Karaikal Ammaiyar

Punithavati was a great devotee of Lord Shiva belonging to the merchant community in Karaikal (Tamilnadu). She belonged to the 6th century AD, and is one of the 63 great Shaivite saints known as Nayanmars. She spent her time in glorifying the Lord and serving His devotees, especially those who came visiting the town. A wealthy businessman, Paramadattan from Nagapattinam married the beautiful Punithavati. She devoted herself to household chores as well as continued her religious duties. 

One day a relative of Paramadattan visited him at his shop and gave him two mangoes. Paramadattan sent them to his house through his servant. Punithavati received them and placed them at the altar of her Lord. A little later, a Shiva Bhakta came along seeking for alms. Since nothing had been cooked, Punithavati gave away one mango to the sadhu. 

Later, Paramadattan came home and sat down to have his meals. He asked for the mango. She brought the one which was at the Lord’s altar and gave it to him. He found it extremely sweet and asked for the second one. It was not there. She had given it away as bhiksha to the sadhu. Knowing her husband’s temper and not knowing what to do, she ran to the pooja altar. With eyes overflowing with tears, she prayed fervently to the Lord to save her from the situation. As she pleaded with the Lord, a mango appeared in her hands! Overwhelmed at the Lord’s grace, she quickly went and gave it to her husband. This mango was far more sweeter in taste than the first one!! How could two mangoes from the same tree differ so much in taste? Obviously this was not the same mango that he had sent home. Paramadattan asked her to tell him the truth. Slowly she narrated everything to him. He was stunned. With absolute disbelief, he told her to ask Lord Shiva for one more mango. She was reluctant, but he insisted. She again went to the Lord and prayed to Him. Another mango appeared in her hand. She gave it to Paramadattan. The moment he touched the mango, it disappeared. Paramadattan realized that his wife Punithavati was not an ordinary woman but one of the greatest devotees of Parameshwara. He was filled with awe and respect for Punithavati. He no more considered her as his mortal wife. To him she was his Guru who had opened his eyes. He silently left home and settled down in the neighbouring Pandiyan kingdom. He married a local merchant’s daughter and even named his daughter Punithavati!

When Punithavati came to know that her husband had settled down in Madurai, she completely and totally dedicated herself to the Lord. Realising that her beauty and youthfulness was the greatest impediment, she pleaded with Lord Sankara to take away her beauty and give her an ugly form. The Lord granted her wish! Suddenly she became old in appearance and frightfully ugly to look at. Her frightful look brought fear to some, but evoked respect from others. She was reverentially addressed as: KARAIKAL AMMAIYAR. Many beautiful and devotional compositions on Lord Shiva are attributed to her. Desiring to have a glimpse of her Lord, she proceeded to Kailasa. The moment she saw the divine mountain, the abode of the Lord, she was reluctant to place her feet on them. She placed her head down and started walking with the help of her hands! Pleased with her devotion, Lord Shiva and Parvati gave her darshan. She asked for mukti. And if at all she had to be born again, it should be as His devotee only. She expressed her desire to see His Urdhva Tandava, while she sang for Him. The Lord told her to go to Tiruvalangadu where she would be able to witness his divine Nritya. Ammaiyar proceeded to Tiruvalangadu where Lord Shiva is worshipped as Vataranyeswara. With a pair of cymbals in hand Ammaiyar sang ecstatically while the Lord danced. Of the five famous sabhas attributed to Lord Nataraja, Tiruvalangadu is known as Ratna Sabha – the Hall of Gems. Ammaiyar stayed here singing the Lord’s glories and continued her devoted services unto the Lord till she finally merged with Lord Shiva.

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Lord Venkateshwara and Karpura on His Chin!

Sri Ramanujacharya, the great exponent of Vishishtadvaita Philosophy entrusted Anantalwar, one of his disciples, with “pushpa kainkaryam” – offering of flowers as a seva daily to Lord Venkateswara at Tirumala. Anantalwar happily accepted and settled down in Tirumala along with his wife. Every day he would collect various types of flowers, make a beautiful garland and offer it to the Lord. Since it was not an easy task collecting the flowers in the hilly area, he decided to cultivate a flower garden. He first decided to dig a well as water-resource for the garden. Considering this as his seva to the Lord, Anantalwar took a vow that he and his wife alone would engage themselves in this task, and would not take the help of any other person. 
Anantalwar started digging the soil, loosening it and filling it into a basket. His wife carried the basket of soil a little distance downhill to empty it. She was pregnant and walking downhill and uphill was not easy for her. Nevertheless, she cheerfully participated in the seva. One day, as Anantalwar was digging the soil, a boy of about twelve years of age came along and offered his help. Alwar politely refused, but the boy insisted. Angrily, Anantalwar asked him to go away and not disturb him. 

The boy went away from there but approached Anantalwar’s wife. He offered his help to her. Not knowing her husband’s vow, she readily agreed. The boy made sure that Anantalwar did not see him helping the lady. After some time, strangely, Anantalwar noticed that his wife was coming back faster to collect the soil! Was she walking too fast? That was not possible. Was someone helping her? He decided to check. As she carried the basket of soil, Anantalwar followed her unnoticed. To his utter dismay, he saw the boy whom he had sent away helping his wife in carrying and disposing the soil.

