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Updated 11-22-11
Karaikkal Ammaiyar /Karaikkalammaiyar
/Punitavati (500s?)
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"THE BEAUTIFUL LORD DANCES WITH FIRE IN HIS HAND."
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Karaikkal Ammaiyar is believed to have lived in the mid-500s; she wrote four poems that are included in the Tirumurai, the collection of sacred books of the Shaivite canon. By the 500s Shiva and Vishnu had become the chief gods of India, and their followers the two major branches of Hindu belief.
According to Shaivite tradition, Punitavati, the married daughter of one of the leaders of the Tamil-speaking city of Karaikkal (hence the name she came to be known by, "mother of Karaikkal"), was abandoned by her husband because a miracle that Shiva worked through her had convinced him that she was a goddess in disguise. Punitavati asked Shiva to take away her physical beauty and took up the life of a devotee, first writing two poems in his praise: the 101-stanza Arputa tiruvantati (Secret linked verses of wonder), and the 20-stanza Tiruvirattai manimalai (Secret garland of double gems). Eventually she moved to the town of Tiruvalankatu, where there was a cremation ground sacred to Shiva, There she wrote two sets of 11-stanza hymns on Shiva as lord of Tiruvalankatu, describing the creation grounds, its inhabitants (including the spirits she called peys, with whom she identified herself), and Shiva's cosmic dance.
On some statues and temple reliefs of Shiva Nataraja (the dancing Shiva), an emaciated but joyful Karaikkal Ammaiyar is found seated at Shiva's feet striking her cymbals to his beat.
On this page you'll find:
Links to helpful sites online.
Excerpts from a translation in print.
Information about secondary sources.
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1. Translations:
(a) The four hymns of Karaikkal, in translations by T. N. Ramachandran: Arputa tiruvantati, Tiruvirattai manimalai, the first Tiruvalankatu poem, and the second.
(b) Use your browser's search function to go to "Karaikkal" for a brief essay that includes lines from two of the Tiruvalankatu hymns: "In the cemetery where you hear crackling noises," and "Ghouls with flaming mouths and rolling, fiery eyes," translated by Elaine Craddock. At the end of the essay, you can download a PDF file (245 KB) of Craddock's 2005 essay "The Anatomy of Devotion: The Life and Poetry of Karaikkal Ammaiyar," which includes a dozen other passages, from each of Karaikkal's four poems; the essay would become part of Craddock's 2010 book, Siva's Demon Devotee: Karaikkal Ammaiyar (for excerpts from that, see below, under "In print").
(c) Two more stanzas from the second Tiruvalankatu hymn: "Sagging breasts and swollen veins," and "The ground is damp with liquid marrow," both translated by Uma Chakravarti.
2. From the last book of the Tirumurai, an 1100s collection of biographies of 63 Tamil saints by Cekkilar, the "Puranam of Peyar," the traditional story of Karaikkal Ammaiyar in 66 stanzas, translated by Ramachandran.
3. In a 2011 essay by Phil Hine on tantra and the grotesque, Karaikkal is seen as an early exemplar, "The Woman Who Became a Ghoul"; to illustrate, Hine quotes passages translated by Craddock.
4. Two bronze statues of Karaikkal, both originally from Tamil-nadu: one from the 1000s, the other from the 1100s (both show her holding cymbals, used to accompany a dancing Shiva).
5. Reviews (for more on Cutler's book, see "In print"; for information on the other books' treatment of Karaikkal Ammaiyar, see "Secondary sources":
(a) George L. Hart on Norman Cutler's 1987 study /translation, Songs of Experience: The Poetics of Tamil Devotion.
(b) Ludo Rocher on David Smith's 1996 study, The Dance of Siva: Religion, Art and Poetry in South India.
(c) Nilanjan Sarkar on Vijaya Ramaswamy's 1997 study, Walking Naked: Women, Society, Spirituality in South India (and on another book by the same author); and another review, by Timothy Conway.
(d) Sandip Roy on Wendy Doniger's 2009 book, The Hindus: An Alternative History; elsewhere, another review, this by Michael Dirda; and yet another, by Georganna Hancock.
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[Elaine Craddock's study /translation describes early Tamil literature, discusses the language and themes of Karaikkal Ammaiyar's poetry, the traditional accounts of her life, and the temples and festival at which she is honored today. Then Craddock ("in partnership with R. Vijayalakshmy") translates the four poems. The book's bibliography identifies the relevant works in English. (See the book's table of contents online.):]
Craddock, Elaine. Siva's demon devotee: Karaikkal Ammaiyar.
Albany: State University of New York Press, 2010. (xii, 193 p.,
illus.)
LC#: PL4758.9.K3732 Z633 2010; ISBN: 9781438430874
Includes bibliographical references and index.
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"When will you take away my sorrow?"
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[The opening of Arputa tiruvantati; Shiva is often described with a blue-colored throat because he had once swallowed poison in order to save the world:]
Ever since I was born in this world, and learned to speak,
with overwhelming love I have always remained at
Your beautiful feet.
O God of the gods, whose blue-suffused throat
shines incandescently,
when will you take away my sorrow? [AT
1; p.115]
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"He is the one who makes us know."
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[Knowledge of the truth comes from Shiva:]
He is the one who knows.
He is the one who makes us know.
He is the knowledge that knows.
He is the truth that is to be known.
He is the moon, sun, earth, sky, and all the other elements. [AT
20; p. 119]
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"...who imagine him in any form."
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[And he will respond to those who seek him:]
Those who speak about bookish knowledge,
who do not have real knowledge of the truth,
let them wander.
The nature of the One whose throat is like a blue jewel
is beyond limits.
To those who practice any kind of austerities,
who imagine him in any form,
He will appear in that form. AT
33; p. 121]
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"What can I tell them?"
