8/3/2019 Cox 2005 Tia

1/30

WHITNEY COX

THE TRANSFIGURATION OF TI_

N_

NA_N THE ARCHER*

(Studies in Cekkilars Periyapura_nam I)

PROLOGUE: AGHORASIVAS LITTLE PROBLEM

As Aghorasivacarya, the foremost proponent of the Saivasiddhanta

living in Cidambaram in the middle decades of the twelfth century,

neared the conclusion to his commentary on the Ratnatrayapar"llk_

sa ofur"llka

_n_thas"uri, he took up as his theme a topic beloved of his school,

that of the sublime uninvolvement of Siva with the created world. That

Siva, as pure consciousness, is utterly free of this contagion of material

existence formed one of the fundamental theses of the Siddha nta, yet

this was a transcendence that needed always to be reconciled with the

equally central fact of Gods compassion and grace towards all beings.

Accounting for this provides one of the principal motivations for the

architecture of the Saiva cosmos as seen by the Siddhantins, and

occupied most of the argument in SSr"llka_n_tha`s doctrinal precis.

What Aghora seeks to clarify ad Ratnatrayapar"llk_

s"aa 313 emerges

from a corollary to this fundamental thesis: why is it that some beingsachieve liberation while others remain caught in the snares of existence?

Or, as he puts it, if Siva creates the universe for the sole purpose of

bestowing grace, Bwhy is it that He gives liberation to some people and

not to everyone? Is this His essential nature? In that case, He would be

subject to inward passion and hatred.[1

* This essay would have been impossible in both design and execution without the

help and encouragement of Dr. R. VIJAYALAKSHMY, who originally suggested that I look

into the story of Ka_n_nappar, and who with patience and great learning first guided me

through the text. Earlier versions of this article were presented to the Theory and

Practice of South Asia workshop at the University of Chicago and to the second ClassicalTamil Winter School held at the Ecole Fran$caise d Extreeme-Orient, Centre de

Pondichery. I would like to thank all those involved. Thanks especially to Harunaga

ISAACSON, Christian NOVETZKE, Sheldon POLLOCK, and David SHULMAN for their

comments, suggestions, and corrections. Finally, I should note that MONIUS 2004,

which contains an interpretation of the story of Ka_n_nappar rather different from mine,

only came to my attention after the completion of the draft of this article.1

...siva_h katham

_ke.sa~nncid eva mok.sam

_karoti na sarve.sam, ayam eva sya svabhavo

va tarhy anta_h r"aagadve

_sayukta

_h sy"aat:

Indo-Iranian Journal48: 223Y252, 2005

DOI: 10.1007/s10783-005-2198-7

* Springer 2006

8/3/2019 Cox 2005 Tia

2/30

The Lord is like the sun, the text before Aghora reads (continuing an

image begun several verses earlier): just as the sun is unaffected when its

rays at once dry a patch of earth and melt a piece of beeswax, so too Siva

either binds or give liberation to souls because of their actions, deemed

either good or wicked, are either in balance or imbalance with each

other. Following Aghoras reading:2

It is true that Siva grants his grace to all. Furthermore, he has no passion orhatred, given that he is eternally free from Stain. Further, [he] is the agentof the bondage and liberation of souls, owing to [the souls] fitness [scil. fortheir particular destinies]. This has already been explained. And therefore, just like the sun, precisely insofar as it possesses a single form, can, by

virtue of its proximity, render liquid beeswax (i.e. something suited toliquification), while drying out earth (i.e. something suited to desiccation),

Siva too causes the liberation of those fit for liberation (i.e. those whose

Stain has matured) [and] he causes the bondage of those fit for bondage (i.e.

those whose Stain has not yet matured). [In the latter case, he does so] for the

sake of [the Stains] maturation. Hence, there is no contradiction. And thus

here by the use of the phrase F[works] said to be meritorious and un-

meritorious_ pu_ny"aapu

_ny"aakhyassabdena, he refers to the pair of actions Y

either beneficial or harmful Y in line with the principle that, FThe man who is

equal to all beings Y who neither delights in benefits nor becomes angry at

harm Y that man is said to be liberated-in-life._ Liberation occurs when there

is an awareness of the equality of these two [kinds of actions] owing to the

complete maturation of the Stain [malaparipakavasat]; when this is not the

case, there is only bondage. However, [the text] should not be interpreted tosay that it is the equality of two actions, one meritorious and the other not Y

such as performing a horse sacrifice and murdering a brahman Y that is the

cause of liberation, for this contradicts sastra. [Also, this interpretation is

incorrect] because this kind of the equality of action [karmasamya] is

possible even in the state of worldly existence. [Further this is incorrect],

2satyam

_sarv "aanugr"ahaka

_h ssiva

_h: na c"aasya r"aag"aadir vidyate an"aadimalarahitatv"aat.

bandhamok_sakart

_rtva

_m c"aatman"aam eva yogyatv"aad ity uktam. tatas ca yathaik"aak"aara

ev"aarka_h svasa

_mnidh"aanena dravatvayogyasya madh"uucchi

_s_tasya dravat"aa

_m sso

_satvayogy"aay"aa

m_rda

_h ssu

_skatva

_m ca karoti, tath"aa sivo _pi pakvamal"an"a

_m mok

_sayogy"an"aa

_m mok

_sa_m

karoty apakvamal"

anan"aa _m bandhayogyanam tatp

"aak"aartha _m bandha_m karot

"llty avirodha _h.atas catra pu

_ny"aapu

_ny"aakhyassabdena: Fna h

_r_syaty up"aak"aare

_na n"aapak"aare

_na kupyati, ya

_h

sama_h sarvabh"uute

_su j"llvanmukta

_h s a u c ya t e_ i t i ny"aayenopak"aar"aapak"aar"aatmaka

_m

karmadvayam ucyate. tayor malaparipakavasat samyabuddhau saty"aa_m mok

_so bhavati,

tadabhave tu bandha eva. na tv asvamedhabrahmahatyadir"uupau pun_y"aapun

_yau;

tayoh_

s"aamyam_

mok_sahetur iti vy"aakhyeyam

_sastravirodhat, t"aad

_rssasya karmasamyasya

s"aam_

s "arar"aavasth"aay"aam api sam_

bhav"aat svanasamatra eva caritarthatvat, samastakar-

masamyasya pi vijnanakevalitvamatra eva hetutvat, mok_sahetutv"aasambhav"aat: mala-

paripakasyaiva proktakarmasamyacihnanumeyasya d"llk_s"aadv"aaren

_a mok

_sahetutv"aac ca.

WHITNEY COX224

8/3/2019 Cox 2005 Tia

3/30

because in that it succeeds only in the destruction of the actions themselves

[svanasamatra], the equality of all of ones actions brings about only the

state of being a vijnanakevalin [i.e. a spiritually advanced but unliberated

denizen of the upper reaches of the Saiva cosmos], [and thus] cannot act as

a cause of liberation. And [finally, it is incorrect] because it is only the

complete maturation of Stain, which is inferrable by the sign of karmasamya

spoken of earlier, by way of the mediation of the ritual of initiation, that is

the cause of liberation.

