Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār

by

Elaine Craddock

• LAST REVIEWED: 28 April 2017
• LAST MODIFIED: 11 January 2018
• DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780195399318-0059

Introduction

Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār, the “Mother/Woman from Kāraikkāl” in the southeastern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, was probably the first poet to write hymns to the god Shiva in the Tamil language, in approximately the mid-6th century. Speaking to god in one’s mother tongue, rather than Sanskrit, was pivotal to the development of Hindu bhakti or devotionalism that arose in response to the religions of Jainism and Buddhism, which reached the apex of their popularity in South India during the 5th and 6th centuries. She is considered the author of 143 poems organized into four works of poetry that are included in the eleventh book of the Tirumuṟai, the Śaiva canon: Aṟputat Tiruvantāti (Sacred Linked Verses of Wonder), with 101 veṇpā verses; Tiruviraṭṭai Maṇimālai (The Sacred Garland of Double Gems), with 20 stanzas alternating in veṇpā and kaṭṭalaik kalittuṟai; and the two patikams called Tiruvālaṅkāṭṭu Mūtta Tiruppatikaṅkaḷ (First Sacred Verses on Tiruvālaṅkāṭu), which are ten-verse poems with an eleventh “signature” verse each and which are set to music (some texts call the first patikam Tiruvālaṅkāṭṭu Mūtta Tiruppatikaṅkaḷ and the second patikam simply Tiruvālaṅkāṭṭu Tiruppatikaṅkaḷ, or Sacred Verses on Tiruvālaṅkāṭu). Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār’s poetry reveals a fascinating portrait of the localization of the pan-Indian god Shiva in the Tamil country and the early formation of a self-conscious community of devotees dedicated to him. In several of her verses, Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār identifies herself as a pēy (demon or ghoul), a member of Shiva’s troupe of ghouls that dance with him in the cremation ground. In the state of Tamil Nadu, Śaiva Siddhānta developed over many centuries to become the dominant philosophical, theological, and ritual system associated with the god Shiva. The tradition was systematized between the 12th and 14th centuries but draws its devotional perspectives from the stories and hymns of the Nāyaṉmār (“leaders,” singular nāyaṉār), the sixty-three devotees of Shiva who were canonized as saints in Cēkkiḻār’s 12th-century hagiography, the Periya Purāṇam, and who continue to be venerated in the Tamil Śaiva tradition today; Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār is the only female poet among them. In Cēkkiḻār’s narrative, Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār is a beautiful, devoted wife and ardent Shiva devotee whose husband is frightened by the manifestations of Shiva’s grace she has earned and thus abandons her. Ammaiyār then asks Shiva to take away her earthly beauty and give her a demon form in which she can properly worship him.

General Overviews

Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār is included in many works on the Tamil Nāyaṉmār, the sixty-three devotees of Shiva who were canonized as saints in Cēkkiḻār’s 12th-century hagiography, the Periya Purāṇam, and in some works on the devotional movements in South India. Several texts also deal specifically with Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār’s life and work. Suriamurthy 2003 and Sasivalli 1984 provide a short overview of her story and an analysis of the poetry, Suriamurthy in Tamil; both include the full Tamil text of the poetry. Gros 2009 highlights the disjunction between the life story and the poetry. Pechilis 2012 and Craddock 2010 discuss the two temples associated with Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār in addition to the story and poetry. Jagadessan 1989 gives a brief overview of Ammaiyār’s life and work.

• Craddock, Elaine. Śiva’s Demon Devotee: Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2010.

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  A comprehensive overview of Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār, situating her work in the history of early Tamil devotional poetry and her story in the Tamil Śaiva tradition. Also contains ethnographic discussions of the Kāraikkāl and Tiruvālaṅkāṭu temples and their contemporary Ammaiyār festivals. Provides a full translation of the poems.

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• Gros, François. “Kāraikkālammaiyār: Between Her Legend and Her Works.” Paper presented at a seminar held on 30 July 2004 in Pondicherry, India. In Deep Rivers: Selected Writings on Tamil Literature. Edited by P. M. Kannan and Jennifer Clare. Translated by M. P. Boseman, 175–196. Publications hors Serie 10 (Institut Français de Pondichery). Berkeley: University of California Press, 2009.

