Abirami Andadi

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This text is a poem of one hundred and two verses written in praise of the Hindu goddess Abirami, who is a form of Parvati, the consort of the god Siva. In south India, the forms of Siva and his consort have a name that is particular to each major temple. The name of this text is derived from the name of the goddess. It praises and the literary form it is set in where the first word of one verse repeats the last word of the previous one (Andadi: and: end + adi: beginning) The text was written in the eighteenth century during the reign of the Maratha king Sarafoji at Tancavur. The author named Abirami Battar was a priest at the Tirukkataiyur temple. In Tirukkadaiyur, Siva who goes by the name Amrithataghadeshwarar is wedded to goddess Abirami. The one hundred verses are written in praise of her beauty, grace and power.

Dr. John A. Loud holds a AB degree in religious studies from Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio as well as a Master's degrees in South Asian Studies from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He was awarded a Ph.D. degree in South Asian Languages and Literature from the University of Wisconsin, Madison in 1990. He has specialized in Tamil, Hindi, Urdu, and Sanskrit.. He has studied Carnatic Music for seven years with a particular interest in the songs of Muttusvami Dikshitar. His research has focused on the Diksitar priests at the Chidambaram temple and the Nadhaasvaram musicians attached to the Tyagaraja temple at Tiruvarur. He was employed by Harvard University as a specialist cataloger for the Rubin Collection of Indian Classical Music. He has taught Tamil, Urdu, World Religions, Religion in America, and Islam. He is the author of The Rituals of Chidambaram, published by the Institute of Asian Studies. He is currently working on Tevaram literature.

This text is a poem of one hundred and two verses written in praise of the Hindu goddess Abirami, who is a form of Parvati, the consort of the god Siva. In south India, the forms of Siva and his consort have a name that is particular to each major temple. For example, in Madurai, Siva is called Sundaresvarar, the Beautiful Lord, and his consort is Minakshi, the fish-eyed goddess. Abirami is the name of the goddess in the temple at Tirukkataiyur is located in Tancavur district about ten miles east of Mayilataturai on the road to the port of Nagapattinam. In this temple, the form of Siva is narned Sri Amrtagathesvar, the Lord of the Nectar of Immortality. This diversity of names of the same deity from temple to temple results from the interaction of local and pan-Indian mythology. Local tradition may hold that a deity performed a particular deed at a specific location and the name of the temple will reflect that tradition.

The temple at Tirukkataiyur, where Abirami is worshiped, is associated with the myth of in which Śiva defeats Yama, the god of death, to save the devotee named Markandaya. According to this myth a sage performed austerities to have a son. He was given the choice of a hundred sons who would live a hundred years but who would be evil and stupid, or one brilliant and virtuous son who was destined to die at age sixteen. Naturally, the sage chose the later. The child named Markandeya grew up to be a great devotee of Siva. He studied all the texts and went on pilgrimage to all the holy places including Kasi. As the fateful day of his sixteenth birthday arrives he is in Tirukkataiyur. When Yama approaches to take him away, he embraces the Lingam and appeals to Siva. Siva appears from out of the Lin- gam and steps on Yama's head. Markandeya is granted immortality and everybody who worships in this spot is granted long life.

As is often the case in Tamil Nadu, this temple is more famous for its goddess than its god. Whenever I mentioned to somebody that I had been to visit Tirukkataiyur, they all said "Ah yes, Abirami ". The popularity of this goddess has spread beyond the village of Tirukkataiyur One can find an Abirami cinema, an Abirami vegetarian restaurant, or an Abirami lodge, in every town of any size. I think that the fame of this goddess is due to the popularity of this text. You can get recordings of people singing this text, buy cheap pamphlets of this text, and even find it inscribed on white marble slabs near the tank of the Minaksi temple in Madurai.