Anantalwar was furious. This adamant boy had disrupted his tapas. Seeing the angry Anantalwar, the boy started running away. He kept turning back to see if Anantalwar was following him. Sure, Anantalwar ran behind him, but could not catch him. In a fit of rage, he hurled the crowbar which was in his hand at the boy. It struck the boy’s chin. Anantalwar tried to catch him, but he disappeared. 

Next day, when Anantalwar went to the temple, the priests pointed out the Lord’s idol to him. Anantalwar saw the chin of the Lord badly bruised and bleeding. He was shocked. He now realised that the boy who had come to help him and his wife was none other than the Lord himself. The bleeding had to be checked. He looked around and saw “pacha karpura” (edible camphor) in the sanctum. He took a handful of the karpura and applied it to the Lord’s chin. Miracle of miracles! The bleeding stopped. Anantalwar was overwhelmed at the Lord’s grace and compassion and prayed to Lord Venkateswara for forgiveness. The Lord appeared before him. Acknowledging the devotee’s love, the Lord declared that in future, every day, as a part of his alankara, His chin should be adorned with karpura and without it, His alankara would be incomplete!

Since then, Lord Venkateswara’s chin is daily adorned with karpura to remind everyone of His great devotee, Anantalwar. The karpura is later distributed as “prasad”. The crowbar which Anantalwar used can be seen displayed on the wall on the right side as one enters the main entrance of Lord Venkateswara’s temple at Tirumala.

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Prakriti and Purusha (Annapoorna and Mrityunjaya)

The SUPREME REALITY, the Parabrahma is One-without-a-second: NAMELESS, FORMLESS, ATTRIBUTELESS. This Reality alone becomes Purusha (Spirit or Energy) and Prakriti (Matter). The play of these two factors is “Creation, Sustenance and Dissolution” – the space-time world in which the cause-effect relationship exists as the plurality and the multiplicity that we see within and without us. 

PURUSHA acknowledges PRAKRITI: Once in Kailasa, Lord Shiva who is ever rooted in his Absolute State of Perfection was playing a game of dice with Parvati who is His Sakti. As they were playing, Shiva mentioned that all creation was nothing but a whiff of imagination and from the absolute standpoint it really never exists – it is all an illusion! Parvati, who is none other than Prakriti, was not happy with the Lord’s statement. Maya is indeed a mighty power, and tangible too. Shiva did not agree with her. To prove to Sankara the importance of Maya-sakti, she withdrew her prakriti-aspect from ‘anna’ or food, and settled in Kashi in all Her glory as Mother Annapoorna – the Goddess of Food and Nourishment. Because of this, the entire food-system collapsed. Though Lord Shiva did not need food, all the living creatures including his attendants needed food. Deprived of food, everyone in all the three worlds lost their power and strength. Lord Shiva realized the power of His own Sakti, and came to Kashi. Food was available only in the kitchen of Sri Annapoorna in Kashi. Sankara came to her with a begging bowl seeking alms from her. Goddess Annapoorneswari served the Lord with payasam (sweet delicacy made of rice, milk and sugar) from a gem-studded golden vessel. Shiva, who represents Purusha, acknowledged the importance of Prakriti in the ‘creation-sustenance-dissolution’ of the all the worlds. By accepting alms from Devi, the Lord also points out the sanctity and importance of both, the food and the giver-of-food.

PRAKRITI acknowledges PURUSHA: Markandeya, the young son of Sage Mrikandu was destined to live only for sixteen years. When he was informed about this, he undertook intense tapas and invoked Lord Shiva. When death approached him in the form of Lord Yama, Markandeya did not in the least get frightened or disturbed, but held onto to the Shiva-linga in a tight embrace. In spite of repeated calls by Yama, he did not leave the Shiva-linga. Finally, Yama flung his deadly noose which not only went around Markandeya but it went around the Shiva-linga also. Yama had dared to put the noose around Shiva! Lord Shiva manifested Himself in the Linga and told Yama to go away because He had given His protection to the young boy. When Lord Death refused to go, Shiva got angry, lifted his left leg and flung Yama back to his Yama-loka. Markandeya was saved. Back at Kailasa, Sankara narrated the whole episode to Parvati and told her that he had flung Yama back to his abode just by the touch of his left leg. Parvati did not like Shiva’s self-glorification. She told Shiva that it is she who resides in the left portion of his body and therefore it was actually her shakti that taught Yama a lesson. Shiva smiled and told Parvati that the left leg cannot be lifted and used even a little, without the right foot firmly established on the ground. And it is He who resides in the right foot! Here Prakriti acknowledged the importance of Purusha!

Prakriti and Purusha are both equally important. Their characteristics and qualities are completely different and are in opposition with each other. Yet, they align and complement each other very beautifully. One cannot exist without the other. Both the aspects: PRAKRITI and PURUSHA together alone constitute ONE WHOLE. 

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