Thus, on the strength of a single compound word in the text he was

preaching, Aghora introduces the concept of malaparipaka (Bthe com-

plete maturation of Stain[) as the prerequisite to initiation. The impor-

tance of this notion is not original to Aghorasiva; rather, he has borrowedit wholesale from the tenth century Kashmirian thinker R"aamaka

_n_tha,

especially from the latters commentary on the Kira_natantra.3 The stakes

of this are as follows: for thinkers prior to R"aamaka_n_tha as well as

crucially in a number of works of Saiva scripture, the descent of Sivas

liberating grace was thought to arise from a karmic blockage Y when

two actions were seen to come to fruition simultaneously, their ensuing

results are checked by one another. It is only through the intercession of

Sivas salvific power or sakti that this impasse could be brought to an

end.This notion, then, is of a stasis arising in the mechanisms of how

one undergoes ones own karma, the idea being that there occurs incertain souls career on Earth a crisis where the consequences of two

existing actions clash, and the soul is accordingly unable to have new

experiences without divine intervention. Aghorasiva satirizes this view

in the passage quoted above, foisting upon it the absurdity that this crisis

could emerge as a consequence of a person performing both an act of

great merit and a moral atrocity. The same idea had been found

unacceptable first by R"aamaka_n_tha, who in an act of virtuoso semantics

3

The recent work of Dominic GOODALL (1998) has provided not only a criticallyedited text and scholarly translation of this very important early work of scriptural

exegesis, but has also opened up the whole question of the problematic history of the

interpretation of karmasamya (pp. xxxiiYxxxvii). R"aamakan_t_has new interpretation

emerges principally in his interpretation of two text places in the Kira_na: 1.20Y1.22

and 5:8Y10 (text pp 26Y31, 116Y121; trans.215Y221, 331Y341).The same passage from the

Ratnatrayapar"lk_

sollekhin"l is cited and translated (with some slight differences) by

GOODALL on p 218 n. I would like to thank Dr. GOODALL for first drawing my attention

to this passage and to its importance.

TRANSFIGURATION OF TI_

N_

NA_N THE ARCHER 225

8/3/2019 Cox 2005 Tia

4/30

reinterpreted karmasamya to refer not to the equality (-s"aamya) of two

actions, but rather to the equanimity towards action, be it good or evil,

cultivated by a spiritually advanced Saiva aspirant. This equanimity

could be witnessed through certain outer signs (cihna-s) of the aspirant,

warranting the guru to perform d"llk_

s"aa.

But Aghoras problem does not end here, for in the very next verseSSrika

_n_tha writes,

parasparavirodhena niv"aaritavip"aakayo_h

karmano_h sa

_mnip"aatena saiv"ll ssakti

_h pataty a

_nau

Sivas Power descends on the soul because of the conjunction of two actions,

each preventing the others fruition through their mutual opposition.

That is, the earlier author argues for precisely the interpretation that

Aghora had just rejected. Unable to accept that his received text says

what it does, Aghorasiva had to come up with a stopgap. Instead of

karmano_h sa

_mnip"aatena saiv"ll ssakti

_h pataty a

_nau with sa

_mnip"aatena as

an unproblematic instrumental of cause, by resegmenting the pho-

nemes of the verse, he reads *sa_mnip"aate na. . .patati, i.e. as a locative

absolute with the negation of the following finite verb, transmitting

a verse then that says precisely the opposite of its intended sense

(Bwhen there is a conjunction of two actions. . .Sivas Power does not

descend on the soul[). The reason he adduces for this reading has a

certain finality to it, although one can perhaps detect in it a slightly

defensive tone:

...karma_no_h sa

_mnip"aate sati saiv"ll sivatvadayikanugrahika saktir

atm ani na patati; tasya malaparip"aaka eva p"aatassrava_n"aat. . .

d"llk_s"aay"aa eva malaparip"aak"aavin"aabh"uut"aay"aa

_h karmak

_sayadv"aare

_na

mok_

sahetutvam.

When there is a Fconjunction of two actions_ the FPower_ [said to be FSivas

because it] grants the favor that is the state of equality with Siva does not

descend on the soul, as its descent is taught [to occur] only when there is the

complete maturation of the Stain. . .it is initiation alone, inseparable from

the complete maturation of the Stain, that acts as the cause of liberation,

through the destruction of [ones existing] karma.

Outside of the elevated realm of soteriological argument, Aghoras emen-

dation had real consequences, for precisely the reasons he adduces: an

unforseen consequence of the acceptance the older view could be that

the Saiva ritual of d"llk_s"aa would forfeit its fundamental importance. For

Aghora, whose view of the Saiva religious community was that of a

WHITNEY COX226

8/3/2019 Cox 2005 Tia

5/30

8/3/2019 Cox 2005 Tia

6/30

Ka_n_napparY that of a man offering his own eye to his god Y had by this

time already attracted plastic representation, as in the bronze masterpiece

of Tiruve_nnk"aa_tu (now held in the Tanjore art gallery) dated to ca.

975.4 Yet this image comes almost as an afterthought in Cekkilars

telling, forming only the final seventeen of the pur"a_nams 180 verses.

It is significant that the storys horrific, magnificent denouement would

have already been known to Cekkilars initial audience; thus, how

Ka_n_nappar comes to this final transfiguration can form the poets prin-

cipal theme.

The main narrative may be briefly summarized as follows: Ti_n_nan Y

who is later to receive the name Ka

_

n

_

nappar as a sort ofd"1k_

s"aan"aama Y was

born into a hunter clan in the wild country of Pottappin"aa_tu, near the holy

mountain of K"aa_latti K"aa

_lahasti. His birth to the tribal chieftain N"aakan

and his wife Tattai was the result of boon given by Murukan after long

austerities performed by the couple. Named Ti_n_nan (roughly, Bthe tough

one[) for the strength he already displayed as an infant, the n "ayaayan"aar is

described as leading a childhood filled with the mischief typical of

genres such as the later pi_l_laittamil orBchilds song[. While still a boy,

he is trained in the bow and other weapons, in an elaborately detailed

ceremony of initiation. Once thus enabled, his father Y whose advancing

age could no longer endure the privations of the hunt and of the tribes

wars with its neighbors Y prepared to pass on the chieftaincy to Ti_n_nan,

whose eligibility was to depend on the success of his Bmaiden hunt,[ theka"n"niv"ee

_t_tai. Assured of success by the portents seen by his lineages

t"eevar"aa_t_ti, an elderly shamaness, Ti

_n_nan sets off at the head of a hunting

party.

Along with his army of hunters, Ti_n_nan first prepares the chosen site

by penning up the woods and sending out beaters to flush out the game.

They then descend upon the trapped and frightened animals and

slaughter them with terrific violence. Giving chase to an especially

fierce boar, Ti_n_nan is separated from the rest of the hunters, except for

two youths, N"aa_nan and K"aa

_tan. After killing and dressing the animal, they

set off in search of fresh water and come upon the Mukali river, at the

foot of Mt. K"aa_

latti. Told of the presence of Siva atop the mountain,

Ti_n_nan is strangely drawn to it, and insists upon climbing to the summit.

As he crests K"aa_latti, he is touched by the grace-filled gaze of Siva and

undergoes a sudden and dramatic conversion. No longer wishing to be

4 Thanjavur Art Gallery acc. no. 174, date according to NAGASWAMY 1983, 113.

WHITNEY COX228

8/3/2019 Cox 2005 Tia

7/30

separated from the Lord, but wanting desperately to give offerings (and

dismissive of the flowers and water left there by Bsome brahman[, whom

N"aa_nan recalls meeting years before), Ti

_n_nan forces himself back to the

foot of the mountain. There, to the shock of his companions, he cooks

the meat of the boar, tastes it to find the choicest piece, throws the rest

away, and returns to the summit of K"aa_latti with a plateful of meat and a

mouthful of water to offer to the god. Now abandoned by his two fellow-

hunters, he clears away the flower offerings with his foot and offers the

meat and spittle-water to Siva.

After keeping watch over the god for the night, Ti_n_nan again tears

himself away in the day to hunt for more offerings. His exit cues the

return of the brahman who had earlier made the pure, agamic offerings,

one Civak"oocariy"aar (=Skt. Sivagocarin). This devout brahman is horrified

by the sight of the barbaric offering he finds in the presence of the god,

removes it, does penance and offers flowers and water as is his habit.