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  An English translation of Gros’s postface to the second edition of Chants Dévotionnels Tamouls de Kāraikkālammaiyār by Karavelane (see Kāraikkālammaiyār 1982, cited under Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār’s Life Story). A concise but thorough and insightful discussion of the historical evolution of Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār’s life story, central elements of her poetry, and the diffusion of her imagery into Southeast Asia.

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• Jagadessan, N. “The Life and Mission of Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār.” In Medieval Bhakti Movements in India: Śrī Caitanya Quincentenary Commemoration Volume. Edited by N. N. Bhattacharyya, 149–161. New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal, 1989.

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  A very brief overview of Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār’s life and works as part of the bhakti tradition in Tamil Nadu.

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• Pechilis, Karen. Interpreting Devotion: The Poetry and Legacy of a Female Bhakti Saint of India. London: Routledge, 2012.

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  A discerning, wide-ranging study that frames Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār’s devotion as a process of interpretations made by the poet, her biographer, and contemporary festival participants. Includes a full translation of the poetry and of Cēkkiḻār’s 12th-century biography, as well as detailed descriptions of the festivals at the Kāraikkāl and Tiruvālaṅkāṭu temples.

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• Sasivalli, S. Karaikkal Ammaiyar. Madras: International Institute of Tamil Studies, 1984.

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  Detailed discussion of elements of the poetry, including Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār’s conception of Shiva, the role of ghosts or demons, and the setting of the Tiruvālaṅkāṭu poems. Includes a brief sketch of her life story and the full Tamil text of the poems.

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• Suriamurthy, Gomathi. Kāraikkālammaiyār. New Delhi: Sahitya Akademi, 2003.

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  A short but incisive overview in Tamil of Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār’s life story and analysis of the poetry and its connections to Śaiva Siddhānta; includes the full text of the four works of poetry.

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Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār’s Life Story

The authoritative and enduring narrative of Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār’s life is told in sixty-five stanzas of Cēkkiḻār’s 12th-century hagiography, the Periya Purāṇam, which canonizes the sixty-three Tamil Śaiva saints; Ammaiyār is the twenty-fourth saint. Kāraikkālammaiyār 1982 (French) and Pechilis 2006 (English) provide verse-by-verse translations. Craddock 2007, Pechilis 2008, and Mudaliar 1988 give synopses of the story, Mudaliar in Tamil. McGlashan 2006 is a full and accessible English translation of the Periya Purāṇam. Hudson 1989 highlights the transgressive actions performed by some saints to express absolute devotion to Shiva. Monius 2004 situates the Periya Purāṇam in a cultural context of competing religious perspectives expressed in literary narrative. Shanta 1997 is a Tamil account of Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār’s place in the Kannada tradition.

• Craddock, Elaine. “The Anatomy of Devotion: The Life and Poetry of Karaikkal Ammaiyar.” In Women’s Lives, Women’s Rituals in the Hindu Tradition. Edited by Tracy Pintchman, 131–147. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007.

  DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195177060.001.0001Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  Analyzes Ammaiyār’s transformational shift from a life lived in the domestic sphere performing wifely rituals to a life lived entirely as a ritual offering to Shiva.

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• Hudson, D. Dennis. “Violent and Fanatical Devotion among the Nāyanārs: A Study in the Periya Purāṇam of Cēkkilār.” In Criminal Gods and Demon Devotees: Essays on the Guardians of Popular Hinduism. Edited by Alf Hiltebeitel, 373–404. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1989.

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  Illuminates the cultic context in which Cēkkilār’s stories of the Śaiva saints’ absolute devotion to Shiva include actions that transgress moral and social norms, providing a fuller understanding of Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār’s life story.

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• Kāraikkālammaiyār. Chants dévotionnels Tamouls de Kāraikkālammaiyār. 2d ed. Edited and translated by Karavelane. Pondicherry, India: Institut Français d’Indologie, 1982.

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  Provides a complete French translation by Julien Vinson of Cēkkiḻār’s life story of the poet, Kāraikkalammaiyār Purāṇam. Introduction by Jean Filliozat; postface and index by François Gros.

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• McGlashan, Alastair. The History of the Holy Servants of the Lord Siva: A Translation of the Periya Purāṇam of Cēkkiḻār. Victoria, BC: Trafford, 2006.

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  This lovely prose translation is accessible to the nonspecialist and contains useful supplemental materials about Shiva’s myths, the Śaiva saints, and temple worship that help contextualize the Śaiva tradition of which Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār is a part.

