Appendix: The Sixty-Four Games of Śiva

The following is a brief summary of each episode of the Sacred Games according to Parañcōti’s sequence. For a fuller rendition of the narratives, see Holt (2007) and Dessigane et al. (1960).

1. Indra’s Sin Is Removed (intiraṉ paḻi tīrtta paṭalam)

The god Indra, having incurred the sin of Brahminicide by killing the demons Viśvarūpa and Vṛtra, is relieved of his sin after having discovered a śivaliṅga in a katampa forest and having bathed in its sacred pool.

2. Removing Airāvata’s Curse (veḷḷaiyāṉaic cāpatīrtta paṭalam)

Indra’s white elephant Airāvata is cursed by the sage Durvāsas for trampling on a flower garland gifted to Durvāsas by Śiva. Airāvata is forced to descend to earth and is cleansed of his sin by worshipping at the same śivaliṅga in the katampa forest.

3. Establishing the Sacred City (tirunakaran kaṇṭa paṭalam)

A merchant named Dhanañjaya chances upon the śivaliṅga in the katampa forest while traveling for business. After he reports his discovery of the shrine to the king Kulaśekhara Pāṇḍya, Śiva comes to the Pandian ruler in a dream and commands him to clear the katampa forest and build the city of Madurai.

4. The Incarnation of Taṭātakai (taṭātakaippirāṭṭiyār tiruvavatārap paṭalam)

The Pandian king Malayadhvaja performs a sacrifice to obtain a son, but instead a daughter is born with three breasts. He is instructed by divine guidance to raise her as a son, knowing that her third breast will disappear when she meets her future husband.

5. The Sacred Marriage (tirumaṇap paṭalam)

Princess Taṭātakai, having inherited the Pandian kingdom, embarks on the traditional conquest of the directions. She defeats all enemies effortlessly, until she leads an assault on Śiva at Mount Kailāsa. When she beholds Śiva, her third breast disappears, and a divine wedding later ensues in Madurai.

6. Dancing in the Silver Hall (veḷḷiyampalat tirukūttāṭiya paṭalam)

Following the divine marriage, the sages Patañjali and Vyāghrapāda respectfully refuse to eat until they receive darśan of Śiva’s sacred dance, traditionally held at the Golden Hall in Cidambaram. Śiva obliges by replicating his dance in the Silver Hall of the Madurai temple.

7. Feeding Guṇḍodara (kuṇṭōtaraṉukku aṉṉamiṭṭa paṭalam)

One of Śiva’s Gaṇa attendants, named Guṇḍodara, devours the remainder of the vast wedding feast.

8. Calling the Rice Pits and the Vaikai River (aṉṉakkuḻiyum vaikaiyum aḻaitta paṭalam)

Having devoured vast amounts of rice, Guṇḍodara begs for water, and Śiva responds by placing (vai) his hand (kai) on the ground to create the Vaikai River.

9. Calling the Seven Seas (ēḻukaṭal aḻaitta paṭalam)

Queen Kāñcanamālā, Taṭātakai’s mother, wishes to make a pilgrimage to bathe in the ocean. Śiva summons the seven seas into a tank in the vicinity of Madurai to fulfill her desire.

10. Calling Malayadhvaja (malayattuvacaṉaiy aḻaitta paṭalam)

The late king Malayadhvaja returns from heaven to bathe in the seven seas with his wife, Kāñcanamālā.

11. The Incarnation of Ugravarman Pāṇḍya (ukkirapāṇṭiyaṉ tiruvavatārap paṭalam) Taṭātakai gives birth to a son, Ugravarman Pāṇḍya, incarnation of Murukaṉ.

12. Giving a Mace, Spear, and Armband to Ugravarman Pāṇḍya

(ukkirapāṇṭiyaṉukku vēl vaḷai ceṇṭu koṭutta paṭalam)

Ugravarman Pāṇḍya marries the daughter of the Cōḻa king and receives divinely empowered weapons from his father.

