Art Of Teaching

Goddess Kanyakumari

Punyakshi was a woman of boundless insight and a prophet who existed in the southernmost tip of the Indian subcontinent. She established a yearning for Shiva and sought to embrace him as her husband. 

She had decided that she would be the consort of only Shiva and no one else. So Punyakshi started being occupied towards making herself proficient and appropriate to attract Shiva’s attention. She persisted to be unconditionally fixated upon him every second of her life. Her devotion crossed all limitations and her austerities crossed all levels of rationality.

Understanding the force of her desire, Shiva’s empathy and love were enthused. He reciprocated her love and was prepared to marry her. The Human civilization in which Punyakshi existed was apprehensive and uneasy. They supposed that if Punyakshi married, she would misplace her skills to predict the future and to guard and guide them.

They therefore were very much concerned. So, they tried everything that was possible to stop this marriage. But nothing they did or said could move Punyakshi from her resolve and her devoutness towards Shiva.

 The date of Punyakshi’s wedding was fixed. Shiva set off towards the southern tip of the subcontinent. But the people of her community who were against the marriage were aghast and anyhow wanted to stop the wedding. They appealed to Shiva that he should not marry her because if he did so they would lose the only person who had the ability to perceive their surroundings and their future that they had for themselves. But Shiva was not in a heeding disposition and he continued to proceed towards the wedding site.

The elders of the Community stopped him and told him to pay the bride price as he was not ready to listen to them. Shiva readily agreed to pay the bride price.

 The elders itemized three items that Shiva had to pay as the bride price for Punyakshi. They were a sugarcane without rings, a betel leaf without veins and a coconut without eyes.

Shiva understood that these demands were totally unnatural and it was an impossible bride-price with a clear intention of stopping the wedding.

Shiva then brought out his mystic power and created all the three unnatural objects, breaking the laws of nature in his determination to marry Punyakshi.As he started to proceed towards the wedding, the elders requested one last thing of him, he must marry Punyakshi before sun-rise the next day and if he was late he should refrain from marrying the girl.

Shiva agreed and speeded towards the southern tip of the country. He covered the distance at a swift pace and was sure that he would reach Punyakshi on time. The community elders saw that Shiva was disabling all the impossible situations they had secured and would uphold his promise to Punyakshi. They were very concerned.

As Shiva fastened his pace, he came to a place, known today as Suchindram. The place was just a few kilometres away from the place of the wedding. Then he suddenly saw the sun rising! He was perplexed and could not believe it. He had failed in his task!

But the true fact was, the community elders had played their concluding trick.  They had created a false sunrise by gathering a huge hill of camphor and setting it ablaze. The hill of camphor burned so brightly  and powerfully that when Shiva saw it from a distance, he thought the sun was coming up and that he had failed in his mission. So he was dejected and stopped from proceeding towards the wedding site.

Punyakshi had prepared for her grand wedding with Shiva. She was not at all aware of her society’s exertions to destruct the wedding. When the real sunrise broke upon the horizon, she comprehended that Shiva was not coming. She became frantic and kicked and broke all the pots which were full of food ready for the festivity, and in a vicious rage, she went to the edge of the land and stood there. She was a skilful yogini and there at the very edge of the subcontinent, she left her body. Even today there is a temple on the spot where she left her body  known as Kanyakumari.

Kanyakumari Temple

Shiva’s failute in his mission made him so dejected and upset with himself that he was full of anger and so went up the Velliangiri Mountain and sat on the peak.  But to be noted is that he did not sit in contentment or in meditation but to mellow down his anger.  He stayed there for a considerable amount of time and the Mountain consumed his energy which is very rare and different in nature.

Traditionally it is said that any place that Shiva stayed for a certain period was called Kailash. This mountain is called the Kailash of the South. In height and in color, and in greatness, the Velliangiris may not be equivalent to the Kailash in the Himalayas, but in effectiveness, in exquisiteness, and in sacredness, it is not less.

For thousands of years, many sages, yogis and mystics have walked this mountain. The Vellaingiri Mountain has perceived a remarkable quantity of spiritual work. So many beings, the kind of men that gods would be envious of because they lived with such grace and dignity, have walked this Mountain.

The Velliangiri mountains is a part of Nilgiri Biosphere and situated in the western ghats of Coinbatore district in Tamil Nadu.  They are  revered on par with spiritually most powerful place on the planet, the Mount Kailash, the mythological dwelling of Lord Shivu. On the top of the Velliangiri Mountains, Shiva is worshipped as Swayambhu, one who is self-created and, in this form, he graces the devotees.

Velliangiri Mountains

Source : Shri Shri Ravi Shankar Blogs and Google