ShivaFan
28 October 2012, 02:12 AM
Namaste
Epic fires of renown Cities often live on in the consciousness of people for decades, centuries, even for thousands of years. Of course, we can think of Lanka burning down as Hanuman leaped from structure to structure with His holy tail a-lite in flames, set on fire by the minions of Ravana. Of more recent memory, we might think of the Great Fire of London in 1666 AD that almost burn down half of London, many dwellings of the poor and palaces of the rich burned down, even White Tower itself was threatened but it survived the destruction. Sometimes thousands may perish.
People sometimes try to explain “why the fire?”, they try to understand why so many had to perish, be it due to the wrath of the Gods, or the acts of an enemy that the King tries to blame to save face before his people, or anything perhaps to cover for incompetence of those in charge. In London, it was the Dutch who were blamed, but the true blame lay with the Royals and mismanagement of City infrastructure, though as the fire spread even the Royals took up buckets to try to stop the flames, many were right there with the people street by street at the risk of their own life. Again, in Lanka truly it was the Royalty, the rule of Ravan, to blame. But Ravan did not shy from a fight as Rama came to the Northern Gate.
About almost 2,000 years ago, the great City of Madurai burned to the ground.
The great fire lived in the minds of the ancient and cultured Tamil people who spoke a language that goes back to the earliest of times, and in some ways stands next to Sanskrit as a Mother. But written word came probably a couple hundred years later after the fire, no one is quite sure, when a Jain monk wrote down the chronicles of what was first spoken words, the story that tried to explain “Why?”. Why the fire. Who was to blame?
Once again, we find it was the Royals to blame. And it all had to do with an anklet.
In those days, there weren’t really institutions which today we would call “the bank”. There may have been chambers where jewels and coins and art and treasures were kept in lock or hiding, and many temples kept the accumulated gifts to Shiva in chambers as well.
In South India, there was societal stress at the time the Jain monk wrote of the reasons why. Buddhism was a challenge to Saivism and to Hinduism. The Jaina monks who followed ancient teachers and Arhants from thousands of years ago still held sway on the minds of many Royals. But Devi was also strong, the people loved the Devas and Devi, as well many King and Queen, Maharaja, Raja and Rani.
Strangely, it was such Jain monks who helped formulate the written language and style of lettering for the ancient spoken Tamil language. Some tried to accredit Buddhists to such great epic histories, but truly I say it was the Jains, these monks who also had full comprehension of Hinduism, and valued the great Art of Hinduism which also played into the consciousness of great Tamil literature.
In those days, if one had wealth, it was typical that it would not be held in what we think of as “the bank”, but inside of anklets worn by women. The reason "why?" also has to do with an anklet.
Sometimes one may possess something that is considered by the owner to be of great value. Strangely, though we may think the world is large, actually the world is very small, and something we may hold and treasure as unique might not be unique at all.
In fact, something we hold and possess, something that we think is ours only and of value, sometimes another person may also hold and possess something that they think is theirs only and of value - and both objects look exactly the same.
They are not the same. One has that one, another has this one. But they are twins to the eye.
And when one has their treasured object stolen from them, they look about. Sometimes due to strange circumstance, or simply because the vast world is small in many ways, they see the treasured object held by another and they call the other a thief.
But the other is innocent. What is seen as the stolen object, is not the same object at all. It only looks the same. And sometimes the innocent are falsely accused, or even punished, or imprisoned, or even put to death.
Objects can be all sorts of things, even non-tangent things such as knowledge.
A yogi may have acquired a great mystic siddhi thanks to heart full and devotional practice and steadiness of the mind and body, or even from love itself, or a gift from the Divine, or created from thin air due to abilities of the soul that many do not understand.
And then one day, the same yogi goes astray, typically from abuse of this siddhi, or simply taken under illusion of maya, or any such thing you can imagine from celestial nymphs to just plain bad karma.
Once lost, the yogi may go about to recover it. They think it was stolen, and they look here and there.
They may come upon another great yogi who possesses a great mystic siddhi, just as they once did.
They think the other yogi had stolen this siddhi from them. Or has stolen the veda from them. Or has stolen the status from them. Or has stolen the Murti from them. Or has stolen the Devi from them. Or has stolen the liberation from them.
But the other yogi has stolen nothing.
It only looks the same. Twins to the eye. But you cannot trust the eye, because it is imperfect.
False accusations come forth. Sometimes even worse.
The son of a rich merchant 2,000 years ago had accumulated some wealth. He also married a beautiful maiden, she was strong in soul as well. His life was before him, and it would have been a wonderful life, and both also loved the Devas and Devi.
This was in South India, at the time of great Kingdoms and City States. Proud rulers were there. Temples were there.
The great City of Madurai stood.