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• Monius, Anne E. “Love, Violence, and the Aesthetics of Disgust: Śaivas and Jains in Medieval South India.” Journal of Indian Philosophy 32.2–3 (2004): 113–172.

  DOI: 10.1023/B:INDI.0000020898.04782.7aSave Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  Argues that the stories of the Śaiva saints’ violent acts of devotion in the Periya Purāṇam constitute an aesthetic and literary response to the Jain text Cīvakacintāmaṇi and promote heroic love tempered by asceticism externally expressed in the communal service of Shiva as the central religious ideal fit for Cēkkiḻar’s royal patron. Provides illuminating context for Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār’s poetic images of Shiva.

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• Mudaliar, A. Singaravelu. “Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār.” In Abithana Chintamani: The Encyclopaedia of Tamil Literature. Edited by A. Singaravelu Mudaliar, 413. New Delhi and Madras: Asian Educational Services, 1988.

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  Concise summary of the story of Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār in Tamil. Originally published in 1899.

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• Pechilis, Karen. “The Story of the Classical Woman Saint, Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār: A Translation of Her Story from Cēkkiḻār’s Periya Purāṇam.” International Journal of Hindu Studies 10.2 (2006): 173–186.

  DOI: 10.1007/s11407-006-9021-5Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  The full, clear translation of Cēkkiḻār’s story is preceded by a brief introduction outlining the transformations Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār makes in this narrative.

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• Pechilis, Karen. “Chosen Moments: Mediation and Direct Experience in the Life of the Classical Tamil Saint, Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār.” Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion 24.1 (2008): 11–31.

  DOI: 10.2979/FSR.2008.24.1.11Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  Explores the ways in which Cēkkiḻār’s 12th-century, authoritative story of Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār expresses a critical consciousness of the social construction of gendered categories and their relationship to the religious construction of reality.

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• Shanta, M. S. Kaṉṉaṭattil Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār. Chennai: International Institute of Tamil Studies, 1997.

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  A Tamil account of the place of Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār and narratives associated with her in the Kannada textual tradition.

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Translations of Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār’s Poetry

Most of the texts that discuss Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār include a translation of at least one of her 143 verses, but to date full translations of her work are few. The French translation in Kāraikkālammaiyār 1982 includes the Tamil text, as do the literal translations into English in de Bruijn 2007 and Ramachandran 1993. Pechilis 2012 and Craddock 2010 provide a full annotated English translation but do not include the Tamil text.

• Craddock, Elaine. Śiva’s Demon Devotee: Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2010.

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  The final chapter provides a complete annotated English translation of the poetry.

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• de Bruijn, Peter J. J. Kāraikkālammaiyār, Part 2: Poems for Śiva. Rotterdam, The Netherlands: Dhyani, 2007.

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  A literal English translation of the poems with the Tamil text on the facing page, which will be useful to students translating the poetry from the Tamil. More useful are the twenty-seven plates, many of them in color, of images of Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār, Shiva, and other deities from India, Sri Lanka, and Southeast Asia.

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• Kāraikkālammaiyār. Chants dévotionnels Tamouls de Kāraikkālammaiyār. 2d ed. Edited and translated by Karavelane. Pondicherry, India: Institut Français d’Indologie, 1982.

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  A complete French translation of all four works with the Tamil text on the facing page, with an index and glossary of Tamil vocabulary in the poetry. Introduction by Jean Filliozat; postface and index by François Gros.

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• Pechilis, Karen. Interpreting Devotion: The Poetry and Legacy of a Female Bhakti Saint of India. London: Routledge, 2012.

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  Appendix 1 includes a complete annotated English translation of the poetry. Some of the notes contain a detailed discussion of particular Tamil words and phrases.

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• Ramachandran, T. N., trans. The Hymns of Kaaraikkaal Ammaiyaar. Dharmapuram, India: International Institute of Saiva Siddhanta Research, 1993.

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  A literal and rather antiquated English translation accompanied by the Tamil text.