This cycle continues for some days, with Ti_n_nan hunting by day and

keeping watch by night, and Civak"oocariy"aar coming by day and bemoan-

ing the sacrilege wrought by Bsome hunter[. Siva then brings this cycle

to an end, appearing in a dream to the brahman and tells him to watch

the hunters offering the following day. Secreting himself near the summit,

Civak"oocariy"aar sees all of the days awesome events. Ti_n_nan first returns

to find the eye of Siva bleeding. Panicking, he tries to staunch the wound

with his hands and forest medicines. When this fails, he remembers theadage Bflesh for flesh[, takes an arrow and gouges out his own eye to

replace the gods injured one. But the final test yet remains, and blood

begins to pour from S ivas second eye. Placing his foot on the god to direct

his hand, Ti_n_nan readies himself to take his other eye. His point proven,

Siva then stays his hand, saying three times BKa_n_nappa, stop![, and

shows his favor to the hunter, His perfect devotee.

There are two principal themes within C"eekkil"aars telling of this

story to which I would like to draw attention here. These occur sequen-

tially within the pur$_nam and, as it happens, to cumulative effect. They

are:

The remounting of motifs and thematic material adopted from one

of the five ti_nai-s or landscapes of classical Tamil poetics, viz. the

ku"ri~nnci theme. From the very beginning of the pur"aa

_nam, C"eekkil"aar

employs material from the earliest body of literary Tamil. The poet

does this not only to lend suggestive undertones to the story of

Ti_n_nans life, but in order to pointedly locate his narrative within a

TRANSFIGURATION OF TI_

N_

NA_N THE ARCHER 229

8/3/2019 Cox 2005 Tia

8/30

longer literary continuum, and one particular to the Tamil literary

sensibility.

And,

The logic of the transformation of Ti_n_nan from barbaric hunter to

perfect devotee, and the relation between the PP and the circum-

ambient world of Saiva systematic thought. From within the frame

of the pronouncedly Tamil story of Ti_n_nans early life, Cekkilar

unexpectedly raises the question of the individuals readiness for

Saiva beatitude, and can offer, as we shall see, his own novel

answer.

II. GODS, MEAT, AND MOUNTAINS

For a reader with even a casual knowledge of Tamil literary history,

it is readily apparent that the world of the mountain-dwelling hunters

into which Ti_n_nan is born possesses a long genealogy. In the mountain

fastnesses where they make their homes, in the animals they hunt and

keep, in their diet, and in the wild revels that form their commerce with

the divine, Ti_n_nans clan are the direct literary descendants of the

peoples of the ku"ri~nnci ti_nai, the mountainous landscape of the akam poems of the Ca _nnkam corpus of classical Tamil. Within the akam

(Finner_ or erotic) poems of the Ca _nnkam texts, but especially in the

tradition of criticism and theory that they inspired, one can observe a

taxonomic imagination at work, in which the situations of idealized

lovers from first meeting to post-marital infidelity are projected onto

a spectrum of five landscapes. Each landscape, the earliest works of

theory inform us, has three sets of element typical of it: F primary ele-

ments_ muta"rporu

_l of time and space, Fthematic elements_ uripporu

_l

of the love situation, and Fgenerative elements_ karupporu_l, the raw

materials of nature and culture utilized by the Ca_nnkam poets in their

description of each landscape. It is the third of these that in turn provides

C"eekkil"aar with his set of diagnostically recognizable borrowings from the

earlier poetry.

Now, merely recording that a medieval Tamil poet reworks the

conventions of the Ca _nnkam forms a rather banal exercise. For one thing,

as I mentioned, the debt owed by C"eekkil"aar to the akam tradition is

obvious; further, practically every literary work of middle Tamil bor-

rows material from the older corpus. While it is worthwhile to give a

WHITNEY COX230

8/3/2019 Cox 2005 Tia

9/30

brief accounting of the lexical and thematic indebtedness of the story

of Ka_n_nappar,5 it is altogether a more interesting question to see what

use exactly C"eekkil"aar makes of his inherited material. The motivation for

the poets reliance on this earlier material is introduced, elegantly yet

forcefully, from the very first verses of the KP:

m"eevalar pura _nnka_l ce

"r"ra vi

_taiyavar v"eetav"aaymai

k"aavalar tirukk"aa_lattik ka

_n_nappar tirun"aa

_te"npa

n"aavalar puka"lntu p"oo

"r"ru nalva

_lam peruki ni

"n"ra

p"uuvalarv"aavi c"oolai c"uu"lnta pottapin"aa

_tu

To tell of the country of Ka_n_nappar of Tiruk"aa

_latti,

home to the guardian of the truth of the Vedas,the Bull-rider who destroyed the cities of his enemies:

It is the Pottappi n"aa_tu, honored by poets, fertile and far spreading,

surrounded by gardens and flower-filled tanks. (650)

5The following is a working list of the ku

"ri~nncikkarupporu

_l material to be gleaned

from the Ka_n_nappan"aaya

"narpur"aa

_nam (hereafter KP). The list follows that of the two

earliest commentators on the poetic treatises (I_lamp"uura

_nar on the Tolk"aappiyappo-

ru_latik"aaram, ad c"uuttiram 20 (p. 16) and Nakkra

_nar on I

"raiya

"n"aarakapporu

_l ad c"uuttiram

1 (p. 19Y20) who cites the Tolka ppiyam c"uuttiram as his authority). Verse numbers are

given as in MUTALIYARS edition; X = no occurrences in the KP.

foods: ti"nai (millet) 683, 684; aiva

"nam (wild rice): 652; vetirnel (I

_lamp"uura

_nar only) X

animals: yanai (elephant): 651, 653, 655, 663, 670, 674, 679, 727, 728, 731, 735, 736,

etc; puli (tiger): 652, 653, 658, 665, 669, 672, 675, 679, etc. pa"n"ri (boar): 652, (the

synonymous enam:) 693, 723, 727, 729, 737 ff.

birds: mayil (peacock): 658, 660, 661 (referring to Muruka"n ), 679, 697; ki

_li (parrot): X

drums: ve"riy"aa

_t_tuppa

"rai (Fdrums of possession_) X but see below; tontakam (-drum): 687

occupation: t"eena"lital (gathering honey) no reference as such but see the following

references to honey: 656, 679, 684, 698, 714, 750

musical mode: X

flowers: ve _nnkai (kino) 708, k"aa_n_ta_l X, ku

"ri~nnci 706

(kinds of) water: aruvi (waterfall): 651, 653, 654; cu"nai (mountain pool): 705

The following two categories are found only in Nakk"lra"n"aar:

settlements: ci"ruku

_ti X, but ci

"r"uur 664; ku

"ricci (mt. hamlet) 657, 681

ethnonyms: Ku"ravar: 664, 688, 692, 698 Iravu

_lar: 665 Ku

"n"ravar: 652

Not mentioned by either commentator is the noun v"ee_t_tuvar (Bhunter[) which, however,

bears the warrant ofTol. P. c"uu 23 (ayarv"ee_t_tuvar atuut ti

_naipeyar. . .; different editions of

the text number this as c"uu 21, while WILDEN 2004 lists it as 22): this lexeme occurs at vs.

654 while the synonymous v"ee_tar occurs passim.

