I bought myself a Kamakshi Deepam last week after years of wanting one. This naturally led to thoughts of the Devi at Kanchipuram, and I remembered a nice story from the holy city’s annals. Sometime in the 1960s, a poor bangle-seller wandered from place to place, selling his wares. One day, he wandered into the temple town of Kanchipuram. Somehow, nobody seemed interested in buying anything. Tired and dejected by late afternoon, he sat down at the doorway of the Kanchi Kamakoti Matham.
From deep within, the Kanchi Paramacharya, renowned for his frequently amazing omniscience, suddenly told an aide, “Give the bangle-seller at the gate food and buttermilk. Ask him to wait. Quietly tell the devotees who come for evening darshan to buy bangles for their womenfolk in Devi’s honour.” Of course, they did, and the bangle-seller went away feeling cherished and successful. Not everyone may be in a position to perform great deeds of service, but good thoughts and small, sweet acts of kindness could be the lamps we light.
But a little on Kanchipuram itself. As many know, it’s located about a two hours’ drive north of Chennai. But there is a larger, deeper context. As mentioned in an earlier column in this series, there are seven mokshapuri or salvation cities in India, namely Kashi or Varanasi, Avantika or Ujjain, Ayodhya, Haridwar, Mathura, Dwaraka and Kanchipuram. Out of these, Kanchipuram is the sole mokshapuri city present in South India.
The present Kamakshi temple is variously attributed to the Pallavas and the Cholas, to well over a millennium ago but its site and structure, according to literature, was even more ancient. The central image of the goddess is considered swayambhu or self-manifested and of imponderable antiquity.
Kanchipuram was the capital city of the Pallavas—an audacious race of seafarers and temple builders—even though the city existed much before the Pallava dynasty came to be. The earliest known mention of Kanchipuram is by Panini, the Sanskrit grammarian, in about 300 BCE. It has even featured in numerous Tamil epics of the second century CE. Some Ashokan edicts are said to refer to the kingdom of ‘Satyaputta' or Satyaputra, besides those of the Chera, Chola and Pandya in the south. One of the several names borne by Kanchi city is ‘Satyavaratakshetra’ so Satyaputta is understood to mean Kanchipuram.
The old word kanchi literally means the gold girdle worn around the waist by women. In the northern texts of the Bhagavatam, the city is given the name, Kamakoshnipuri Kanchi.
In this salvation city, the Kamakshi temple is the physical hub. It is also one point of a Shakti energy-triangle encapsulated in the local prayer-phrase ‘Kanchi Kamakshi, Madurai Meenakshi, Kashi Vishalakshi’. The gopuras or towers of almost all the important temples of the city, standing far and near, reportedly face the shrine of Kamakshi.
Three of the 63 Tamil Shaivite saints called Nayanmar—Tirunavukkarasar, Tirugnana-sambandar and Sundarar—have apparently referred to the Kamakottam in their devotional songs. Of them, Sambandar, has even spoken of ‘Kanchi Kamakoti’ or the locality of the Kamakshi temple.
Besides its glory as a ‘mokshapuri’ or salvation city, Kanchipuram is also revered as a shakti peetham, since this where the nabhi or navel of Sati Devi is believed to have fallen. There is a count of 51 shakti peethas across the subcontinent, marking where the dismembered body parts of Sati Devi fell after her corpse was cut down from a grieving Lord Shiva’s shoulder by Lord Vishnu.
The northwestern-most shakti peetham is at Hinglaj Mata in Balochistan, where Sati’s brahmarandhra or crown of her head fell, and the easternmost one is her yoni at Kamakhya Devi in Guwahati (Kamakhya means Kamakshi). So Kamakshi’s temple in Kanchipuram is the southernmost shakti peetham. Here, Parasakti, having Saraswathi and Parvathi as her eyes, rules Kanchi as goddess Kamakshi.
The temple sits on an area of about five acres. The vimanam of the sanctum is gold-plated. Around the complex, one can see its sannidhis and mandapas, rich in its architectural splendour.
The outer prakaram houses the temple kulam (tank), and several mandapas. It also offers imposing views of the golden vimanam, pierced with four entrances on all four sides.
There is a gold-plated pillar inside the sanctum of the Kamakshi temple with a small hole in it to represent Sati Devi’s navel. Childless couples come and touch it reverently to ask for the boon of a child, and Kamakshi’s reputation of centuries is that she answers their prayers She blesses those who love her and trust her with well-being, good health and trouble-free lives, Anyone who is heartsore, weary or troubled, can go to her without needing to observe rigorous fasts or perform complicated rituals. As Adi Shankara put it in the third verse of the Bhavani Ashtakam,
Na Jaanami Daanam Na Cha Dhyana-Yogam/Na Jaanami Tantram Na Cha Stotra-Mantram/Na Jaanami Pujaam Na Cha Nyasa-Yogam/Gatis-Tvam Gatis-Tvam Tvam-Ekaa Bhavani
This means, ‘Neither am I able to practise great charity, nor am I proficient in meditation, I don’t know spells, hymns and prayers, nor do I know the rules of worship nor am I an expert in yoga. You are my sole refuge, Mother Bhavani.’ Indeed a comforting, un-transactional relationship for devotees.
(Views are personal)
Renuka Narayanan