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4. KAraikkAl ammaiyAr
 
(She said that she would not tread the
sacred mountain of the Lord with her feet and accordingly walked on
her head with her feet pointed up. The Lord’s consort Uma laughed at
this circus. But the Lord with the golden body said it is “My
Mother”. She is the treasure of the family in KAraikkAl where honey
oozes from the branches of trees).
This is how nambiyANDAr nambi describes the skeletal woman who has
the unique distinction of having gone to KailAsa Mountain (the abode
of Lord Shiva) and returned to earth. Sundarar rode the divine
elephant ayrAvadham and his friend cEramAn perumAL nAyanAr rode his
horse to the heavens but only KAraikkAl ammaiyAr went to the
“heavens” and returned as per the Lord’s instructions. Sundarar
sang, “I am a servitor to pEyAr”. Sundarar called kAraikkAl ammaiyAr
a “pEyAr” (ghost) because that is how she transformed herself into
an almost bare skeleton from out of her splendorous youth as a
result of her husband leaving her once he recognised her higher
status as a devotee of the Lord. SEkkizhAr gives a preamble about
kAraikkAl ammaiyAr as a person who has “a complexion that puts the
peacock to shame and speech as sweet as that of a harp and equaling
that of a cuckoo”. He devotes 66 stanzas to narrate her life devoted
to the Lord. He describes her birth thus:
(On the shores of the
sea where plenty of ships (vangam) have anchored in the city of
KAraikkAl there was a trader baron by name dhanadhaththan. By virtue
of his prayers he begot a beautiful and virtuous daughter whom he
named Punithavathi)
Punithavathi was born in a rich merchant’s family
in KAraikkAl in the sOzha kingdom. When she came of age she got
married to the son of a wealthy merchant and led a devoted life of a
housewife doing all the ideal things a housewife did. All along she
was also an ardent devotee of Lord Shiva. One day her husband sent
from his shop a couple of sweet mangoes to her with instructions to
keep them ready for his lunch. But before he came home there was a
devotee of the Lord who came to her house and she invited him to eat
lunch. Lacking some vegetables for the food she offered one of the
mangoes to the devotee. The devotee ate the mango and went his way.
 The
husband came home for lunch and asked for the mango. She brought him
the second mango. The mango was delicious and he asked for the
“second” one. She was in a bind since she served one to the devotee
already. But she went into the kitchen and prayed to the Lord.
Another fruit appeared in her hand miraculously. She served it to
him and it had such a rich taste unlike Punithavathi (kAraikkAl
ammaiyAr) the previous one he ate. He asked her as to the origin of
the second fruit. Being a devoted wife she told the truth that the
Lord gave it to her.
He did not believe that story and asked her to
get one more to test the credibility of her story. The Lord obliged
her once more. She gave the fruit to him and once he received it in
his hand it disappeared. He was awestruck with fear and thought that
his wife was some goddess. Soon he went on a mercantile journey and
never came back. He settled in the PANDiya kingdom, married another
woman and had a daughter too through her. He named the daughter
Punithavathi in honour of his first wife.
After sometime Punithavathi’s parents and
relatives were upset that her husband did not return. They learned
that he settled elsewhere. They travelled to the place (with her)
where he was living in order to persuade him to return. The husband
came with his second wife and daughter, met with them and explained
that he was not fit to be the husband of Punithavathi and that he
revered her rather than loved her and prostrated at her feet. That
was the turning point in the life of Punithavathi. She prayed to God
to get the form of a ghost devoid of the ephemeral beauty of the
flesh and to enable her to live her life singing His praise thereon.
SEkkizhAr writes:
(With the grace of the
Lord, who dances in the sacred hall, she got rid of the beautiful
flesh of her body and became a bare skeletal figure and looked like
a ghost whom the heavens and the earth would worship.)
Thus she became a wraith in accordance with her
wish. There is a prayer in contradiction to all norms. Most women
ask for attaining beauty. She asked to get rid of the beauty she
already had. She composed several songs in praise of the Lord. She
then left on a northward journey toward mount KailAsh and reaching
there she would not dare walk with her feet on the sacred terrain.
She then walked on her head and reached the Lord’s abode. The Lord’s
consort, Uma, was surprised to see a skeletal figure walking on her
head. Let us read what SEkkizhAr writes about the Lord’s reply.
(“The lady who is coming
is a mother who loves us. She obtained this venerable skeletal
figure by praying to me”. Once Punithavathi reached His presence he
called her “Mother”. That single word was uttered for the whole
world to be blessed.)
What did Punithavathi want from the Lord?
(She asks for the
eternal blissful love of the Lord. Then she requests not to be born
again. If there ever were to be another birth she wants to live
thinking about Him forever. She also wants to sing happily at His
dancing holy feet all the time.)
The Lord granted her wish and commanded her to go
to ThiruvAlangADu and watch His dance at the raththina sabhai
(gemstone hall). She walked back to ThiruvAlangADu, lived there and
sang in praise of the Lord. Since she was called “ammaiyE” by the
Lord she came to be known as KAraikkAl ammaiyAr. Who gets the grace
to be called “ammaiyE” by the Lord?
KAraikkAl ammaiyAr is also unique among the 63
nAyanmArs in that she was the first woman who got the revered status
by virtue of her devotion to the Lord at the expense of her family
life and personal beauty. Among the 63 nAyanmArs whose icons are
displayed in Shiva temples kAraikkAl ammaiyAr’s icon is the only one
found in sitting posture (in recognition of her motherly status)
while all others are in standing posture.
Other nAyanmArs excelled in their devotion
without much of a personal sacrifice. With a skeletal body she
climbed the holy mountain on her head. KAraikkAl ammaiyAr is
supposed to have lived in the 3rd or 5th century CE long before
Sambandhar’s and appar’s time. She sang 143 stanzas in praise of the
Lord in four titles: ThiruvAlangATTu mUththa thiruppadhigam (1 and
2), iraTTAi maNi mAlai, and aRpudhath thiruvandhAdhi. Her pAsurangaL
can be found in 11th thirumuRai.
For a detailed story of KAraikkAl ammaiyAr please
visit:
http://www.shaivam.org/nakarai.html
For the poems of KAraikkAl ammaiyAr refer to:
http://www.shaivam.org/tamil/thirumurai/thiru11_peyar.htm
Sethuraman Subramanian
subramaniansethu@hotmail.com
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