#289 Great devotees of Shiva (Punitavati and Kannapa – 63 Nayanars)
This month of Shravan generally between July and August according to the Hindu calendar is considered highly auspicious for the worship of Bhagavan Shiva.
Worship to Shiva first happens in the heart of a devotee, whose love for Shiva radiates outward. Such a devotee is a loving being who relates to everything as Bhagavan.
Most major Shiva temples, especially in Tamil Nadu, have the murtis of the 63 Nayanars, considered the greatest devotees of Shiva, who are worshipped. These Nayanars were men and women across many centuries who came from various social classes.
The word “Nayanar” means “devotee” in Tamil, regional language in India. Their lives and compositions, including some miraculous incidents, reverberate with their devotion to Lord Shiva.
Today, we will hear about Punitavati, also known as Karaikkal Ammaiyar, one of the three women saints among the 63 Nayanars and Kannapa.
Sometime in the 6th century, lived a rich merchant named Dhanadatta in Karaikal in Southern India which was a maritime centre. He had no child. After worshipping Lord Shiva, the couple got a daughter. The child was called by the name Punitavati. Punitavati came to be later on called by the name Karaikkal Ammaiar.
Punitavati was very intelligent, beautiful, pious lady. She enjoyed chanting the many names which were in praise of Lord Shiva. She duly applied Vibhuti, sacred ash to her forehead.
She married Paramadatta, the son of a rich merchant at Nagapattam. Her husband Paramadatta also was an intelligent and a dharmika person.
Punitavati used to feed with intense devotion and joy, different devotees of Shiva, day and night. She would delight in hearing them singing the names of Lord Shiva. She always remembered the mantra of the Vedas: Atithi devo bhava – May you look upon the guest as a devata.
She recognised that Shiva abides in the hearts of all beings. Therefore, the guests deserve worship. Devotees of Lord Shiva continued to visit her, whom she fed and even gave clothes to. She and her husband would eat only the food that remained after serving the devotees, as if it were nectar.
One day, a monk came and gave two ripe mangoes to Paramadatta. Paramadatta gave them to his wife and attended to his business. That day, a hungry Shiva devotee came to her residence. As lunch was not yet ready, Punitavati gave the guest curd rice and one of the mangoes.
Later, when the husband came home, she served a mango, and he asked for the second.
She was at a loss and prayed to Lord Shiva. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a mango appeared in her hands. She served the mango to her husband. He found it far more delicious than the first one. He asked his wife: “My beloved Punitavati, where did you get it from?” She narrated everything.
Paramadatta was struck with awe and wonder. He realised that his wife was no ordinary woman, but a divine person, a devotee of Lord Shiva and began to call her ‘Ammaiyar’ (mother)
He thought to himself: “I have committed a grave mistake. I have treated a great devotee of Lord Shiva as my servant. I cannot consider her as my wife any longer. It will be a great paapa to leave her alone. But what to do now?”
He was in a dilemma. Finally, he resolved to part from her. He told his wife that he was going out on professional business. He obtained her permission and proceeded to Madurai. He settled there and married another woman. The second wife gave birth to a daughter. Paramadatta named her Punitavati.
Punitavati was anxiously awaiting the return of her husband at the promised time. She had no news of him. She became very miserable and unhappy. After some time, she came to know about the whereabouts of her husband. She travelled to Madurai and met her husband.
Paramadatta welcomed her with intense joy and did namaskaara at her feet. He said to his wife: “I am a worldly man. I am passionate and greedy. You are a goddess. I cannot take you now as my wife. Please forgive me”.
Punitavati replied: “My lord, I have preserved my youth and beauty for your sake only. As you do not want me, I shall seek my Lord Shiva now.”
She distributed all the jewels to those assembled around. She worshipped the pious Brahmins and travelled northwards all the way to Mount Kailas.
She thought it a paapa, sin to walk with one’s feet in the holy Himalayas. She moved on her head and hands through the power of her yoga and tapas towards Kailasa mountain
Devi Parvati asked Lord Shiva: “Who is that person, O Lord, who is coming towards us?” Lord Shiva replied: “That pious woman is My Mother, who nourished My devotees.
The devotees form My heart and I, theirs. They do not think of anyone other than Me and I other than them”.
Lord Shiva got up, moved a few steps forward, welcomed Punitavati and said: “My dear Mother, are you well?” and blessed her.
Bhagavan makes no distinction between Himself and His devotees. Serving his devotees is like feeding him, and Punitavati fed his devotees like a mother.
Punitavati prayed to Lord Shiva to give her a different form, and her wish was granted — she became a fiery form of Kali. She was now fierce-looking, and people began to pray to her, asking for devotion to Shiva, just like her. And since then many more devotees have arisen due to the grace of Punitavati.
Kannappa Nayanar
Tinnanar, known as Kannappa, was born of Nagan, the king of the Vyadhas (hunters), in Southern India. King Nagan was a great Bhakta of Lord Subrahmanya. From his boyhood, Tinnanar was well trained in the skills of hunting and archery. In his prime age, he had to assume the reins of governance which his old father bestowed on him.
One day, Tinnanar went out for a hunt with some of his followers. While wandering in the forest they came across a hog, escaping from a net. They, at once chased the hog for a long time, up and down the hills. After a long time, Tinnanar killed the hog. As they were tired due to the long chase, they at once arranged to cook the flesh of the animal and moved to another place in the Kalahasti Hill which was nearby.