TRANSFIGURATION OF TI_

N_

NA_N THE ARCHER 231

8/3/2019 Cox 2005 Tia

10/30

The conventional beauty of the final lines epithet for the n"aa_tu Y one

which could just as easily apply to one of the many regions in the C"oo"la

heartland of the Kaveri delta Y immediately gives way to starker images,

more fitting to the poets theme,

ittirun"aa_tu ta

"n"nil ivartirvuppati y"aat e

"n"ni"n

nittil aruvicc"aaral n"NN_lvarai c"uu

"lnta p"aa _nnkar

mattave _nnka_li"r"ruk k"oo

_t_tuva

"n"ro_tar v"eeli k"ooli

ottap"eerara_na~nn c"uu

"lnta mutupati u

_tupp"uur "aakum

ku"n"ravar ata

"nil v"aa

"lv"aar ko

_tu~nncevi~nnamali "aa rtta

va"n"rira_l vi_lavi"n k"oo_t_tu v

"aarvalai maru

_nnku t

"uu_

nnkappa"n"riyum puliyum e

_na _nnku _nn ka

_tamaiyum m"aa

"ni"n p"aarvai

a"n"riyum p"aa

"rai mu

"n"ril aiva

"num u

_na _nnkum e _nnkum

And should one ask what is his place in that country,

it would be the ancient town of U_tupp"uur,

with its two surrounding battlements:

its sides girt by tall mountains, with waterfalls filled with pearls,

and a fence built of the tusks of wild rut-elephants. (651)

The Ku"n"ravar dwell there; their nets and straps hang

from the thick-growing wood-apple trees,

where bent-eared dogs are tied.

There are boars, tigers, bears, and stags kept as decoys;not only that, in every stony fore-court wild rice is laid out to dry. (652)

Already the sustained inclusion of the generative elements associated with

the ku"ri~nnci country is in evidence: the details of the natural and the lived

environment are all borrowed from the older poetry. In the first of these

verses, in an effect that the translation does not attempt to duplicate, the

mention of mountain, waterfall and elephant (all diagnostic of the ku"ri~nnci

land) build up to the final mention of the U_tupp"uur at verses end, drawing

the background, as it were, into higher relief than the foregrounded

town. The litany of ku"ri~nnci motifs Y beginning with the crucial

ethnonym ku

"

n

"

ravar (B people of the mountain[) Y continues in the

following verse, mainly in the third lines enumeration of wildlife. Over thecourse of following verses the pur"aa

_nam continues to be front-loaded with

the ku"ri~nnci elements: the children of the village play with tiger-cubs,

young elephants, and fawns (653), the sound of the hunters drums and

horns cannot drown out the sound of mountains many cataracts (654),

and the lowing of the animals seized in cattle-raids rivals the

trumpeting of wild elephants and the thunderous rain-clouds (655).

WHITNEY COX232

8/3/2019 Cox 2005 Tia

11/30

This deployment of the karupporu_l in these early verses is an an-

nouncement to the presumptive audience of the text, alerting the au-

dience that the imagined world of the mountain peoples will serve as

C"eekkil"aars raw poetic material in what is to follow. Rather than simply a

mannerist reworking of a stock of available themes, C"eekkil"aars mountain

village sustains an implied argument, as can begin to be gathered from

his next narrative Fmove_:

maicce"rinta

"naiya m"ee

"ni va

"n"ro"lil ma

"ravar tamp"aal

accamum aru_lum e

"n"rum a

_taivil"aar u

_taiva

"n"r"ool"aar

poccaiyi"n a

"ravum "uu

"ni"n pu

"lukkalum u

_navu ko

_l_lum

nacca"la"rpaka"li v"ee_tarkk atipati n"aaka"n e"np"aa"n

pe"r"riy"aa

"r"rava mu

"n ceyat"aa

"n "aayi

"num pi

"rappi

"n c"aarp"aal

ku"r"ram"ee ku

_nam"aa v"aa

"lv"aa

"n ko

_tumaiy"ee talai ni

"n"ru_l_l"aa"n

vi"r"ro"lil vi

"rali

"n mikk"aa

"n veenci

"na ma

_ta_nnkal p"oolv"aa

"n

ma"r"r ava

"n ku

"ricciv"aa

"lkkai ma

"naiviyum tattai e

"np"aa

_l

Among the Ma"ravar, their labours fierce and their bodies heavy with blackness,

there were hunters, knowing neither fear nor mercy, clad in rough leather,

who live on rice mixed with meat and mountain honey,

their arrows dipped in a fiery poison. Their leader was named N"akan. (656)

Though he did penance in an earlier life, through the propensities of his birth,

he lived as if crime itself were a virtue, and cruelty was his highest aim.

He was a great archer, like a ferocious lion.Joined with him in his life in the mountain hamlet was Tattai, his wife. (657)

In the matter-of-fact narrative tone of these verses, C"eekkil"aar begins to

subtly add undertones to the picture of the mountain world. The violence

of the hunters lives is inescapably made present in the first verse, an

effect that is heightened by C"eekkil"aars deliberate choice of the ethnonym

ma"ravar, which is not among the peoples listed as appropriate for the

ku"ri~nnci landscape in the early commentaries on poetics.6 Ma

"ravar is

rather a name appropriate to the bandit tribes of the blasted desert land-

scape of palai; its employment here, sanctioned by the rubric of

ti

_

naimayakkam, the Bconfusion of landscapes[ of the traditional poetics,

would seem motivated by the names etymological link to the lexeme

6pace Ci. Ke. Cuppirama

_niya MUTALIYAR, the editor and learned commentator of the

Kovait Tami"lc Ca _nnkam edition of the PP, who adds the note ad loc (p. 836)

Bma"ravar- ku

"ri~nnci nila makka

_l peyar[ (BMa

"ravar: name for people of the ku

"ri~nnci

country[).

TRANSFIGURATION OF TI_

N_

NA_N THE ARCHER 233

8/3/2019 Cox 2005 Tia

12/30

ma"ram Bviolence, violent power.[ The life of the hunters is one of force

and death, linked crucially, as we already see here, to the reliance on

flesh as food. N"aaka"n is seen to typify this life. Indeed, he stands at

the center of its moral logic: pi"rappi

"n c"aarp"aal / kur

"ram"ee ku

_nam"aa v"aa

"lv"aa"n,

Bthrough the propensities of his birth, he lived as if crime itself were a

virtue.[ Here we see the first glimpse of the questions of ethics and

subjectivity that link C"eekkil"aars narrative with the theological spec-

ulations of the Saivasiddhanta; significantly this benighted life is not the

result of an ill birth, it is rather the fruit of previous lives well lived. The

universe bounded by the commonplaces of the ku"ri~nnci landscape is an

ethically coherent one: it is a form of life with its own set of criteria,

grounded in the embodied fact of karma-determined birth. Yet, C"eekkil"aar

already implies, as N"aaka"n stands judged as soon as he enters the nar-

rative, there is a transcendent standard Y a means whereby crime and

virtue can be absolutely distinguished Y by which the hunters lifeworld

may be measured, and may be found wanting.

Both of these central themes Y the coherence of mountain dwellers

world, and its bounded limitation Y figure into the following verses on

Ti_n_nans conception and birth. Here, however, C"eekkil"aar turns to the

world of ritual practice of the ku"ri~nnci country, a commonplace in the

earlier literature. Hoping to attain the birth of a son, Ti_n_nans parents

take themselves to Bthe courtyard of bright-speared Murukav"ee_l[ (celvel

murukav"ee_l mu"n"ri"r ce"n"ru, vs. 659) to honor the god of the ku"ri~nncicountry. The worship they perform Y Bwhile marking the kuravai,

they performed the dance in which a_na _nnku is great[ (B. . . kuravai

t"uu _nnkap=p"eera_na _nnk"aa

_tal ceytu. . .[, 660), each of the monthly protective

rites after conception were performed Bwith the requisite entranced

dances[ ka_ta"nu"ru ve

"riy"aa

_t_t"oo_tum Y all speak of the putatively autoch-

thonous outpourings of Tamil religiosity as figured forth in the Ca _nnkam

texts, filled with collective rites of dance and possession. The ku"ravai

dance, whose meaning and social locus shift within the anthologies

themselves, connotes especially a group-dance accompanied by song,

while the ve"riy"aa

_t_tu is a dance most often (though not exclusively)

associated with the shaman-priest of Muruka"

n (v"eela"

n, Bwho bears a

spear[), a possessed frenzy where the priest acquires soothsaying

powers.7 Of greater importance here is the use of the lexeme a_na _nnku. I

7 On these dance-forms, much discussed in secondary literature, see especially

SIVATHAMBY 1981, 188Y190, 334Y341.