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Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār’s Work in Literary and Historical Context

The earliest literature in Tamil is part of the Caṅkam period of the first few centuries of the Common Era. Poetry of this period is divided into akam, or love poetry, and puṟam poetry, extolling warriors and other heroes. The earliest devotional poetry was influenced by these Caṅkam poetic conventions, as well as by the Dravidian cultural concepts embedded in the poems. During this period Sanskritic mythic, philosophical, and linguistic elements spread into Tamil Nadu, setting the stage for the worship of Shiva in the Tamil landscape. Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār’s work developed out of this milieu. For a comprehensive overview of the Caṅkam period see the separate Oxford Bibliographies article “Tamil Caṅkam Religion.” Zvelebil 1974 provides an erudite and thorough overview of the Tamil literary culture and the mechanics of Tamil poetry. Craddock 2009 discusses Tamil and Sanskrit literary influences on Ammaiyār’s poetry. Peterson 1999 gives a nuanced account of the role of Jainism in the formation of self-conscious Śaiva communities in a landscape of competing religious perspectives. Nilakanta Sastri 1975 remains an authoritative history of South India. Kailasapathy 1968 explicates heroic imagery in early Tamil poetry that influences iconic images of Shiva in devotional hymns. Hart 1975 vividly portrays the world envisioned in Caṅkam poetry.

• Craddock, Elaine. “Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār: Bridging the Caṅkam and Śaiva Worlds.” In Passages: Relationships between Tamil and Sanskrit. Edited by P. M. Kannan and Jennifer Clare, 171–196. Pondicherry, India: Institut Français de Pondichéry, 2009.

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  Traces the cultural and literary influences from Tamil Caṅkam akam and puṟam poetry and Sanskrit literature on Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār’s poetry.

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• Hart, George L., III. The Poems of Ancient Tamil: Their Milieu and Their Sanskrit Counterparts. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1975.

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  A rich and perceptive evocation of the early Tamil world envisioned in Caṅkam poetry that precedes and influences Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār’s work.

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• Kailasapathy, K. Tamil Heroic Poetry. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1968.

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  Discussion of hero imagery in early Tamil poetry that influences iconic images of Shiva in bhakti poetry.

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• Nilakanta Sastri, K. A. A History of South India: From Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar. 4th ed. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1975.

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  This comprehensive text provides a broad portrait of the historical, cultural, religious, and literary developments in South India; see especially chapter 15, “Religion and Philosophy,” and the Tamil section in chapter 16, “Literature.”

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• Peterson, Indira Viswanathan. “Śramaṇas against the Tamil Way: Jains as Others in Tamil Śaiva Literature.” In Open Boundaries: Jain Communities and Cultures in Indian History. Edited by John E. Cort, 163–185. Delhi: Sri Satguru, 1999.

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  Illuminates how Tamil Śaivas constructed a communal identity partly through polemics against Jains in the region.

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• Zvelebil, Kamil Veith. Tamil Literature. Wiesbaden, West Germany: Harrassowitz, 1974.

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  This foundational survey of Tamil literature includes a brief but detailed metrical analysis of Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār’s poetry and the influence of her work on Tamil poetics (pp. 97–98).

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Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār in the Tamil Bhakti Tradition

The Sanskrit word “bhakti” is a complex term that defies narrow categorization; it has historically been translated into English as “devotion,” and further as encompassing the love, service, and mutual participation between devotees and deity within the Hindu tradition. Bhakti is expressed in diverse forms in multiple linguistic and regional traditions throughout the Indian subcontinent; some forms adhere to normative social and religious rules, but others defy orthodox strictures and promote universal salvation and sometimes also social reform. Recent scholarship has argued for the expansion of this term beyond the Hindu traditions to include a wide range of religious expressions and activities that may or may not focus on a specific deity and that are found within multiple South Asian religious traditions. In Tamil Nadu, from the 6th to 9th centuries the passionate hymns written by the Śaiva and Vaiṣṇava poets, the Nāyaṉmār and Āḻvārs, fueled a movement to achieve liberation through communion with god. Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār is considered the first to write devotional poetry in Tamil to Shiva in the mid-6th century. The three Tēvāram poets who succeeded her—Campantar, Appar, and Cuntarar—along with Māṇikkavācakar, are considered the greatest poets in the tradition; their hymns are still regularly sung in Shiva temples in Tamil Nadu. The devotional poems to Shiva are included in the canon of authoritative texts in the tradition of Śaiva Siddhānta. For works on the Śaiva saints, see the separate Oxford Bibliographies article “Nāyaṉmār.” For an overview of the Tamil Śaiva tradition, see the sections “Tamil Bhakti, Saivism” and “Tamil Bhakti, Saiva Hagiography” in the separate Oxford Bibliographies article “Tamil Nadu.” Pechilis 2012 employs a relational model of interpretation to illuminate Ammaiyār’s devotional subjectivity. Pechilis 2016a (“To Body”) contrasts Ammaiyār’s universal devotional subjectivity with Cēkkiḻār’s conventional gendering of the poet in his 12th-century hagiography, the Periya Purāṇam. Champakalakshmi 2004 argues that bhakti played an ideological role in the reorganization of Tamil society around the Brahmanical temple. Ramaswamy 1997 focuses on women’s paths to salvation. Cutler 1987 focuses on the structure of devotional poetry and how it achieves its effects. Dorai Rangaswamy 1990 is a massive, erudite work that focuses on Cuntarar but surveys all the Śaiva saints and Śaiva philosophy and is more useful to scholars. Peterson 1989 is an authoritative but more accessible work that includes lovely translations of Tēvāram poetry. Prentiss 1999 is an account of the Tamil bhakti tradition from its beginnings through the systematization of Śaiva Siddhānta in the medieval period. Mahalakshmi 2000 provides an incisive analysis of the effect of the new worship of Shiva on the indigenous Tamil goddesses. Mahalakshmi 2011 comprehensively explores how the ancient Tamil cultural landscape was transformed as the Śaiva bhakti tradition develops and spreads. Pechilis 2016b (“Bhakti and Tantra”) suggests that Ammaiyār drew on Tantric ritual conceptions in developing the early Śaiva bhakti tradition.

