasti, ether at Chidambaram. Four lie in Tamil Nadu, one in Andhra Pradesh. The full pilgrimage covers roughly 700 kilometres and is most often walked or driven over four to six days.
Pancha Bhoota Stalam, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
The Pancha Bhoota Stalam, or five-element shrines, are a set of five Shiva temples in south India, each associated with one of the classical elements of Tamil Saivism. Earth is at Ekambareswarar in Kanchipuram; water at Jambukeswarar in Thiruvanaikaval near Tiruchirappalli; fire at Arunachaleswarar in Tiruvannamalai; air at Srikalahasti in Andhra Pradesh; and ether or space at the Nataraja temple in Chidambaram. Four lie in Tamil Nadu, one in Andhra Pradesh. The temples were built and rebuilt under the Pallavas, Cholas, and Vijayanagara rulers from roughly the 7th century onward.
All five are classical Dravidian temple complexes, with towering gopuram gateways, pillared mandapas, and granite sanctums. The Chola-period work at Chidambaram, refined between the 10th and 12th centuries under Kulottunga I and his successors, is among the most accomplished religious architecture in south India; the gold-roofed Chit Sabha holds the bronze Nataraja image. Ekambareswarar in Kanchipuram preserves one of the largest temple tanks in the region and a mango tree the priests describe as more than 3,500 years old. The eastern gopuram at Arunachaleswarar in Tiruvannamalai rises 66 metres above the temple ground.
The route is most often driven anticlockwise from Chidambaram on the Coromandel coast, inland through Tiruvannamalai and Kanchipuram, then south to Thiruvanaikaval and north into Andhra Pradesh to Srikalahasti. Total driving distance is roughly 700 kilometres; many pilgrims take four to six days. The full-moon nights at Tiruvannamalai, when devotees walk the 14-kilometre Girivalam path around the sacred hill Arunachala, draw the largest crowds of the year. Non-Hindus may enter the outer compounds at all five sites; sanctum access varies by temple and is best confirmed locally.