WHITNEY COX234

8/3/2019 Cox 2005 Tia

13/30

do not intend here to enter into the controversies that have sprung up

around this difficult words interpretation,8 but I do think its use by

Cekkilar is both deliberate and meaningful. While by no means de-

bunked or delegitimatedY it is after all linked here with the Saiva figure

of Muruka"n Y it would seem to typify for the poet the wild and the

uncontrollable aspect of the ku"ri~nnci lifeworldY a supernatural corollary

to the ethical quandary presented by N"aaka"n.

In crafting this image of a cultural and moral order, C"eekkil"aar doesnt

merely depend on the self-conscious adaptation of the ku"ri~nnci motifs. Re-

lying upon the technique of the confusion of landscapes ti_naimayakkam,

C"eekkil"aar is able to modulate his implicit message by drawing in material

from elsewhere in the Ca _nnkam poetic universe. He does so as was

already seen through the use of the p"aa lai ethnonym ma"ravar,9 along with

its synonym eyi"nar=eyi

"r"riyar (vss. 653, 683, 685). Outside of this sort of

bricolage, there is the altogether more interesting question of the liberties

Cekkilar takes with his sources, with the innovations and improvisations

that draw upon this preexisting matrix. The most striking and

thematically the most important of these innovations is the recurrent

presence of meat ("uu"n, tacai, i

"raicci). This makes a certain intuitive sense

Y meat is after all the inevitable outcome of the hunters violence, it is

the substance emblematic of what distinguishes their life from that

of others. Especially as it is intoxicatingly mixed with honey Y a

ku"ri~nncikkarupporu_l that coats and incorporates the cooked flesh intothe order of the landscape Y meat reoccurs throughout the account of

Ti_n_nans early life. The young Ti

_n_nan is fed flesh night and day by an

old Ku"rava nursemaid (676), and his initiation into the life of a hunter is

a rite de passage is marked by a Rabelaisian tumult of feasting and drink,

in which meat plays a chief part (683Y685). We can identify in this a

8 For George HART a_na _nnku is descriptive of a Fpotentially dangerous sacred force_ that

inheres in places and persons, especially chaste women (HART 1976, inter alia). This

view was subjected to a thorough critique by V.S. RAJAM (RAJAM 1986), who con-

vincingly showed the untenability of Harts interpretation within the Ca _nnkam corpus as a

whole Y wherein a_na _nnku and its derivatives refer to a generalized feeling of a sort of

awesome intensityY

and further demonstrated the semantic change undergone by thelexeme over time, as it comes in the medieval period to refer to a variety of feminine

spirit or demoness. Recently, Alexander DUBIANSKY, while acknowledging Rajams de-

mur, has attempted to salvage much of Harts old argument to produce a mythopoetics

exhaustive of the Ca _nnkam poetic corpus (DUBIANSKY 2000).9 With the exception of the ubiquitous v"ee

_tar (Bhunters[) Y itself a name of an oc-

cupation rather than some sort of ethnic label Y ma"ravar is the most frequently de-

ployed name in the whole pura_nam; cf. vss. 656, 658, 677, 678, 687, 704, 735, 737,

740, etc.

TRANSFIGURATION OF TI_

N_

NA_N THE ARCHER 235

8/3/2019 Cox 2005 Tia

14/30

commonplace in the PP, in which the instinctive horror that segments of

the poets audience would have felt towards the idea of meat-eating is

taken up and transvalued. While the long history of the equation between

Tamil Saivism and vegetarianism has yet to be written,10 one can see this

troped poetic play upon the prejudices of the upper caste vegetarian

ethic here, as it is even more radically to be found in Ci"rutto

_n_tars

cannabilistic filicide, told later in the poem.11

The figure that best captures the dynamic between renvoi and inven-

tion in Cekkilars text is that of the t"eevar"aa_t_ti. It is to this prophetess of

the Ku"ravar tribe that N"aaka

"n turns when he wishes to pass the rule of his

people onto Ti_

n_

nan. Ancient, repeatedly and pointedly connected with

possession by the unseen forces of the mountains, and exuberantly non-

vegetarian Y both feeding on flesh and adorned with earrings cut from

stag-horns and a brow-mark of musk of deer stomach (vs. 697) Y thet"eevar"aa

_t_ti seems the most powerfully drawn character of the old mountain

taxonomy, Bthe very image of an old Ko"rava woman,[ as the text itself has

it (vs. 698: mutu ku"rak"oolappa

_timatt"aa

_l). Yet the noun t"eevar"aa

_t_ti itself ap-

pears nowhere in the Ca _nnkam corpus, and the image that emerges from

the PP is without precedent in the early literature.12 The character of the

10 The word caivam in the modern language itself denotes vegetarian food and

practices, a usage that the Madras University Tamil Lexicon, s.v. identifies as a

colloquialism.11 On Ci

"rutto

_n_tar, see HART 1980 and SHULMAN 1993. As HART aptly puts it, BEating

can produce internal, not external, pollution: the consumption of dangerous foods [such

as flesh -wmc] leaves one in a precarious position that is almost impossible to rectify.[

(op.cit. 219Y220) cf. also Harts observation that the PPs version of Ci"rutto

_n_tar is

centrally concerned with the Btransformation of human values[ (ibid.), a statement that

precisely captures the tone of the KP.12 There is no reference to t"eevar"aa

_t_ti (or either of its components in juxtaposition) in

any of the published indices to the anthologies. The MTL, s.v. t"eevar"aa_t_ti gives this very

passage of the Ka_n_nappan"aayan"aarpur"aa

_nam as attestation. Perhaps one can see an ances-

tress of the t"eevar"aa_t_ti in the ku

"ramaka

_l, priestess of Muruka

"n in the Tirumuruk"aa

"r"rupa

_tai,

ln. 242Y244:

kurutic centi"nai parappik ku

"ramaka

_l

murukiya ni"

ruttu muraninarutka

muruk"aa"r"rup pa

_tutta urukelu viyanakar

In Ramanujans evocative translation (RAMANUJAN 1985, 216, somewhat modified):

B[the awesome vast temple...] where the daughter of the hill tribe,

spreading fearful blood-smeared millet,

sounds Murugans favorite instruments

and offers worship to Murugan

until He arrives

and comes into her to terrify enemies and deniers.[

WHITNEY COX236

8/3/2019 Cox 2005 Tia

15/30

8/3/2019 Cox 2005 Tia

16/30

8/3/2019 Cox 2005 Tia

17/30

In the second half, in kaliviruttam, a terrific slaughter ensues. The

animals are cut to pieces in the cross-fire of arrows (728). The forest

becomes a gruesome phantasmagoria: boars vomiting blood fall into the

mouths of dying tigers, stags seem to charge one another as arrows rip

through their heads, lions and elephants fall dead beside each other, and

seem to stripe the forest floor with day and night come together (729Y

731). Many deer leap into the sky, so appearing as if they were the deer-

in-the-moon fallen from its resting-place, pursued by the eclipse of the

hunters arrows, while the dead of other beasts fall upon the forest floor

like black rain on the ocean (732,733). Chasing a boar, Ti_n_nan is drawn

away from the hunting party and into the vicinity of Mt. K"aa_

latti along

with his two remaining companions N"aa_na"n and K"aa

_ta"n. Caught up in the

berserk fury of the hunt, Ti_n_nan, Bthe leader of the violent tribe of

ma"ravars[ forgets the arrow set on his bowstring, charges the animal,

draws his sword andBstabs it and breaks its body in two[ (740).15

As even this cursory description hopefully illustrates, the two met-

rically differentiated halves of the episode pronouncedly differ in their

tone and affective power. This effect of the narrative is carefully aug-

mented by the prosodic shape of the verses. In the first section, the effect

rests on the insistent syncopated rhythmic pulse that emerges from

within the basic structure of the verse (called cantam in Tamil metrical

theory). This provides a martial cadence that is meant to excite; it is an

easy rhythm to recite or for a listener to anticipate Y sweeping up theaudience in the rush of movement described, it subtly imitates the tattoo