But man is weak. Even those who have a foundation in Dharma, turn away from it.
It was a concubine who attracted this son of a rich merchant. In truth, her beauty was not really beauty but only pornographic. Not a beauty as his chaste wife. But this concubine, a dancing girl, caught his eye at a Royal Festival in Kaverippattinam. His name was Kovalan. She was named Madavi.
This fool walked away from his beautiful and chaste wife for this dancing girl.
His wife was named Kannagi, the lovely daughter of another merchant. She was steadfast in Dharma. She loved the Devas and Devi. She was beautiful.
She was chaste.
She waited for him nevertheless.
Eventually the fool came back, after the loss of all his valuables, honor, and wealth spent on this dancing girl. He came back to her, without anything left.
She was chaste, she had waited, and she took him back. For her, he will be her husband. It was a life commitment.
They had nothing now.
Except, they did have something. She still had her anklets, her “bank”. These is where wealth was kept then, in the anklets of the lady. And inside these anklets, there were rubies.
So he decided he would take himself and his wife, along with the anklets, and go to the great city of Madurai, in hopes that in the great city there would be someone who had something of value to trade in return for only one of these two anklets, to save the day for them. For there were some rich people in Madurai. Perhaps some land, or a cow or two, or perhaps something even better such as gold coins.
They came to Madurai and stayed in a small cottage, just a shack. Kovalan then went to the great market in Madurai, leaving his wife Kannagi behind in the cottage.
He did not know that in Madurai, there was an angry Rani. A court jeweler had stolen one of her anklets.
This anklet looked just like the anklet of Kannagi.
The police of the Raja were being misled by the court jeweler, as they went about to find who had stolen the anklet of the Queen.
During this time, Kovalan came to the market, and the corrupt jeweler saw the anklet for sale. He saw it looked the same. He saw his chance.
He told the guards of the King, that Kovalan had stolen the anklet of the Queen. The guards were on Kovalan very fast. Indeed, he had the anklet. Yes, this is the stolen anklet, they had no doubt.
They killed Kovalan at that place, after it was reported back to the King who became infuriated to know that this son of a rich merchant had stolen the Queen’s anklet.
Kannagi quickly found out what happened. She was a woman unprecedented for her time. And also, the King and Queen, though they acted so rashly, still were much better examples of rulership than of which we find in politicians of more modern times. They gave Kannagi a hearing.
She produced her other anklet. It looked the same as the Queen’s other anklet.
Then she asked the King, what did the Queen have inside her anklet? He told Kannagi. It was pearls.
She then told the King, that her anklets held rubies. And when the anklet recovered by the King’s guards was opened, out poured rubies and not pearls.
The King and Queen were aghast at their crime of executing an innocent man. The King died at that moment out of shame, for he was supposed to example Dharma. He dishonored his own father.
Kannagi left the presence of the Royalty. She took a knife, and cut away at her own breast, for she knew she would be without her husband from that time forward.
Meenakshi was already there looking upon the people of Tamil land even then. She looked upon Kannagi who left to become an ascetic and to die.
Very soon the fire started.
Madurai would be burned to the ground.
Kannagi went to a hill to do yoga and to die. Can a human become a God? Sometimes, we hear of "new Gods". It is said, perhaps she was already one. Or they say, the chaste one, she became a Goddess. You can go see her today in her temples. She is now an Amma.
Here is a picture of the Devi, who is now called Kodungallur Amma and Attukal Devi.
http://www.dddirectplus.in/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Attukal-Pongala-2012-Live.jpg
When Madurai burned, it is said four great temples existed at that time. I do not know if they burned down as well.
From the Silappatikaram circa 100 - 500 CE, "The Story of the Jeweled Anklet", by the Jain monk by the name of Ilango Atikal:
King’s straight sceptre is bent!
What can this mean?
“Lost is the glory of the King Over Kings,
The Lord of the Umbrella and Spear!
A New and a mighty Goddess has come before us,
In her hand a golden anklet!"
What can this mean?
“This woman afflicted and weeping
From her lovely dark-stained eyes
Is as though filled with godhead!"
What can this mean?”
Today some politicians fear this Goddess. They are concerned, that this Goddess may threaten their status and power, or become a rally call for something they may not be able to control. Thousands of years does not change everything you may expect to change.
Om Namah Sivaya
Epic fires of renown Cities often live on in the consciousness of people for decades, centuries, even for thousands of years. Of course, we can think of Lanka burning down as Hanuman leaped from structure to structure with His holy tail a-lite in flames, set on fire by the minions of Ravana. Of more recent memory, we might think of the Great Fire of London in 1666 AD that almost burn down half of London, many dwellings of the poor and palaces of the rich burned down, even White Tower itself was threatened but it survived the destruction. Sometimes thousands may perish.
