Nayanar 43: Adipaththar (Atipatta)

The 43rd saint is Atipatta Nayanar (Adipaththar). The words of Arurar are “Viritirai cul katal Nakai A tipattar kkatiyen”— ‘I am the servant of Atipattar of Nakai, the seaport surrounded by the expanding waves’. Nakai is Nakappattinam which was the centre of the seaborne trade and where Rajasimha built a Buddhist temple for the use of the traders coming from the eastern islands. Atipattar is according to the Kannada and Sanskrit traditions, Atibhakta-nayanar, the devotee of great love or bhakti, a fisherman whose vow it was to offer to sea, the first fish he got in his net every day, even the first happened to be a golden fish. This is the story given by Nampiyantar Nampi as well, who refers in another place to the Lord accepting even a fish as nectar without slighting it.

Nampiyantar Nampi calls Atipattar, Poyyili, probably because he did not break his vow. Cekkilar brings about the greatness of Nakappattinam and describes the story in great detail. The saint, once the head of the fishermen village, became poor but continued to leave the first fruit of the fish to the Lord. One day he caught a wonderful fish of golden gems enough to purchase the whole world and put an end to his poverty and misery. His followers thought that his troubles came to an end, when, the saint threw it out into the sea for the Lord as the first fruit of the day.

This story of sacrifice is very well brought out in the Darasuram sculpture. On the right hand side of the plate, we see the sea with all kinds of fish including the octopus. Three fishermen are drawing in, the net. Atipattar with the golden fish in his hand is in the act of throwing it out into the sea. He has a beard. In the centre stands a person with the turban on his head. Probably it is the starving Atipattar. On the left hand side, we see Shiva appearing on the bull with Parvati whilst Atipattar stands worshipping him, raising his hands above his head in the anjali pose.