of drums that are said to accompany the hunting party. This pattern

remains the same as the narrative reaches the climax of the hunt. Its

stability allows C"eekkil"aar to play with the relation between sound and

sense, producing unexpected effects:16

15kutti

"nar u

_

tal mu"ripa

_ta e

"rikulama

"ravarka

_l talaivar, the key phrase here being the

unexpected u_tal mu"ripa_ta, closest perhaps toB

such that [its] body might snap like atwig[. While mu"rital can bear the sense of B be defeated, be discomfited, to cease to

exist[ (MTL), the primary sense is something like Bto snap in two[. cf. the noun mu"ri

Bpiece, half, broken half of a coconut[ (ibid).16

In order to emphasize their rhythmic dimensions, I have reproduced the text of this

verse and the two following exactly as they occur in the edition, divided according to the

boundaries of the metrical feet (Tamil c"11r). Elsewhere in this article, I have not followed

this practice, and have occasionally resolved the sandhi-s that occur metri causa. On

Tamil meter generally see Niklas excellent descriptive study (NIKLAS 1996).

TRANSFIGURATION OF TI_

N_

NA_N THE ARCHER 239

8/3/2019 Cox 2005 Tia

18/30

neru_nnku painta rukku la_nnka_n"

_tu k"aa

_tu k"uu

_tan"eer

varu_nka runci laitta_takkai m"aa

"na v"ee

_tar c"ee

"nait"aa

"n

porunta_tanti raikka

_ta"rpa rappi

_taippu kumperu_nn

karunta ra_nnka n"_lpu

"na

"rka

_linti ka

"n"ni yottat8

That army of hunters, black bows in their strong hands,

plunged straightaway into the great forest,

filled with copses of dark green trees,

just like the Kalinti river, its waters great with huge black waves,

goes into the great billows of the far-spreading sea. (722)

The perfectly elaborated and quite Sanskritic uvamam here is played

out, as it were, across this rhythmic pulse. The verse is marked byextensive compounding Y save the plural noun kula _nnka_l, the two

contrasting adjectival participles varum and porum, and the final finite

verb ottatu, no words in the verse are even minimally inflected Y while

the individual words are largely spread across the boundaries of the

metrical feet. The rhythm here thus provides a contretemps to the mean-

ingful semantic units of the verse. In this verse, as throughout this pas-

sage, an urgency of motion provides the dominant impression, here

working in an internally maintained tension with the careful craft of the

simile. The result is a temporary merger of the swinging rhythm of the

march with the irresistible rush of a river in flood pouring into the sea.

The drums of the march carry the scene through to the very moment the

killing begins. The meter, the verse form, the affective tone: all of theseshift radically with the onset of the description of the hunters grim work

in the forest. In contradistinction to the earlier cadence the audience now is

faced with a series of staccato lines, in which very few long vowels or

geminate consonants make the lines tense with the details they record:

ve_nnka_naipa

_tu pi

_tarki

"lipa

_ta vicaiyuruviya kayav"aay

ce_nnkanalpa_ta vatano

_tuka

_nai ce

"riyamuniru karum"aa

va_nnke"lucira muruviyapo

"

lu ta_taleyi

"rura vatanaip

po_nnkiyaci"na mo

_tukavarva

"na puraivanacila pulika

_l

Arrows rip through the backs of huge boars necks

driving all the way through their mouths,and blood pours out of their mouths, and even more,

their forequarters are filled with arrows;

when these shoot through their heads, the boars fall into the teeth of tigers,

who seem to have ferociously captured them. (729)

Here, few words cross the boundaries between metrical feet; each foot

now becomes an isolated unit, a series of disconnected images of the

WHITNEY COX240

8/3/2019 Cox 2005 Tia

19/30

slaughter, delivered with a rapid, strobe-like tempo. The high degree of

figural language continues in this passage, but now the language takes on

a distinct quality of horrific hypertrophy. A wild propulsive energy

remains to undergird the description of young Ti_n_nan as he tears through

the forest, and hints at the bloodlust that drives his sword as he kills the

boar at the passages end. Yet before this final act of violence closes the

hunt narrative, there occurs a striking moment when Cekkilar suddenly

and surprisingly changes the tone of the description. The metrical effects

remain the same as before and, as elsewhere, Cekkilar continues with the

conceit that so tremendous was the violence that the ma"ravars visited

upon the forest that he must cast around for language fit to describe it.

Yet the language is very different indeed:

palatu"raika

_li"n veruvaralo

_tu payilvalaiya

"ra nu

"laim"aa

valamo_tupa

_tar vanatakaivu

"ra vu

"rucinamo

_tu kavarn"aay

nilaviyaviru vi"naivalaiyi

_tai nilaicu

"lalpavar ne

"ric"eer

pula"nu"ruma

"na

"ni_taita

_

taiceyta po"rika

_lina

_la vu

_lav"ee

Fearful, deer plunge in to break the nets strung on the many trails,

rushing down rocky paths,

as savage hunting dogs block their way, just as in the hidden truth:

minds set on release of those men

caught up in the nets of their fulfilled prior deeds, good and bad,

are impeded by the senses. (734)

Here it is unexpectedly the language of emancipation to which

Cekkilar turns: the desperate straits of the animals escape are likened to

the well-nigh impossible striving for release of men in the world. The

tension which this verse is meant to evoke is perfectly captured by the

staccatissimo of the third lines nilaviyaviru vi"naivalaiyi

_tai. With this

phrase (Bwithin the nets of their two fulfilled prior deeds,[ i.e. their

pu_nya- and papakarmans), which summons up the quandary that as

weve already seen so troubled Aghorasiva, the drama of salvation is

introduced into the minds of the audience, just before Ti_n_nan breaks

away from his clansman and sets out towards K"aa_latti.

III. BEARING WITNESS

As Ti_n_nan stands over the shattered carcass of the boar, and his com-

panions look on in amazement, the narrative enters into its final and most

significant phase: the relation of the transfiguration of Ti_n_nan into the

Saiva n"aaya"n"aar Ka

_n_nappar. Caught up in the insistent movement of the

TRANSFIGURATION OF TI_

N_

NA_N THE ARCHER 241

8/3/2019 Cox 2005 Tia

20/30

8/3/2019 Cox 2005 Tia

21/30

ence rests begins to irrevocably change. Immediately, the first stage of

Ti_n_nans transfiguration into Ka

_n_nappar follows:

mu"ncey tavatti

"n n

_t_ta mu

_tivil"aa i

"npam"aa

"na

a"npi"nai e

_

tattuk k"aa_t_ta a

_lavil"aa "aa rvam po _nnki

ma"nperu _nnk"aatal k"uura va

_l_lal"aar malaiyai n"ookki

e"npunekkuruti u

_l_latt e

"luperuv"ee

_tkai "oo

_tum

n"aa_na"num a

"npum mu

"npu na

_lirvarai "ee

"ratt"aamum

p"ee_nutattuva _nnka

_l e"n"num perukuc"oop"aa

"nam "ee

"ri

"aa_naiy"aa~nn civattaic c"aarava

_naipavar pola aiyar

n_nilai malaiyai "ee

"ri n"eerpa

_tac cellumpotil

ti _nnka_l cer ca

_taiy"aar tammaic ce

"n"ravar k"aa

_n"aa mu

"n"n"ee

a _nnka_nar karu

_nai k"uurnta aru

_t_tirun"ookkam eytat

ta _nnkiya pavatti"n mu

"n"naic carpu vi

_t_t_ akala n _nnkip

po _nnkiya o_liyi

"n n

"lal poruvil a

"npuruvam "aa

"n"aar

That noble man looked towards the mountain,

and as his limitless enthusiasm swelled, he showed the devotion,

the endless joy that was the treasure of the tapas done in earlier births,

and as his great steadfast love increased, as his very bones grew soft,

and as his desire grew great, (751)