While walking towards the hill one of the followers of Tinnanar suggested to him to pay a visit to Kudumi Thevar, the presiding deity of the hills. So, they proceeded to have Darsana of the Lord on the hill. While climbing up the hill Tinnanar felt as if some great burden which was on him up till now, was gradually diminishing.
As soon as he came near the temple, to his great joy he saw a Shiva Linga. At the very sight of Shiva’s form, he was transformed to an embodiment of love and devotion and extreme joy. Like a mother, who met her child, that was missing for long, Tinnanar was immersed in deep love and devotion.
What a boundless and inexpressible joy he had at the very sight of Lord Shiva! He began to cry, weep and shed tears of joy and love towards the Lord. He forgot everything about his meals and his followers and even his own body.
He felt very much for the loneliness of the Lord on the hills without being protected against the animals and others that might do harm to Him, and he decided to keep watch over the temple throughout the night against any danger from animals or evil-doers.
On seeing that the Shiva linga had not been served food, he at once ran out to prepare meals for the Lord out of the meat he had got by killing the hog. He carefully took the flesh, tasted it and thus selected the pieces which were palatable and roasted them. The remaining portion he threw away. Then he proceeded towards the river to fetch water for the Abhisheka and he filled his mouth with water.
On the way, he plucked some flowers and kept them in the locks of his hair. With these preparations, he entered the temple, removed the old flowers that were lying on the Shiva linga with his feet. Since his hands held the cooked meat, he did Abhisheka with the water in his mouth and decorated Him with the flowers he had on his locks of hair. Then he offered the prasad of meat to the Lord. Finishing all these, with bow and arrow in his hand he kept a keen watch over the temple by standing in front of the temple throughout the night. Early in the morning, he went out for hunt to bring Prasad for the Lord.
When Tinnanar left for hunting, the temple priest, Shivakasariar, an earnest and sincere devotee of Lord Sankara, came to the temple and to his great surprise and disappointment, saw bones and flesh all around the Shivalinga. All the decorations had also been spoiled. But he could not identify the man who had meddled with the sanctity of the place. So, chanting the necessary mantras, he cleaned the place and performed his usual Puja for the Lord.
After the Puja he closed the temple and went out.
Tinnanar now returned with the Prasad of meat and flesh and as before, he removed the old decorations done by the priest, decorated in his own way as usual, and offered Prasad. At night, he kept vigil and keen watch over the temple. Early in the morning, he went out to bring Prasad. Thus, he was with the Lord serving Him for five days and in spite of the entreaties of his parents to come home, he persisted in remaining with Bhagavan Shiva alone.
Shivakasariar, who was vexed with the incident being repeated day by day, complained to Bhagavan and requested Him to put an end to these incidents. Lord Shiva appeared in the priest’s dream and narrated to him what was happening in the temple during the absence of the priest and told him about all the actions Tinnanar was doing out of pure, innocent love towards him.
Further, Bhagavan Shiva said: “I welcome, and rather I am immensely pleased with the mouthful of water by which he is doing my Abhisheka. This has greater value to Me than the tirthas of the Ganga. Whatever action that is performed out of pure and deep love and shraddha, I consider great than those rituals and austerities done by the Vedic injunctions without shraddha”. Then Bhagavan Shiva asked the temple priest to come to the temple next day and hide himself behind to witness what Tinnanar does.
Tinnanar, after bringing the Prasad, arranged in his own usual way for the Abhisheka and decoration of the Lord. Now Lord Shiva willed that the priest, Shivakasariar should see and feel the degree of devotion and faith that Tinnanar was having for Him. So, while Tinnanar was doing the Puja and offering the Prasad of meat, to his great astonishment, he saw the Lord shedding tears of blood, in the right eye. He got perplexed and was at a loss to know what to do. He ran here and there to bring some leaves for stopping the bleeding but found they were of no use. He wept bitterly, cursed himself for being unable to stop the bleeding from the eye. At last, a plan came to him.
He at once plucked out his right eye with his arrow and fixed it on the right eye of the Lord. To his great joy and ecstasy, he saw the bleeding stopped. While he was dancing in divine ecstasy for having cured the bleeding, all of a sudden, he perceived that the left eye also was bleeding. Though he was overtaken by surprise and sorrow, the previous plan came to him and he decided to pierce his left eye with his arrow, with the intention of plucking it out and fixing it on the left eye of Bhagavan Shiva.
But then he wondered, if both his eyes were gone, how would he see the bleeding on the left eye of the Lord so as to stop it by fixing his own eye? Hence, in order to identify the left eye of the Lord, he placed his right foot with shoes on the shiva linga and began to pierce his own left eye with the arrow in his hand. But Bhagavan Shiva cannot see His Bhaktas suffer so much. On the spot, the Lord appeared and addressed Tinnanar as ‘Kannappa’ and stopped him from plucking out the left eye and blessed him with moksha.
Even though Kannapa was a hunter by caste and never cared for the rituals and austerities by which the Lord should be worshipped, it was only mere love and intense devotion to the Lord that bestowed on him the greatest boon. Only for six days he performed the Puja ceremonies to the Lord in his own way, but the amount of devotion and love he had to the Lord, was boundless.
While many other Nayanmars had asked at least for moksha, Kannappa Nayanar had asked for nothing. A child petitions a mother for something, but a mother never asks a child for anything. She just shows love for her child. In the same way, the other Nayanmars saw the Lord as their mother. But Kannappa put himself in the place of a mother and the Lord in the place of his child. That is why his bhakti is lauded by everyone and he too is prayed to, so that one may gain devotion like him.
So these were the stories of Punitavati and Kannapa, who inspire us with their devotion to Shiva.
Om namah shivaaya.
