Nayanar 10: Kannappa (Kannappar)

The next saint, the tenth, is Kannappar [Kannappa] and Arurar sings, “Kalaimalinta czr Nampi Kannapparkkatiyen”— ‘I am the servant of Kannappar, great for his knowledge’. Arurar has referred to Kannappar in other places as, “Kanaikol Kannappan”, one who wields the arrow; “Itanta Kannappan”, where the story itself is expresed in the phrase that he scooped out his eye and fixed it on, probably in the eye of the Lord. In these two places, he says the Lord had blessed him with His love and therefore Arurar himself came to beg for God’s Grace. In a third place, he just mentions the name Kannappan in enumerating a few Shaivite saints whose mistakes God considered as good acts and states that this policy of the Lord had brought him to take refuge in Him. The bad act that could be attributed to Kannappar could only be his hunting the animals and feeding the Lord with animal food.

Nanacampantar refers to Kannappar worshipping with his mouth itself as the water pot, and the eye which he had scooped out as the flower. In the 11th Tirumurai, we have two songs called ‘Tiruk-kannappa tevar tirumanam’, one by Nakkirar otherwise known as Nakklrateva Nayanar, and the other by Kalldtar. The very name ‘tnaram’ suggests to us the age of 96 prabhandas which came into vogue when Pannirupattiyal was composed probably in the post-cankam age.

Nakkirar describes the cruel aspect of a hunter’s life with his body full of wounds received during his hunting expeditions. Kannappar went to worship with the water filled up in his mouth, flowers filled in his tuft of hair, carrying the bow in his hand ready for use and being followed by a dog. He mentions the Brahmin doing the puna according to Agamas and feeling sore about the daily desecration by Kannappar, Shiva came in a dream of the Brahmin to praise the hunter’s worship as being full of love. The next day Kannappar saw one of the eyes of the Lord bleeding and he scooped one of his eyes first to be placed on the bleeding eye. Overpowered by his joy at the stopping of blood, he began to scoop the other eye as well, when he saw the other eye also of the Lord begin to bleed, whereupon, God prevented him from doing so by catching hold of his hand.

Kallatar, in his ‘ma ram’ describes the various ornaments a hunter would wear. Kannappar performed the same kind of worship as described by Nakklrar. Here, the name of the Brahmin is mentioned as Kocari Nakklranar will make Kannappar scoop out both his eyes for curing one of the Lord. Kallatar makes him first scoop out and place his eye on the right eye which alone was first bleeding and then scoop out the other eye, only when the hunter found the other eye also was bleeding. Nampiyantar Nampi only speaks of Kannappar removing his eye to be placed on the Lord’s eye when he found it bleeding.

The story of Kannappar had appealed to such great saints as Manikkavacakar and philosophers like Sankara. Cekkilar with these hints had made a beautiful story of Kannappar’s mental development. He represents Kannappar as a beautiful person and makes him the very form of love which is usually born of true knowledge, thus interpreting in his story Arurar” s reference to Kannappar as “Kalaimalinta cir Nampi”.

The name of the Brahmin is given in Periyapuranam as Sivakdcariyar (135). Kannappar’s worship is reduced to the short span of six days (166). He does not describe the dog in detail but he refers to the foot prints of the dog in the speech of God in the dream of Sivakdcariyar (138). He follows Kallatar in making both the eyes of the Lord, bleed. In this story, unfettered and unconventional love is contrasted with the love and worship according to Agamas, and the story emphasizes that the former is better than or as good as the latter. The Kannada and Sanskrit traditions will make Kannappar not only ‘Netrarpaka’, what is merely a translation of the name Kannappar, but also a ‘Mukkanna”, for, it is said there that Shiva had given him three eyes.