His love Y and N"aa_nan Y went before him, up that cool mountain,

and the lord climbed that wide-terraced peak,

just as those who cleave to the truth that is Siva

climb the great staircase that are the tattvas, worthy of reflection. (752)

Beforethat manwho wasapproachingthe Onein Whose locks rests themoon

could catch sight of Him, the One with lovely eyes

cast a grace-filled glance charged with His compassion;as all of the propensities from his previous births fell away, he left them,

transfigured into matchless love, in a shadow of spreading light. (753)

Several points in these verses are worth drawing attention to. Continuing

with the language of Saiva systematic thought that we have seen already

informing the narrative of the hunt, Cekkilar here invokes one of the

central speculative concerns of Saiva theology, the set of thirty-six

hierarchically ranked constituent principles (skt. tattvas) extending from

base earth to the utterly pure Siva. Equating the mountain to these, the

given natural world of the ku"ri~nnci is further charged with a larger species

of meaning, and the events yet to take place are set within a grander

context. Yet a more significant indication of Cekkilars craft is the

primacy of vision in the narration of Ti n nans final passage to salvation.

As Ti_n_nan Blooks towards[ (nokki, from nokkutal, Fto see_, Fto intend_)

the mountain, he Bshowed[ (k"aatta, the effective form of k"aa n nutal, Fto

TRANSFIGURATION OF TI_

N_

NA_N THE ARCHER 243

8/3/2019 Cox 2005 Tia

22/30

8/3/2019 Cox 2005 Tia

23/30

8/3/2019 Cox 2005 Tia

24/30

8/3/2019 Cox 2005 Tia

25/30

But, why is this important? What does Cekkilars knowledge of what

is now a dimly-remembered theological polemic tell us about story of

Ka n nappar, much less about the PP as a whole? For the Tamil poet, as

with Aghorasiva, the Sanskrit sastr"ll, the significance of karmasamya lies

in an altogether more proximate domain, that of the Saiva rite of ini-

tiation or d"llks"aa. The centrality of this ritual for a medieval Saiva cannot

be overestimated, especially with regard to its highest and most im-

portant form, the nirv"aa nad"llks"aa, or Fliberating initiation._ This formed in

effect the raison detre of the entire religion: it provided the necessary

condition for liberation, the principle goal of the Saiva householder,

while also providing through the figure of the initiating guru, the model

of authority for the community.

Recall Aghorasivas specification that the cause of liberation is Bonly

the complete maturation of Stain, which is inferrable by the sign ofkarmasamya spoken of earlier[ (malaparipakasyaiva proktakarmasa-

myacihnanumeyasya). The task of reading these signs, of assaying the

readiness of the initiand for the all-important ritual event, is that of

the guru. According to the mature Saiddhantika theology current in

Cidambaram in Cekkilars time (as espoused by Aghorasiva and others),

the condition of the maturation of the indwelling impurity, which is

interpretable through the outward signs of karmasamya is itself the effect

of the descent of Sivas sakti (sakti[ni-]pata), an event that must always

precede the process of initiation. In his own liturgical writings,Aghorasiva stipulates a year-long period in which the guru should assess

the readiness of his disciple: B...having first come to know of the

maturation of the Stain and the descent of sakti of his student who has

dwelt [with him] for a years time, the teacher, once he has assembled

everything that is necessary, should perform the liberating initiation[.20

It is precisely this moment Y that of the gurus forensic assessment of

the aspirants readiness for liberating initiation Y that I take to be en-

coded in the conclusion of Cekkilars account of Ka_n_nappar. Befitting

the pur"aa_nams economy of vision, the poet, instead of the abstract and

mediated fall of Sivas sakti, focuses on the gods grace-giving gaze

(aru_

n_

n"ookku) as the instrument of Ti_

n_

na"

ns inner transformation. And so

20 ...sa_mvatsaro

_sitasya s

0i_

syasyamalaparip"aaka_m s

0aktinip"aata

_m ca jnatva sa

_mpannak"aa-

rako gurur nirv"aa_nad"llk

_s"aa_m vidadh"llta, cited in BRUNNER 1977, 159; a somewhat

different text is given in the South Indian Archaka Association edition of the

Kriyakramadyotika (vol. 1, 304).

TRANSFIGURATION OF TI_

N_

NA_N THE ARCHER 247

8/3/2019 Cox 2005 Tia

26/30

the presence of Civak"oocariy"aar at the summit of Mt. K"aalatti forms an

absolute necessity, one that the god himself must conspire to ensure

through a dream visitation.21 As Ti n nan offers one and then the other of

his eyes, it is the Saiva guru who bears witness to the depths of his

devotion, and who thus renders possible the final transfiguration and

salvation of Ka_n_nappar.

As the conclusion draws near, there is an insistent focus on signs and

on sight, on vision and its obscuration. As Civakocariyar conceals

himself in the presence of the god, Ti n nan returns with his daily portion

of cooked game, water, and flowers for offering. As he draws near, he

catches sight of kites wheeling in the sky over the summit, to which

Ti n nan thinks Bthese evil birds show that bloods being shed near here[

(v. 812 ittaku t"ll ya putkal"llnta mu"n utira _nn k"aattum). Then, Bso that the

Master of holy K"aalatti might show Ti n nan"aars true nature to the sage[ (v.

813 tirukk"aalatti atikal"aar mu"niva

"n"aarkkut=ti n na

"n"aar parivu k"aatta), blood

begins to pour from one of the gods eyes.22 In his panic, Ti n nan tries to

rely on the knowledge of his old life Y searching out and applying forest

remedies to staunch the wound. It is only when this fails that Ti n nan

recalls the hunters adage Y u"r"ran"ooy t"llrpat "uu

"nukk "uu

"n, BFlesh for flesh is

the cure for true illness[ Y pointing at once back to the violence of his

old life (as mediated through the substance that is its chief consequence)

21 In fact, the dream itself just might contain a reference to the d"llks"aa-liturgy.

BRUNNER claims that BLa principale indication relative au succes du rituel est cependent

tiree des reves que les disciples Y et le guru lui-meme Y font pendant la nuit[ (op. cit.,

xxxix, emphasis added). She, however, cites no authority for this claim, and the

Somasambhupaddhati itself speaks only of the dreams of the candidates (p 225:

guru_h::: s0i

_sy"aan svapna

_m yath"aad

_r_s_ta_m sa

_mp

_rcchec chubhahetave, Ble guru...demande

aux disciples ce quils ont vu en dormant, pour savoir si leurs reves sont fastes [ou

non][ (trans. BRUNNER)). Elsewhere in the world of Saiva practice, however, the dreams

of both the guru as well as the initiand are specifically mentioned: see, e.g. Tantraloka

15.483 (I thank Harunaga ISAACSON for this reference):

pr"aatar guru_h k_rt

"aas0

e_sanityo bhyarcitas0

a_nnkarah_s

0i_sy"aatmano

_h svapnad

_r_s_t"aav "aarthau vitte bal"aabal"aat

BOn the morning [of the initiation] the guru performs all of his regular worship and

honors Siva. He [then] considers the things seen in both his own and the initiands dreams

relative to one another.[22

It is striking that the image of Siva atop K"aalatti is at no point explicitly described by

Cekkilar. One presumes that the god is present in the form of a li _nnga, but this is never

actually said. TheLord of K"aalatti thus forms the apophatic center of this entire mediation

on sight and its absence.