13. Throwing the Spear at the Ocean (kaṭalcuvaṟa vēlviṭṭa paṭalam)

Having received orders from his father, Śiva, in a dream, Ugravarman Pāṇḍya throws his spear at the ocean to prevent it from encroaching upon the city.

14. Throwing the Armband at Indra’s Crown (intiraṉ muṭimēl vaḷaiy eṟinta paṭalam)

Following a long drought, Ugravarman Pāṇḍya and the Cōḻa and Cēra kings approach Indra to petition him for rain. Ugravarman, son of Śiva, refuses to humble himself before Indra; when Indra, angered, attacks him, he throws his armband at Indra’s thunderbolt, stopping it in midair.

15. Hitting Mount Meru with the Mace (mēruvaic ceṇṭāl aṭitta paṭalam)

During another drought, Ugravarman prays to Śiva, who instructs him to travel to Mount Meru and hit the mountain with his mace. Having done so, Ugravarman discovers a hidden fortune that alleviates the suffering of his kingdom.

16. Granting the Truth of the Vedas (vētattukkup poruḷ aruḷic ceyta paṭalam)

When the Brahmins of Madurai are chanting the Vedas without comprehending them, Śiva appears before them in the form of Dakṣiṇāmūrti to instruct them, teaching that the Vedas and the śivaliṅga are one.

17. Selling Rubies (māṇikkam viṟṟa paṭalam)

When the royal ministers discover that rubies are missing from the Pandian prince’s crown before his coronation, Śiva takes the form of a jewel merchant to replace the rubies.

18. Drying Up Varuṇa’s Ocean (varuṇaṉ viṭṭa kaṭalai vaṟṟac ceyta paṭalam)

Varuṇa, the god of the ocean, makes a pilgrimage to Madurai to cure his stomachache. When the ocean threatens to inundate Madurai as a result, Śiva calls the clouds to dry up the water.

19. The City with Four Barriers (nāṉmāṭakkūṭalāṉa paṭalam)

W hen Varuṇa again threatens Madurai with a torrential storm, Śiva commands the king Abhiśekha Pāṇḍya to construct four barriers to protect the city.

20. Becoming an All-Powerful Ascetic (cittar) (ellām valla cittarāṉa paṭalam)

Śiva takes the form of an ascetic, performing numerous miracles throughout Madurai.

21. Feeding the Stone Elephant Sugarcane (kallāṉaikkuk karumparuttiya paṭalam)

Śiva, disguised as an ascetic, impresses king Abhiśekha Pāṇḍya by causing a stone elephant in the Madurai temple to come to life and eat a stalk of sugarcane.

22. Killing the Elephant (yānaiy eyta paṭalam)

When the Cōḻa king dispatches Jain magicians to assault Madurai with enchanted siege weapons, Śiva becomes an archer and shoots the rampaging elephant, turning it into stone and creating the mountain Yānaimalai.

23. The Old Man Becomes a Boy (virutta kumārapālarāṉa paṭalam)

Śiva takes the form of an ascetic to bring comfort to his devotee, Gaurī, who is experiencing domestic strife in her marriage to a Vaiṣṇava. When Gaurī offers food to the old ascetic, Śiva transforms himself into a young Śaiva Brahmin boy.

24. Changing the Leg and Dancing (kāṉmāṟiy āṭiṉa paṭalam)

When the king Rājaśekhara Pāṇḍya expresses sorrow at seeing the dancing Śiva in the Madurai temple strain his leg by always dancing on the same foot, Śiva miraculously transforms the temple image so that it dances on the other foot.

25. Fearing Slander (paḻiyañciṉa paṭalam)

When a Brahmin accuses a hunter of murdering the Brahmin’s wife, King Kulottuṅga Pāṇḍya prays to Śiva for guidance in administering justice. Śiva reveals to the king how the attendants of Yama, god of death, had arranged the Brahmin’s wife’s demise, proving the hunter’s innocence.