• Champakalakshmi, R. “From Devotion and Dissent to Dominance: The Bhakti of the Tamil Āḻvārs and Nāyaṉārs.” In Religious Movements in South Asia, 600–1800. Edited by David N. Lorenzen, 47–80. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2004.

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  Argues that Tamil bhakti hymns denounced Jains and Buddhists and critiqued Vedic Brahmanism, but that temple-based bhakti also provided the ideological foundation for royal patrons to achieve dominance in Tamil society. Provides a succinct overview and analysis of the sectarian rivalries that dominated the cultural milieu in which Ammaiyār composed her poetry.

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• Cutler, Norman. Songs of Experience: The Poetics of Tamil Devotion. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1987.

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  A useful and accessible explication of the structure and experiential effects of Tamil devotional poetry to both Shiva and Vishnu. Includes some translations, including verses of the three earliest Āḻvārs and eleven poems of Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār. Appendixes discuss the hymns in temple ritual and index mythological allusions and motifs in the poetry.

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• Dorai Rangaswamy, M. A. The Religion and Philosophy of Tēvāram, with Special Reference to Nampi Ārūrar (Sundarar). 2d ed. Madras: University of Madras, 1990.

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  A remarkably comprehensive and meticulous exposition of the Tamil Śaiva tradition based on the works of the three great Tēvāram poets—Campantar, Appar, and Cuntarar—with a particular focus on Cuntarar. Discusses the mythic forms of Shiva, analyzes many hymns, maps the sacred geography of the poetry, and provides a nuanced explication of Śaiva philosophy. Originally published in 1958–1959.

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• Mahalakshmi, R. “Outside the Norm, Within the Tradition: Kâraikkâl Ammaiyâr and the Ideology of Tamil Bhakti.” Studies in History 16.1 (2000): 17–39.

  DOI: 10.1177/025764300001600102Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  An insightful analysis of Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār’s poetry focusing on her portrayal of herself as a member of Shiva’s entourage, and the marginalization of the Tamil goddesses in Tiruvālaṅkāṭu in response to the localization of Shiva worship.

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• Mahalakshmi, R. The Making of the Goddess: Koṟṟavai-Durgā in the Tamil Traditions. New Delhi: Penguin, 2011.

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  Rigorously investigates the social, political, and economic forces that fostered the absorption of ancient Tamil goddesses into the developing Śaiva bhakti tradition, including how Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār’s poetry and image participated in this transformation. This comprehensive study examines various sacred and secular texts, temple architecture, and iconography. Contains several plates of iconographic images.

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• Pechilis, Karen. Interpreting Devotion: The Poetry and Legacy of a Female Bhakti Saint of India. London: Routledge, 2012.

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  Presents an insightful analysis of Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār’s poetry, biography, and contemporary festival celebrations through what the author calls the communication model of interpretation, providing not only a detailed view of how Tamil bhakti traditions are continuously reconstructed, but also a critical evaluation of the roles and representations of Indian female bhakti poets.

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• Pechilis, Karen. “To Body or Not to Body: Repulsion, Wonder, and the Tamil Saint Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār.” In Refiguring the Body: Embodiment in South Asian Religions. Edited by Barbara A. Holdredge and Karen Pechilis, 199–228. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2016a.