WHITNEY COX248

8/3/2019 Cox 2005 Tia

27/30

as it points forward to the now-inevitable conclusion. After he has

removed one of his eyes, there is yet the final assay of his devotion, and

the other eye of Siva begins to bleed. The text grows dense with the word

for Feye_, ka n, and the closely related verb Fto see_, k"aa n nutal, as Siva,

kaa n nutal, BHe whose brow bears an eye[ puts Ti n nans love to its

ultimate test, all in the concealed presence of Civak"oocariy"aar. For it is

only as the brahman, the initiating guru in this extraordinary d"llks"aa,

witnesses this that the sky may rain with flowers, the Vedas may resound

from heaven, and Siva may offer the newly-baptised Ka_n_nappar the

beatitude of Saiva liberation.

IV. SOME CONCLUSIONS

For other contemporary interpreters of the PP, the texts message and its

social location are unproblematic: it narrates a world of peculiarly Tamil

Saivism, in the service of proclaiming its superiority over any and all

competitors.23 The presence of such theological issues as the interpre-

tation of karmasamya within the narrative would appear on this view to

be equally unproblematic, merely marking the recording by the poet of

one of the doctrinal truths of the religion. Yet, even within the

circumscribed world of Cidambaram during Cekkilars day, institutionalSaivism was much more diverse than such a reading of the PP presumes,

as can be seen in the first instance by the multiple contestants in the

controversy surrounding the interpretation ofkarmasamya, a controversy

that Cekkilar appears to be attempting to overcome through narrative

means. Put simply, it was not just Ti n nan, the son of the wild Maravar

tribe, but Saivasiddh"aanta theology itself that was transfigured at the peak

of Mt. K"aalatti. Through the trial that gave birth to Ka_n_nappar, Cekkilar

could recast the universalistic, abstract realm of systematic thought in

Sanskrit within the local and the narrative. The solution to the problem

of karmasamya to which Cekkilar arrives is not a philosophical,

dialectical one, but rather a magical resolution to the soteriologicalconundrum. And it is precisely that he has cast this resolution in the

23 Jainism being the most frequently noted opponent tradition, Tamil S aivisms anti-

pathy to which being generally thought to date back to the period of the Tevaram poets.

See PETERSON 1998 and now MONIUS 2004.

TRANSFIGURATION OF TI_

N_

NA_N THE ARCHER 249

8/3/2019 Cox 2005 Tia

28/30

8/3/2019 Cox 2005 Tia

29/30

C"aamin"aataiyar (U.Ve.), 1993: Pattupp"aattu m"uulam. Ce"n"nai. Reprint.

Cat"aaciva Aiyar (Ti), 1999: Ai _nku"run"uu

"ru m"uulamum uraiyum. Ce

"n"nai: International

Institute for Tamil Studies.

Dubiansky (A.), 2000: Ritual and mythological sources of early Tamil poetry.

Groningen: E. Forsten.

Dviveda (V.V.), 1988: Astaprakara_nam V"aar"aa nas"ll : Samp"uurn"aanandavivvavidy"aalaya.

Dwivedi (R.C.), & Rastogi (N.), 1987: The Tantraloka of Abhinavagupta with the

Commentary of Jayaratha. 8 vols. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.

Goodall (D.), 1996: Bhatta R"aamaka nthas commentary on the Kira natantra. Critical Edition and Annotated Translation. Pondichery: Institut Francais de Pondichery.

Hardy (F.), 1983: VirahaYbhakti: the early history of Krs na devotion in South India.

Delhi: OUP India.

Hart (G.), 1976: The Poems of Ancient Tamil: their milieu and their Sanskrit

counterparts. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Hart (G.), 1980: BThe Little Devotee,[ in: Sanskrit and Indian Studies: Essays in Honor

of Daniel H. H. Ingalls, ed. by M. Nagatomi. Dordrecht.

Ir"aacam"aa_nikkan

""aar (Ma.), 1990: Periyapur"aana "aar"aaycci. Madras: Pa

"laniyapp"aa Piratars.

Reprint.

Ka_laviyal e

"n"ru I

""raiya

"n"aarakapporu

_l Nakk"llra

"n"aar uraiyu

_tan"

1969: Ce"n"nai: Ka

"lakam.

Ku"ri~ncipp"aattu in C"aamin"aataiyar (1993).

Lehmann (T.) & Malten (T.), 1993: A wordYindex of Ca _nnkam literature. Madras:

Institute of Asian Studies

Monius (A.), 2004: BLove, Violence, and the Aesthetics of Disgust: Saivas and Jains in

Medieval South India.[ Journal of Indian Philosophy 32, pp. 113Y172.

Mutaliy"aar (Ci.K"ee .), Cuppirama niya, 1964: C"eekki"l"aarcuv"aamika

_l e"n"num Aru

_nmo

"lit"eevar

aru_liya Periyapur"aa_nam. Coimbatore: Kovait Tamilc Ca

_

nnkam. Nagaswamy (R.), 1983: Masterpieces of Early South Indian Bronzes. New Delhi:

National Museum.

Niklas (U.), 1996: BIntroduction to Tamil Prosody.[ Bulletin de lEcole francaise

dExtreme-Orient LXXVII.

Peterson (I.), 1998: BSrama nas Against the Tamil Way,[ in: Open Boundaries: Jain

Communities and Culture in Indian History, ed. by J. Cort, Albany: SUNY Press.

Rajam (V.S.), 1986: BA na _nnku: A Notion Semantically Reduced to Signify Female SacredPower.[ Journal of the American Oriental Society 106, 2: pp. 257Y272.

Ramanujan (A.K.), 1967: The Interior Landscape: Love Poems From a Classical Tamil

Anthology. Bloomington: University of Indiana Press.

Ramanujan (A.K.), 1985: Poems of Love and War. New York: Columbia University

Press.

Ratnatrayapar"llks"aa of Sr"llka nthasuri Accompanied by the Commentary (ullekhin"11 ) of

Aghorasiva. In Dviveda (1988).Shulman (D.), 1993: The Hungry God. Hindu Tales of Filicide and Devotion. Chicago:

University of Chicago Press.

Sivathamby (K.), 1981: Drama in Ancient Tamil Society. Madras: New Century Book

House.

Subrahmanian (N.), 1966: PreY Pallavan Tamil Index. Madras: University of Madras.

Sukthankar, V. S. et al. (1927Y1959). Mahabharata. For the first Time Critically edited

[etc.] 19 vols. Pune: Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute.

TRANSFIGURATION OF TI_

N_

NA_N THE ARCHER 251

8/3/2019 Cox 2005 Tia

30/30

Tirumuruk"aa"r"rupatai in C"aamin"aataiyar (1993).

Tolk"aappiyam Poru_latik"aaram I

_lamp "uraura

_nar uraiyu

_ta"n (2000). Ce

"n"nai: Ka

"lakam Reprint.

University of Madras, 1924Y1936: Tamil Lexicon. 7 vols. Madras.

Wilden (E.), 2004: BOn the Consolidation and Extension of Knowledge: The S"uutra Style

in the Tolk"aappiyam Porulatik"aaram,[ in: South Indian Horizons: Studies in Honor of

Francois Gros, ed by J.-L. Chevillard and E. Wilden, eds. Pondichery: Ecole Francaise

dExtremeYOrient.

Department of South Asian Studies,

University of Pennsylvania,

804 Williams Hall,

36th and Spruce Streets, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305, USA

E-mail: wmcox@sas.upenn.edu

WHITNEY COX252