26. Absolving the Great Sin (māpātakan tīrtta paṭalam)

Śiva grants clemency to a Brahmin boy guilty of incest and patricide, demonstrating his compassion toward even the worst of sinners.

27. Cutting the Limbs (aṅkam veṭṭiṉa paṭalam)

Śiva confronts in battle a young sword-fighting instructor who disrespects his teacher and approaches his teacher’s wife with lust. Śiva then cuts the young man’s body into pieces.

28. Killing the Elephant (nāgam eyta paṭalam)

The Jain magicians of Madurai summon a giant serpent demon to kill the Pandian king by poisoning him with his venom. Śiva cures the king by releasing drops of nectar from the crescent moon in his hair, purifying the city of Madurai.

29. Killing the Magical Cow (māyappacuvai vataitta paṭalam)

When the Jains dispatch a crazed cow demon to wreak havoc in the city of Madurai, Śiva’s bull, Nandi, defeats it.

30. Revealing the Truth (meykkāṭṭiṭṭa paṭalam)

When an enemy army attacks the Pandian kingdom, King Kulabhūṣaṇa Pāṇḍya appoints his general, Cuntaracamantar, to raise an army in a single day. Cuntaracamantar petitions Śiva for assistance, and Śiva himself arrives mounted on horseback and surrounded by a massive army.

31. Granting the Inexhaustible Bag of Gold (ulavākkiḻiy aruḷiya paṭalam)

By disrespecting the Brahmins of his kingdom, Kulabhūṣaṇa leads Madurai into poverty and despair. When the king prays to Śiva for a remedy, Śiva appears before him in a dream and grants him a bottomless bag of gold.

32. Selling Bangles (vaḷaiyal viṟṟa paṭalam)

The sages’ wives whom Śiva had seduced in the Dakṣa forest are reborn, owing to their impropriety, as women of the Vanikar caste in Madurai. Because their bangles had previously fallen off as a result of the women’s longing for Śiva, the god appears in Madurai in the form of a bangle seller to replace them.

33. Teaching the Eight Great Siddhis (aṭṭamācittiy upatecitta paṭalam)

Śiva teaches the eight great siddhis (magical powers), commonly mentioned in Tantric texts, to the Kārttikeya Yakṣīs, instructing them to meditate on the goddess to master these powers.

34. Placing the Mark of the Bull (viṭaiyilacciṉaiy iṭṭa paṭalam)

In a dream, Śiva promises to grant his darśan to the Cōḻa king Kāṭuveṭṭiya during his pilgrimage to Madurai. Onlookers later discover a bull symbol emblazoned on the north gate of the Madurai temple, where Śiva had personally escorted the Cōḻa king into the shrine for darśan.

35. Placing the Watershed (taṇṇīrpantal vaitta paṭalam)

When the Cōḻa Kāṭuveṭṭiya conspires with the Pandian king’s brother to overthrow the kingdom of Madurai, Śiva magically multiplies the Pandian troops on the battlefield, leading to a landslide victory. He constructs a watershed amid the Pandian forces, appearing among the troops himself as a servant offering water.

36. Doing Alchemy (iracavātañ ceyta paṭalam)

The housewife Poṉṉaṉaiyāḷ is deeply devoted to Śiva, offering all of her earnings to feed his ascetic devotees, yet she longs for a statue of Śiva to worship. Śiva appears before her as an ascetic and miraculously transforms her copper pots into gold, which she then has made into a mūrti of Śiva to be installed in the temple.

37. The Cōḻa King Falls into a Pit (cōḻaṉai maṭuvil vīṭṭiya paṭalam)

Because the Pandian king has spent his treasury on worshipping Śiva, his standing army has diminished, inviting a Cōḻa invasion. During the battle, Śiva causes the Cōḻa king to fall into a pit, onto the Pandian king’s spear.

