Tinnanar, known as Kannappar, was born of Nagan, the king of the Vyadhas (hunters), in
Uduppur, in South India. King Nagan was a great Bhakta of Lord Subrahmanya. From his boyhood,
Tinnanar was well trained in the skill of a hunter and archery and in his prime age, he had to assume
the reins of government which his old father bestowed on him. One day, Tinnanar went out for a
hunt with some of his followers. While wandering in the forest they came across a hog, escaping
from a net. They, at once chased the hog for a long time, up and down the hills. After a long time,
Tinnanar killed the hog and as they were much tired due to the long chasing, they at once arranged
to cook the flesh of the animal and it was removed to another place in the Kalahasti Hill which was
nearby. While walking towards the hill one of the followers of Tinnanar suggested to him to pay a
visit to Kudumi Thevar, the presiding deity of the hills, and they proceeded to have Darsana of the
Lord on the hill.
Its is also believed that he is the rebirth of the Arjuna - 3 rd brother of the pandavas , he took rebirth to get rid of sin commited in process of getting pashupatha astra from Lord Shiva
While climbing up the hill Tinnanar felt as if some great burden which was on him uptill
now, was gradually diminishing and he decided now to go to the temple nearby, have Darsana of the
Lord there and then to take their meals. As soon as he came near the temple, to his great joy he saw a
Siva Linga. At the very sight of Isvara, he was transformed to an embodiment of love and devotion
and extreme joy. Like a mother who met her child that was missing for long, Tinnanar was merged
in deep feeling of divine ecstasy and Prem. Ha! What a boundless and inexpressible and illimitable
joy and exhilaration he had at the very sight of Lord Siva! He began to cry, weep and shed tears of
joy and love towards the Lord. He forgot everything about his meals and his followers and even his
own body.
He felt very much for the loneliness of the Lord on the hills without being protected against
the animals and others that might do harm to Him, and he decided to keep watch over the temple
throughout the night against any danger from animals or evil-doers. On seeing that the Lord was
hungry, he at once ran out to prepare meals for the Lord out of the meat he had got by killing the
hog. He carefully took the flesh, tasted it and thus selected the pieces which were palatable and
roasted them. The remaining portion he threw away as bad. Then he proceeded towards the river to
fetch water for the Abhisheka and. he got the water in his mouth. On the way, he plucked some
flowers and kept them in the locks of his hair. With these preparations he entered the temple,
removed the old flowers that were lying on the Lord by shoe, did Abhisheka with the water in his
mouth and decorated Him with the flowers he had on his locks of hair. Then he offered the Prasad of
meat to the Lord. Finishing all these, with bow and arrow in his hand he kept a keen watch over the
temple by standing in front of the temple throughout the night. Early in the morning, he went out for
hunt to bring Prasad for the Lord.
When Tinnanar left for hunting, the temple priest, Sivakasariar, an earnest and sincere
devotee of Lord Sankara, came to the temple and to his great surprise and disappointment, saw
bones and flesh all round the Lord and the decorations have been spoiled. But he could not identify
the man who has done such an act, and meddled with the sanctity of the place. So uttering the
necessary Mantras, he cleaned the place and performed his usual Puja for the Lord and recited the
prayers. After the Puja he closed the temple and went out.
Tinnanar now returned with the Prasad of meat and flesh and as before, he removed the old
decorations done by the priest, decorated in his own way as usual, and offered Prasad. At night, he
kept vigil and keen watch over the temple. Early in the morning, he went out to bring Prasad. Thus
he was with the Lord serving Him for five days and in spite of the entreaties of his parents to come
home, he persisted in remaining with the Lord and Lord alone.
Sivakasariar, who was vexed with the incident being repeated day by day, complained to the
Lord and requested Him to put an end to these mishappenings. Lord Siva appeared in the priest’s
dream and narrated to him what was happening in the temple during the absence of the priest and
told him also that what all actions Tinnanar was doing was only out of pure, unsophisticated love
that he bore towards the Lord. Further, the Lord said: “I welcome, and rather I am immensely
pleased with the mouthful of water by which he is doing my Abhisheka. This has greater value to
Me than by the Tirthas of the Ganga. Whatever action that is performed out of pure and deep love
and faith, I merit it with greater value than those rituals and austerities done by the Vedic
injunctions”. Then Lord Gangadhar asked the priest to come to the temple next day and hide
himself behind the Mufti and witness what Tinnanar does.
Tinnanar, after bringing the Prasad, arranged in his own usual way for the Abhisheka and
decoration of the Lord. Now Lord Siva willed that the priest, Sivakasariar should see and feel the
degree of devotion and faith that Tinnanar was having for Him. So, while Tinnanar was doing the
Puja and offering the Prasad of meat, to his great astonishment, he saw the Lord shedding tears of
blood, in the right eye. He got perplexed and was at a loss to know what to do. He ran hither and
thither to bring some leaves for stopping the bleeding but found they were of no use. He wept
bitterly, cursed himself for being unable to stop the bleeding from the eye. At last, a plan came to
him. He at once plucked out his right eye with his arrow and fixed it on the right eye of the Lord. To
his great joy and ecstasy, he saw the bleeding stopped. While he was dancing in divine ecstasy for
having cured the bleeding, all on a sudden, he perceived that the left eye also was bleeding. Though
he was overtaken by surprise and sorrow, the previous plan came to him and he decided to pierce his
left eye with his arrow with the intention of plucking it out and fixing it on the left eye of the Lord.
But when his both eyes were gone, how could he see the bleeding on the left eye of the Lord so as to
stop it by fixing his own eye? Hence, in order to identify the left eye of the Lord, he first fixed it up
with the shoe on his right foot, and began to pierce his own left eye with the arrow in his hand. But
Isvara will not be so cruel as to see His Bhaktas suffer so much. On the spot, the Lord appeared and
addressed Tinnanar as ‘Kannappa’ and stopped him from plucking out the left eye. He was much
pleased with the filial devotion and staunch faith that Kannappar had for Him and kept him by His
right side.
The above story of Kannappar is illustrative of the highest degree of devotion and faith that
was evinced by the Bhakta towards Lord Siva, even though he was a hunter by caste and never
cared for the rituals and austerities by which the Lord should be worshipped. It was only mere love
and intense devotion to the Lord that bestowed on him the greatest boon from the Lord, i.e.,
Self-realisation. It is only a matter of six days that he performed the Puja ceremonies to the Lord in
his own way, but the amount of devotion and love he had to the Lord, was boundless.
May the blessings of Kannappar be upon you all! May you all attain the highest goal of
human life by following the example of Kannappa Nayanar, the great South Indian Bhakta of Lord
Siva!
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