Pey Nayanar

 

On a dark night, the poet Karaikaal Ammaiyar, who is supposed to have lived in the 6th century A.D., went to the crematorium — a shunned space then and now — to watch Lord Shiva dance.  Her impressions would take the form of two classic ten-verse poems “Patikams from Tiruvaalangadu.” She describes the eerie silence of the night punctuated by screams of wild animals, nocturnal birds, and ghouls – frightening and frightened, in turn – all trying to make a meal from this buffet of roasting corpses. In this signature work, she gives herself the pen name “pey,” which is the Tamil word for ghoul or “one possessed.” 

Ammaiyar is counted among the 63 Saivite saints collectively known as Nayanars. There are only three women saints in that parade, but even among them Ammaiyar is a standout thanks to her outré devotion and the fact that she is a writer of innovative poems. (The other two women are: Isaignaniyar who was co-opted into sainthood by virtue of being Sundara Nayanar’s mother and Mangayarkkarasiyar, a Pandiyan queen, who took the help of her minister, Kulachirai Nayanar, to re-convert her Jain husband to Saivism.)

What is Karaikaal Ammaiyar’s story? According to the group biography of the 63 saints, the PeriyaPuranam, Ammaiyar was born into a wealthy merchant family, and she married into another one in the prosperous seaside town of Karaikaal. The beautiful woman was a loving wife. Still, at one point, it became apparent to the husband that Lord Siva was her one true love.  One day, the husband left home under the pretense of a business trip and never came back. Later, relatives discovered that he had set up another household in a different town. So, he came over on a brief visit to see his wife. He confessed that he was far too much in awe of her and apologized for leaving abruptly. But he had no plans of coming back to live with her. These words had the effect of liberating her and Ammaiyar set out to Mount Kailasa, the home of Lord Siva.

Ammaiyar decided to stop tending to her appearance. She shaved off her tresses, grew lean with penance, and wore simple attire because Lord Siva would recognize her anyway. For her bronze idol, the Chola master sculptors seem to have taken inspiration from her own description of a wild woman in the cremation grounds with “sagging breasts/ swollen veins/ A skeleton with a pair of sunken eyes/Blood-red gums/ teeth jutting out.”  Ammaiyar may have taken some practical steps to spurn the curious gaze of fellow travelers, but it is hard to believe that she prayed for, and took on, the form of a withered woman overnight. More likely, she grew old and withered over time like everyone else. 

The poet wrote: “Whoever dances, through His Grace/ These ten verses sung by me/ Ghoul from Karaikaal with mouth/ Of fire and crooked teeth, Will be rid of all sins.” There is also the suggestion that her patikam was meant for an elaborate song-and-dance performance. Yet, no modern Bharatanatyam production features this fierce Nayanar, who scorned the body image which patriarchy demands of women. There is a sophomoric version of the night at Tiruvaalangadu in a Tamil film from the 1970s. (Ammaiyar, the family woman, is played by National Award-winning actress Lakshmi, while the saint is played the much older K. P. Sundarambal.)


Without the legend of turning old or ugly overnight, Karaikaal Ammaiyar  could still be the patron saint of solo women travelers. Though heaven knows it hasn’t gotten that much easier for a woman to be out in the world on a personal quest of discovery even in the present century.




Patikam 1

from Tiruvaalangadu,

Translated by H.S. Shiva Prakash

 

1

Where elava, ekkai, karai

And surai grow in abundance,

Where, grabbing the guts of dead ones,

Gobbling them up, surrounded

By countless corpses, ghouls,

Their eyes throbbing like drums,

Go on singing their songs,

Look! The Handsome One is dancing.

 

2

Where marrow melts and wet the earth,

Where ghouls with long teeth

And sunken eyes dance tunankai,

Extinguish blazing pyres

And gormandize corpses

To their souls content, amidst such

Joyous sports, a torch blazing in His hand,

Look! The Handsome One is dancing

3

Where jackals tug at stinking

White skulls punctured by birds

Where owls hoot, owlets spread

Their wings and barn owls look

Frightening, foxes flit about

Howling, He chooses to dance

In such a charnel house, the Lord,

Whose name is Cremation Ground.

4

Is this corpse really dead?

Testing it with his finger, the ghoul

Gives a yell and, throwing a firebrand

At it, starts to flee in terror

So do other ghouls, beating

Their bellies with bewilderment

They too take to their frightened heels

In such a fearsome wilderness

The Supreme One goes on dancing

 

5

Withered mulli; charred wood;

Brains bursting out of skulls;

In forests filled with withered cacti

And full of wood apple trees,

With spotted antelope skin on,

And tiger’s hide dangling

Down His shoulder, in such a wilderness

The Supreme One goes on dancing.

 

6

Where owlets of many colours

With shining and crooked beaks

Feed on skulls and brains of corpses

And go round howling,

Their hair out like toddy fronds,

The burning charcoal-eyed ghouls

Are making music with flutes

The Handsome One is dancing.

 

7

Scratching up charred corpses

But unable to find any flesh,

Owlets are fast asleep

Bad times for ghouls!

Ah, muluvam music of gods

Keeping step with its notes

Alongside the retinue of ghouls

The Handsome One is dancing.

 

8

Where lofty bamboos scatter pearls

Where burning dead bodies crackle

Giving out sparks, disheveled

And screaming ghouls eat

Dead fetuses to their heart’s content,

As the daughter of mountains

Is watching on,

The Great Magician is dancing

 

9

Where monkeys frolic about

Amidst bamboo groves,

Ghouls, eagles, white skulls

And smoke of pyres abound

As the crooked moon sways

White tuti and parai resound

Listen! Kol, the first note

The Supreme One is dancing

10

Sunken-bellied dwarfish ghouls,

And grown up ones with mouths of flame

Are rife in wilds drowned by indai

Ghouls with teeth jutting out

Are thrilled and angered by turns

Eyeing their young. Listen!

Kol, the first note. With matted hair scattered,

The Pure One is dancing.

11

Wearing the moon in the matted locks

He is dancing His spiral dance

The snake at the waist too is dancing

Whoever dances, through His Grace,

These ten verses sung by me,

Ghoul from Karai with mouth

Of fire and crooked teeth,

Will be rid of all sins.

Patikam 2

from Tiruvaalangadu