38. Granting the Unemptying Paddy Container (ulavākkōṭṭaiy aruḷiya paṭalam)

Having invested all of his harvest in offerings of charity, despite great famine, the farmer Nallaṉ, falling into poverty, decides to commit suicide. When he comes before Śiva in the temple to offer his life, Śiva grants him a bottomless container of paddy.

39. Filing a Case for the Uncle (māmaṉākavantu vaḻakkuraitta paṭalam)

When a wealthy merchant renounces the world, leaving his fortune to his nephew, relatives appropriate the money from the boy. Śiva appears in court in the form of the merchant to demand that the relatives return the wealth to the boy and his mother.

40. Showing Śiva’s Heaven to Varaguṇa Pāṇḍya (varakuṇaṉukkuc civalōkaṅ kāṭṭiya paṭalam)

Śiva grants Varaguṇa Pāṇḍya a vision of the heavenly realms, having rescued him from the accidental sin of Brahminicide and facilitated his defeat of the Cōḻa army.

41. Selling Firewood (viṟaku viṟṟa paṭalam)

To settle a dispute between a musician devotee, Bāṇabhadra, and his rival, Śiva takes the form of a firewood seller. Śiva claims to have been rejected as unworthy of discipleship under Bāṇabhadra, while performing divine music that astounds the onlookers.

42. Giving the Sacred Letter (tirumukaṅ koṭutta paṭalam)

After Śiva has stolen much of the Pandian king’s wealth to distribute to his poor devotees, he sends Bāṇabhadra on a mission to the Cēra king, who gifts him the entirety of his treasury to return to Madurai.

43. Giving the Plank (palakaiy iṭṭa paṭalam)

Because of Bāṇabhadra’s ceaseless devotion in singing to Śiva in the temple every night, Śiva procures for him a golden, jewel-encrusted seat on which to sing.

44. Winning the Music Contest (icaivātu veṉṟa paṭalam)

W hen Bāṇabhadra’s wife quarrels with the king’s mistress, the mistress sets up a music competition between Bāṇabhadra’s wife and a Laṅkan singer. Śiva arranges victory for Bāṇabhadra’s wife.

45. Giving the Breast to Piglets (paṉṟikkuṭṭikku mulai koṭutta paṭalam)

Śiva transforms himself into a mother sow to give milk to a family of orphaned piglets, changing their bodies into those of men.

46. Changing the Piglets into Ministers (paṉṟikkuṭṭikalai mantirikaḷākkiya paṭalam)

Śiva explains his actions by appointing the twelve pig-faced men as royal ministers.

47. Teaching the Blackbird (karikkuruvikkupatēcañ ceyta paṭalam)

When a blackbird makes a pilgrimage to bathe in Madurai’s temple tank, Śiva initiates him with his divine mantra. Previously, the blackbird had been a man, reborn as a blackbird owing to his misdeeds.

48. Giving Liberation to the Crane (nāraikku mutti koṭutta paṭalam)

A crane bathing in the temple tank declines, out of piety, to eat the sacred fish, and Śiva grants him liberation as a boon.

49. Becoming the City Encircled by a Snake (tiruvālavāyāṉa paṭalam)

When the Pandian king requests a marker for the city’s boundaries, Śiva releases the snake encircling his wrist to surround the city, marking its outskirts.

50. Shooting the Arrow Named for the Beautiful Lord (cuntarappēr ampeyta paṭalam)

Defending Madurai against the invading Cōḻa army, Śiva takes the form of an archer to lead the Pandian army, shooting divine arrows that slaughter the Cōḻa soldiers en masse.

51. Giving the Caṅkam Plank (caṅkappalakai koṭutta paṭalam)

The poets of the Tamil Caṅkam are incarnated from Sarasvatī in Madurai owing to a curse. Śiva grants them a magical plank that expands, but only far enough to allow those with poetic talent to sit upon it.