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  Contrasts the universal devotional subjectivity Ammaiyār inhabits in her poetry by focusing on the body of Shiva, with the gendered portrait of the poet in Cēkkiḻār’s 12th-century hagiography, the Periya Purāṇam. Encapsulates some of the themes of Pechilis 2012.

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• Pechilis, Karen. “Bhakti and Tantra Intertwined: The Explorations of the Tamil Poetess Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār.” International Journal of Dharma Studies 4.2 (2016b): 1–10.

  DOI: 10.1186/s40613-016-0024-xSave Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  This brief article suggests that Ammaiyār’s poems to Shiva in the cremation ground draw on Śaiva Tantric ritual conceptions of the cremation ground as the place of liberation for the devotee.

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• Peterson, Indira Viswanathan. Poems to Śiva: The Hymns of the Tamil Saints. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1989.

  DOI: 10.1515/9781400860067Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  A profoundly knowledgeable translation and study of the poetry of the three Tēvāram saints: Campantar, Appar, and Cuntarar. Discusses the poetic images of Shiva, the sacred landscape of the poems, and the role of the Tēvāram in the Śaiva tradition. Useful appendixes, including synopses of Sanskrit myths.

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• Prentiss, Karen Pechilis. The Embodiment of Bhakti. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.

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  Provides a valuable, up-to-date discussion of the problems of translating the term “bhakti” as well as a rich introduction to the bhakti movement in Tamil Nadu, including translations and analysis of the poetry of the Tēvāram saints. The final two chapters discuss the systematization and philosophy of Śaiva Siddhānta. The appendixes contain a translation of two of the Śaiva theologian Umāpati Civācāryār’s works.

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• Ramaswamy, Vijaya. Walking Naked: Women, Society, Spirituality in South India. Shimla, India: Indian Institute of Advanced Study, 1997.

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  This volume focuses on gender inequality and female sexuality and their relation to spiritual salvation in South Indian religious traditions, including Buddhism and Jainism. Chapter 4 profiles Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār and Āṇṭāḷ to explicate the early devotional movements; includes some verse translations.

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Myths and Images of Śiva in Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār’s Poetry

Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār’s poetry refers to many of Shiva’s myths and forms. Shiva is arguably the most paradoxical of the major deities in the Hindu pantheon, considered the god of destruction but appearing as both the ascetic yogi and the loving husband of the goddess Pārvatī. He lives on Mount Kailāsa in the Himalayas. As an ascetic he is smeared with ash, has matted hair ornamented with a crescent moon, wears an animal hide, and is adorned by snakes. He has roots in the Vedas and makes several appearances in the Mahābhārata in addition to his many Puranic myths. Mani 1975 gives a concise but excellent overview of Shiva’s iconographic forms and mythic deeds. Doniger O’Flaherty 1981 provides an authoritative analysis of Shiva’s mythology that foregrounds the conflicts and resolutions between human desires and spiritual transcendence. Monius 2004 focuses on Shiva as heroic father and great warrior in Cēkkiḻār’s Periya Purāṇam and in the Tamil Śaiva tradition. De Bruijn 2007 connects images from Ammaiyār’s poetry to sculpted forms in South India and Southeast Asia. Miller 1984 explicates the concept of Shiva sustaining the universe in his aṣṭamūrti, or eight forms. Dhaky 1984 analyzes the forms and significance of the troupe of ghouls that join Shiva in his dance. Sculpted images of the sixty-three Nāyaṉārs, including Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār, surround the central Shiva liṅga in most major Śaiva temples in Tamil Nadu; Ammaiyār is always shown in her skeletal form, seated, singing to Shiva. In addition, images of Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār are seen on several temples in India and in Southeast Asia. Gros’s postface in Kāraikkālammaiyār 1982 discusses some of these images but questions whether all of the skeletal images identified as Ammaiyār are in fact her. In Dehejia 1988, an informative description of artistic images is accompanied by numerous photographs of the sculptures, complemented by an insightful discussion of Tamil bhakti traditions. For a broader overview of Shiva in South India and beyond, see the separate Oxford Bibliographies article “Shiva.”

• de Bruijn, Peter J. J. Kāraikkālammaiyār, Part 1: An Iconographical and Textual Study. Rotterdam, The Netherlands: Dhyani, 2007.