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[The poet cannot explain to others what they want to know:]
On that day I became your servant without seeing
Your divine form.
Even today I have not seen Your sacred form.
To those who ask,
"What is your Lord's permanent form?"
What can I tell them?
What is your form? [AT
61; p.126]
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"I don't want anything else."
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[But she is satisfied with what she does know. The peys are spirits who serve Shiva, along with the other ganas, his servants:]
The One who has kept another eye on his forehead,
has made me understand a little of Him.
I am one of the peys among His good ganas.
Whether or not this grace lasts,
I don't want anything else. [AT
86; p. 131]
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"...keeping them from birth in this world."
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[From Tiruvirattai manimalai: Shiva can free his followers from continual rebirth:]
Thinking that without Him, the Lord, there is nothing,
feeling timid, having him in their heart---
the Lord will protect those who live without forgetting Him,
who praise Him,
by keeping them from birth in this world. [TM
2; p.134]
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"You who say...."
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[And lead them to nirvana, "the happiness of liberation":]
You who say you want to go into the happiness of liberation
without falling,
having crossed the flooding sea of base miseries:
Without getting tired, pleading,
with humility, with focused concentration,
always worship the Hero who saw that the cities of the enemies
were destroyed,
the One with eight shoulders,
and with pure gold hero's anklets. [TM
9; p.136]
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"The place where our Lord dances...."
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[From the first Tiruvalankatu hymn, a reminder that these stanzas were to be sung and accompanied:]
The second, third, sixth, seventh, fourth, fifth, and first
notes are
sung melodiously.
The small kettledrum, the conch, the two-sided drum, kettledrum
and muracu drum,
along with the cymbals and vinai,
the mattalam, karatikai and vanakai drum with soft
shin, the utukkai,
the loud drum, and
the one-eyed drum, all play.
The place where our Lord dances, accompanied by all these
instruments
is Tiruvalankatu. [TMT
1.9; pp. 140-41]
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"The little pey... sits there awhile thinking."
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[And from the second hymn:]
In the desiccated cremation ground,
the little pey gropes, but finds no food to eat.
It sits there awhile thinking, then goes to sleep.
In the cemetery where the small demons suffer,
when, as always, the gods sound the mulavin drum,
at twilight, the Beautiful Lord dances with fire in His hand,
without missing a beat. [TMT
2.7; p. 143]
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[After a detailed discussion of Tamil poetry and bhakti, Norman Cutler's study /translation includes nine stanzas from various parts of Arputa tiruvantati and the first and final stanzas of the first Tiruvalankatu hymn:]
Cutler, Norman. Songs of experience: the poetics of Tamil
devotion (Religion in Asia and Africa series ). Bloomington:
Indiana University Press, c1987. (vi, 211 p.: ill.)
LC#: PL4758.2 .C88 1987; ISBN: 0253353343
Bibliography: p. [203]-206
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[This collection contains the essay "The life and Mission of Karaikkal Ammaiyar," by N. Jagadeesan, which discusses the significance of the traditional story of Karaikkal's life and her influence on later Shaivism. (See the book's table of contents online.):]
Medieval bhakti movements in India; edited by N.N. Bhattacharyya.
New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal, c1989. (xxxi, 393 p.)
LC#: BL1214.32.B53 M43 1989; ISBN: 8121504591
Bibliography: p. [374]-386. Includes index
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[Vijaya Ramaswamy's study includes a brief section on Karaikkal
Ammaiyar (pp.129-34), with several quotations. (See
the book's table of contents online.):]
Ramaswamy, Vijaya. Walking naked: women, society, spirituality
in South India. Shimla: Indian Institute of Advanced Study, 1997.
(x, 257 p.)
LC#: HQ1393 .V55 1997; ISBN: 8185952396
Includes bibliographical references and index
[Revised edition published 2007: ISBN: 9788179860687]
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[David Smith's study of the figure of the dancing Shiva treats
Karaikkal Ammaiyar only briefly (pp. 217-27), but it provides
useful background on the group of saints (Nayyanars) of
which she is one. (See
the book's table of contents online.):]
Smith, David (David James). The dance of Siva: religion, art
and poetry in South India (Cambridge studies in religious traditions;
7). Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press, 1996. (xii,
301 p.: ill.)
LC#: BL1218 .S62 1996; ISBN: 0521482348
Includes bibliographical references (p. 287-294) and index
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[A. J. Ramanujan's essay in this collection, "On Women Saints," provides a valuable analysis of the similarities and differences in the lives of the women saints in India, including Karaikkal Ammaiyar:]
The Divine consort: Radha and the goddesses of India / edited
by John Stratton Hawley and Donna Marie Wulff ( Beacon paperback;
734). Boston: Beacon Press, 1986, c1982. (xviii, 414 p., [16]
p. of plates: ill.]
LC#: BL1225.R24 D58 1986; ISBN: 080701303X
Papers presented at a conference held June 1978 at Harvard University,
sponsored by the Center for the Study of World Religions. Includes
index. Bibliography: p. 383-403.
[Originally published: Berkeley, Calif.: Berkeley Religious Studies
Series, c1982. ISBN: 0895811022]
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[One of Wendy Doniger's goals for her "alternative history" is to show "the contributions of women, the lower castes, and other religions" (p.18). One of her chapters, "Bhakti in South India," provides a detailed description of the devotional movement of which Karaikkal was one the first major figures. The book has a helpful chronology and glossary. (See the book's table of contents online.):]
Doniger, Wendy. The Hindus: an alternative history. New York:
Penguin Press, c2009. (779 p.: ill., maps)
LC#: BL1151.3 .D66 2009; ISBN: 9780670020317
Includes bibliographical references (p. [729]-753) and index.
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Updated 11-22-11