Nayanar 20: Chandeshvara (Candesvara)

The 20th saint is Candesvara Nayanar [Chandeshvara]: the name is also found in the forms Candesa and Tantica. Arurar refers to him as Cantl and some editions contain the form Tanti also. Candesvara plays an important part in the Agamic worship where at the end of daily worship all the ‘nirmalyas' are offered to Candesvara. The Cult of Candesvara with many forms and sometimes with his Sakti is found well developed in the Agamas (Kamikagama).

The receipt of the nirmalya is considered to be the peculiar characteristic feature of Candesapadam. ftanacampantar describes the story of this saint:

“Vanta manalal ilinkam manniyinkan palattum
Cintai ceyvon tan karumam terntu citaippan varum at
Tantaitanaic catutalum cantican enrarulik
Kontanavum malar kotuttan koliliyem perumane”.

“He made linga of sand and poured milk over it. His mind was concentrated on it. Realizing this wasteful act, his father came to prevent it. The saint dashed against him. The Lord made him Cantica and gave him the bunch of flowers”.

Manikkavacakar explains: “Patakame coru parriyava tonok-kam” ‘the sin itself had become the veritable nourishing food of enjoyment’—another illustration of the doctrine of Grace. The saint was so much concentrated that he had no other thought and removed the obstacle to his worship in the twinkling of an eye.

“1 have come to separate, not to unite, to separate the father from the son”, says Christ. It is this that has happened in the story of Candesvara. Arurar, as already referred to, speaks to the Lord enjoying the faults of the saints like Candi, Tirunalaippovar, etc. To still further minimize the outward cruelty, Cekkilar mentions that Candesvara threw out only a stick lying nearby so as to become a battle-axe.

Arurar, in Thiruthondathogai, describes Can-desvara in one half of a verse, an amount of space which he does not give to any other saint:

‘Meymmaiye tirumeni valipata nirka
   Vekuntelunta tataital maluvinal erinta
Ammaiyan aticcantip perumanuk katiyen
   Aruran Aruril ammanuk kale”.

“He was worshipping the sacred form, truly and sincerely whilst his father came upon him full of anger. Canti, the servant God, threw the axe at the leg of his father”.

‘Ammaiyan’ may mean the wonderful person or the beautiful person or the Lord of the other world, i.e., the Candesvarapada. Nampiyantar Nampi makes him a native of Ceynalur and a member of the highest community. According to him both the legs were cut off whilst Can-desa continued pouring the milk over the Lord and adorning him with flowers.

Cekkilar identifies this Ceynalur as the village on the southern bank of ‘Manni’, a river in the Cola country and tells us that this place was called Ceynalur, after ‘Cey’ Subrah-manya. It is one of the five cities where the Colas used to be crowned. It is a city of Brahmins. Candesvara came of Kasyapa Gotra and a son of Eccatatta or Yajnadatta, the father and Pavitra, his mother. Even when he was young he could not bear the cow-herd beating a cow. He dismissed the cow-herd and took his place, taking the cows every day to the grazing ground. The loving hand of this saint increased the yield of milk. This spontaneous overflow of milk, even whilst the cows were grazing in the forest, the saint utilized for performing linga worship. The news was spread that he was wasting the milk and the father unable to bear the calumny on the good name of his family came to verify the report and found his son pouring the milk on a linga of sand. The saint’s mind was all engrossed in the worship and he could not feel the beatings administered by his father. The enraged father dashed his leg against the pot of milk reserved for worship. This was an unpardonable sin and the saint could not excuse him though he was the father. He took up a stick lying nearby and threw it out as an axe to cut the legs which was the punishment he deserved. As though nothing had happened the saint was doing his puja. God was so moved by the detached mind of the saint that he undertook to be the father thereafter and offered him the Candesapada crowning him with the laurel of ‘konrai’, removed from His own crown. The father also became purified by the touch of the stick which the saint had held in his hand.

The Darasuram Temple represents this story in one of its sculptures, inscribed under as ‘Ceynalur Pilllaiyar’ on its wall. On the right side, there is a man with the face in an angry mood throwing up his hands and dashing against something with his upraised leg. There are two cows showing that it is the grazing ground. In the midale of the picture we find a Brahmin boy with sacred thread holding up the axe in his right hand and catching hold of an old person with his hand. The leg of the old man is found cut. At the left hand corner of the picture Shiva and Parvati are seated whilst Shiva adorns Candesvara beneath him with His konrai laurel.

In the Ceynalur hymn, Campantar refers to Canttcar in his interrogation: “O, Lord of Ceynalur! Why did you give the leadership with a garland to him who had cut away the leg of his father?” Probably from this it was assumed that C antic ar belonged to Ceynalur. Appar gives more particulars about the kind of worship the saint had performed. The worship was performed under an ‘atti’ tree. In many places, Appar speaks of the saint milking the cow straightaway and bathing the Lord with the milk. Campantar seems to suggest that Cantican gathered the milk in a vessel, which the father upset allowing the milk to be spilt. But in another place, Campantar seems to suggest that the father’s leg almost dashed against the crown of the linga—“Muti cernta kalai”.

Appar also seems to make the same suggestion when he says, “Taparattaik kantu avan tatai pay van’ — ‘Seeing the linga his father rushed up’. Appar states that Cantica worshipped not only with milk but also with ghee and performed various kinds of worship and garlanded the Lord with konrai flowers and that this, the father could not brook.

Campantar refers to Canti singing the Vedic hymns. The poems of these saints seem to suggest two different ideas. One is that C antic a was so much concentrated that he simply removed the obstruction without any further thought, i.e., “Pdtam kontu avan kurip-pindle”; “Cintai ceyvon” The other is that the leg was cut away as a punishment—“Pilaitta tan tatai tatai”! “Tiruvatikkat pilaippa”. The leg was cut away with a main.

The linga was made by heaping up sands: “Kuppinan tapa-rattai”; “Manalal kuppi”;- “Manalaikkuppi”y “Manalal ilinkam panni”; “Venmanale Sivamaka”y “Manal ilinkam”. It was jnana puja; “Bodattal valipattan” “Kontavan kurippinale” Bhakti also is emphasized. Cantisvara was given food—“Kulait-tator amutamintar”; “Ponakamum” He was also given the garland of konrai: “Konraimalait tanam”. This is the laurel taken from the crown of the Lord—‘‘Tan mutimel alarmalai” Campantar also mentions this gift of food and garland—“Maku-yum ponakamum'’. The garland was conferred as a symbol of rulership and the pre-eminent position Canfisvara was made to occupy—“Malai cuttit talaimai vakuttu”; “Nilulakelam alak kotuttu”.

This pre-eminent position or office is known by the name of Candesapada and the saint was therefore called ‘Candesa’ —“Cantican ennac ciranta peralittan” “Canticanenraruli”. This story is considered to have happened in olden days. For emphasizing the Arur temple as an ancient one, Appar raises the rhetorical interrogation, “Was the temple built when Canti was conferred with the garlands?”