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  Discusses the myths and mythic images found in Ammaiyār’s poetry and compares them to the sculpted images found in India and Southeast Asia, some of which are discussed in detail. Includes a list of the sixty-four Śaiva saints and the iconography associated with each, as well as several plates and photographs.

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• Dehejia, Vidya. Slaves of the Lord: The Path of the Tamil Saints. New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal, 1988.

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  Chapter 8 discusses the artistic representations of the Tamil saints, supplemented with eighty-nine black-and-white plates of sculptures from South India, Sri Lanka, and Southeast Asia. Includes an insightful and comprehensive survey of the Śaiva and Vaiṣṇava bhakti traditions in Tamil Nadu, with some translations. Appendices provide biographies of the sixty-three Nāyaṉārs and twelve Āḻvārs.

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• Dhaky, M. A. “Bhūtas and Bhūtanāyakas: Elementals and Their Captains.” In Discourses on Śiva: Proceedings of a Symposium on the Nature of Religious Imagery. Edited by Michael W. Meister, 240–256. Bombay: Vakils, Feffer & Simons, 1984.

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  Elucidates the sculptured forms and symbolic meanings of the bhūtas and gaṇas, or ghouls, who dance with Shiva, providing useful background for the images of Shiva and his troupe of ghouls in Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār’s poetry.

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• Doniger O’Flaherty, Wendy. Śiva: The Erotic Ascetic. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1981.

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  Applies a structuralist method to hundreds of myths from a broad range of texts, translated from the Sanskrit. Although the structuralist approach is dated, the author’s idea about Shiva as an “erotic ascetic” has had an enduring impact on much scholarly thinking about Shiva. Insightful analyses illuminate Shiva’s ascetic forms and his relationship to the goddess Pārvatī in Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār’s poetry. Originally published in 1973 as Asceticism and Eroticism in the Mythology of Siva (London: Oxford University Press).

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• Kāraikkālammaiyār. Chants dévotionnels Tamouls de Kāraikkālammaiyār. 2d ed. Edited and translated by Karavelane. Pondicherry, India: Institut Français d’Indologie, 1982.

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  Translated as “Tamil devotional songs of Kāraikkālammaiyar.” The introduction and postface discuss sculptural images in India and in Southeast Asia. Includes seventeen plates of images of Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār, Kali, and dancing Shiva.

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• Mani, Vettam S. V. “Śiva (Rudra).” In Purāṇic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Work with Special Reference to the Epic and Purāṇic Literature. By Vettam S. V. Mani, 723–731. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1975.

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  A detailed overview of Shiva’s forms and deeds. Discusses Shiva’s birth, his two wives Pārvatī and Gaṅgā, his many heroic deeds, his characteristics and attributes, and how he is worshipped. Includes his appearances in the Mahābhārata as well as a list of the many epithets used for him in the epic.

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• Miller, Barbara Stoler. “Kālidāsa’s Verbal Icon: Aṣṭamūrti Śiva.” In Discourses on Śiva: Proceedings of a Symposium on the Nature of Religious Imagery. Edited by Michael W. Meister, 223–239. Bombay: Vakils, Feffer & Simons, 1984.

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  Discusses the concept of Shiva sustaining the universe in his aṣṭamūrti, or eight forms: the five elements of air, water, earth, fire, and space; the sun and the moon; and the sacrifice. Shiva in his eight forms appears in Ammaiyār’s poetry.

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• Monius, Anne E. “Śiva as Heroic Father: Theology and Hagiography in Medieval South India.” Harvard Theological Review 97.2 (2004): 165–197.

  DOI: 10.1017/S0017816004000653Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  Traces the historical, cultural, religious, and literary forces that shape the image of Shiva as the heroic father expressed in the Periya Purāṇam, which significantly impacts the later Śaiva tradition in Tamil Nadu. Illuminates Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār’s conception of Shiva as a heroic, paternal god.