52. Giving the Prize to Tarumi (tarumikkup poṟkiḻiy aḷitta paṭalam)

When a young Brahmin bachelor, Tarumi, cannot afford a dowry, Śiva arranges for him to win the king’s poetry contest by granting him the winning verse. The Caṅkam poet Nakkīrar attempts to find fault with Śiva’s verse, and Śiva throws him into the temple tank in retaliation.

53. Lifting Nakkīrar to the Shore (kīraṉaik karaiy ēṟṟiya paṭalam)

Śiva rescues Nakkīrar from the tank and forgives his audacity, at which point Nakkīrar’s pride is humbled.

54. Teaching Grammar to Nakkīrar (kīraṉukku ilakkaṇam upatēcitta paṭalam)

Because of Nakkīrar’s deficient knowledge of grammar and poetics, Śiva dispatches the sage Agastya to alleviate his ignorance.

55. Resolving the Caṅkam Poets’ Quarrel (caṅkattār kalakan tīrtta paṭalam)

When the Caṅkam poets cannot agree on the relative value of their compositions, Śiva appoints the merchant Dhanapati, an incarnation of Murukaṉ, as judge.

56. The Poet Iṭaikkāṭar’s Resentment (iṭaikkāṭaṉ piṇakkut tīrtta paṭalam)

The Pandian king disrespects a Tamil composition of the poet Iṭaikkāṭar, and Śiva, taking offense, departs from Madurai along with his liṅga, returning only when the king begs forgiveness.

57. Throwing the Fishing Net (valai vīciṉa paṭalam)

The goddess is not listening when Śiva instructs her in the meaning of the Vedas, so Śiva curses her to be born in a fishermen’s community, and curses his bull, Nandi, to become a shark. Śiva takes incarnation to capture that shark with a net when it terrorizes the fishing community.

58. Teaching Māṇikkavācakar (vātavūraṭikaḷukku upatēcitta paṭalam)

The young Māṇikkavācakar, a gifted servant of the Pandian king, is dispatched by the king with money to buy horses. During his journey, Śiva appears to the young man and initiates him, at which point he is overcome with devotion.

59. Foxes Become Horses (nari pariyākkiya paṭalam)

Māṇikkavācakar has spent the funds given to him on service to Śiva, and the king is angered when the requested horses do not materialize. In response to Māṇikkavācakar’s prayers, Śiva transforms all the foxes in the forest into horses for the king.

60. Horses Become Foxes (pari nariyākkiya paṭalam)

Although the king is pleased with his new horses, at midnight the horses transform back into foxes. In order to save his devotee from punishment, Śiva floods the Vaikai River to distract the soldiers.

61. Carrying Earth (maṇ cumanta paṭalam)

When the citizens of Madurai are drafted to dam the Vaikai River, an eightyyear-old sweetmeats vendor is unable to work. Śiva volunteers to take her place but falls asleep at the docks. The dockworker strikes Śiva’s body with a blow that resounds throughout the city.

62. Curing the Pandian King’s Fever (pāṇṭiyaṉ curan tīrtta paṭalam)

The Pandian king converts to Jainism and, as a result, falls ill with a virulent fever. The Śaiva saint Ñāṉacampantar cures him with sacred ash, converting him back to Śaivism.

63. Mounting the Jains on Stakes (camaṇaraik kaḻuv ēṟṟiya)

The Jains, in anger, challenge Campantar to an ordeal to prove the veracity of their doctrine. Upon failing in the task, they proceeded to impale themselves on stakes.

64. Calling the Vaṉṉi Tree, Well, and Linga (vaṉṉiyum kiṇaṟum iliṅkamum aḻaitta paṭalam)

Campantar resurrects a young boy killed by a snakebite, and marries him to the girl who had summoned the saint to save the boy’s life. The only witnesses to the marriage, a vaṉṉi tree, well, and liṅga, magically appear to save the girl from ostracization at the hands of her cowife.