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Temples and Festivals

Two temples in two different towns are closely connected to Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār: the Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār temple in the town of Kāraikkāl, where Ammaiyār is said to have been born and where a famous annual mango festival is held; and the Vaṭāraṇyēśvarar Śiva temple in Tiruvālaṅkāṭu, where Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār sang to Shiva dancing in the cremation ground, where her shrine is located, and which holds an annual festival to her. Pechilis 2009 is a vivid account of the mango festival in Kāraikkāl and the role of visual imagery in worship; Pechilis 2012 vividly describes the festivals in both Kāraikkāl and Tiruvālaṅkāṭu. Lambezat 1952 provides an early account in French of the Kāraikkāl festival. Craddock 2010 includes a chapter describing the two temples and the festivals for Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār performed at each. Shulman 1980 includes a concise but detailed translation of the Tiruvālaṅkāṭu temple origin myth as well as the story of Nīli, an ancient goddess connected to the area. Wood 2004 concentrates on the story of the dance competition between Shiva and Kali that originated in Tamil Nadu, accompanied by lush photographs of the Tiruvālaṅkāṭu temple. Kāraikkāl Talapurāṇamum Kāraikkālammaiyār Aruḷ Varalāṟum and Tiruvālaṅkāṭṭu Talavaralāṟum Tiruppatikaṅkaḷum are the pamphlets sold at the Kāraikkāl and Tiruvālaṅkāṭu temples, respectively, and which tell the origin story of each temple.

• Craddock, Elaine. Śiva’s Demon Devotee: Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2010.

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  Chapter 4 describes the temples and festivals to Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār in both Kāraikkāl and Tiruvālaṅkāṭu.

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• Kalācanātaṉ, Śiva, ed. Kāraikkāl Talapurāṇamum Kāraikkālammaiyār Aruḷ Varalāṟum. Karaikkal, India: Śri Kauilācanāta Cuvāmi Śri Nittiya Kalyāṇap Perumāḷ Vaikaiyaṟā Tēvastāṉam, 2005.

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  Temple pamphlet that provides a detailed sthala purāṇam or origin story of the Shiva temple in the town of Kāraikkāl that includes an image of Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār and holds an annual festival to her. Also includes her life story and the full Tamil text of the poems.

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• Lambezat, Bertrand. “Karaikal Amméar, patronne de la ville de Karikal.” Revue de Histoire des Religions 72.144 (1952): 78–99.

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  Detailed description in French of the staging of Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār’s life story during the four days of the mango festival in Kāraikkāl.

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• Pechilis, Karen. “Experiencing the Mango Festival as a Ritual Dramatization of Hagiography.” Method and Theory in the Study of Religion 21.1 (2009): 50–65.

  DOI: 10.1163/157006809X416814Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  Vivid description of the famous mango festival to Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār in the town of Kāraikkāl, and an analysis of how the focus on visual imagery creates opportunities for worship and devotees’ engaged participation.

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• Pechilis, Karen. Interpreting Devotion: The Poetry and Legacy of a Female Bhakti Saint of India. London: Routledge, 2012.

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  Provides vivid, highly detailed descriptions and critical analyses of the festivals in both Kāraikkāl and Tiruvālaṅkāṭu.

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• Shulman, David Dean. Tamil Temple Myths. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1980.

  DOI: 10.1515/9781400856923Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  Provides a concise synopsis of the Tiruvāḷaṅkāṭṭupurāṇam or founding myth of the Tiruvālaṅkāṭu temple. Links the dance contest between Shiva and Kali, most closely connected to the temple of Chidambaram, to Tiruvālaṅkāṭu (pp. 213–220). Summarizes the story of Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār and links her to the ancient goddess Nīli, who roamed the forests of this area (pp. 159–161, 194–197).

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• Tiruvālaṅkāṭṭu Talavaralāṟum Tiruppatikaṅkaḷum. Tiruttani, India: Cuppiramaṇiya Cuvāmi Tirukkōyil, 2002.

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  Temple pamphlet (in Tamil) that provides the sthala purāṇam or origin story of the Tiruvālaṅkāṭu Śiva temple, the life story of Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār, her two works of poetry on Shiva in Tiruvālaṅkāṭu, Tiruvālaṅkāṭṭu Mūtta Tiruppatikaṅkaḷ (First Sacred Verses on Tiruvālaṅkāṭu), and the story of Nīli, the ancient goddess connected to this area.

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• Wood, Michael. “The Temple at Tiruvalangadu and the Myth of the Dance Competition.” In Chidambaram: Home of Nataraja. Edited by Vivek Nanda and George Michell, 106–117. Mārg Vol. 55, No. 4. Mumbai: Marg, 2004.

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  Summarizes and discusses the myth of the dance competition between Shiva and Kali included in the founding myth of the Tiruvālaṅkāṭu temple, where Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār sang to Shiva and where her shrine is located. Accompanied by gorgeous photographs of the temple, including the bronze image of Ammaiyār.

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