People sometimes try to explain “why the fire?”, they try to understand why so many had to perish, be it due to the wrath of the Gods, or the acts of an enemy that the King tries to blame to save face before his people, or anything perhaps to cover for incompetence of those in charge. In London, it was the Dutch who were blamed, but the true blame lay with the Royals and mismanagement of City infrastructure, though as the fire spread even the Royals took up buckets to try to stop the flames, many were right there with the people street by street at the risk of their own life. Again, in Lanka truly it was the Royalty, the rule of Ravan, to blame. But Ravan did not shy from a fight as Rama came to the Northern Gate.
About almost 2,000 years ago, the great City of Madurai burned to the ground.
The great fire lived in the minds of the ancient and cultured Tamil people who spoke a language that goes back to the earliest of times, and in some ways stands next to Sanskrit as a Mother. But written word came probably a couple hundred years later after the fire, no one is quite sure, when a Jain monk wrote down the chronicles of what was first spoken words, the story that tried to explain “Why?”. Why the fire. Who was to blame?
Once again, we find it was the Royals to blame. And it all had to do with an anklet.
In those days, there weren’t really institutions which today we would call “the bank”. There may have been chambers where jewels and coins and art and treasures were kept in lock or hiding, and many temples kept the accumulated gifts to Shiva in chambers as well.
In South India, there was societal stress at the time the Jain monk wrote of the reasons why. Buddhism was a challenge to Saivism and to Hinduism. The Jaina monks who followed ancient teachers and Arhants from thousands of years ago still held sway on the minds of many Royals. But Devi was also strong, the people loved the Devas and Devi, as well many King and Queen, Maharaja, Raja and Rani.
Strangely, it was such Jain monks who helped formulate the written language and style of lettering for the ancient spoken Tamil language. Some tried to accredit Buddhists to such great epic histories, but truly I say it was the Jains, these monks who also had full comprehension of Hinduism, and valued the great Art of Hinduism which also played into the consciousness of great Tamil literature.
In those days, if one had wealth, it was typical that it would not be held in what we think of as “the bank”, but inside of anklets worn by women. The reason "why?" also has to do with an anklet.
Sometimes one may possess something that is considered by the owner to be of great value. Strangely, though we may think the world is large, actually the world is very small, and something we may hold and treasure as unique might not be unique at all.
In fact, something we hold and possess, something that we think is ours only and of value, sometimes another person may also hold and possess something that they think is theirs only and of value - and both objects look exactly the same.
They are not the same. One has that one, another has this one. But they are twins to the eye.
And when one has their treasured object stolen from them, they look about. Sometimes due to strange circumstance, or simply because the vast world is small in many ways, they see the treasured object held by another and they call the other a thief.
But the other is innocent. What is seen as the stolen object, is not the same object at all. It only looks the same. And sometimes the innocent are falsely accused, or even punished, or imprisoned, or even put to death.
Objects can be all sorts of things, even non-tangent things such as knowledge.
A yogi may have acquired a great mystic siddhi thanks to heart full and devotional practice and steadiness of the mind and body, or even from love itself, or a gift from the Divine, or created from thin air due to abilities of the soul that many do not understand.
And then one day, the same yogi goes astray, typically from abuse of this siddhi, or simply taken under illusion of maya, or any such thing you can imagine from celestial nymphs to just plain bad karma.
Once lost, the yogi may go about to recover it. They think it was stolen, and they look here and there.
They may come upon another great yogi who possesses a great mystic siddhi, just as they once did.
They think the other yogi had stolen this siddhi from them. Or has stolen the veda from them. Or has stolen the status from them. Or has stolen the Murti from them. Or has stolen the Devi from them. Or has stolen the liberation from them.
But the other yogi has stolen nothing.
It only looks the same. Twins to the eye. But you cannot trust the eye, because it is imperfect.
False accusations come forth. Sometimes even worse.
The son of a rich merchant 2,000 years ago had accumulated some wealth. He also married a beautiful maiden, she was strong in soul as well. His life was before him, and it would have been a wonderful life, and both also loved the Devas and Devi.
This was in South India, at the time of great Kingdoms and City States. Proud rulers were there. Temples were there.
The great City of Madurai stood.
But man is weak. Even those who have a foundation in Dharma, turn away from it.
It was a concubine who attracted this son of a rich merchant. In truth, her beauty was not really beauty but only pornographic. Not a beauty as his chaste wife. But this concubine, a dancing girl, caught his eye at a Royal Festival in Kaverippattinam. His name was Kovalan. She was named Madavi.
This fool walked away from his beautiful and chaste wife for this dancing girl.
His wife was named Kannagi, the lovely daughter of another merchant. She was steadfast in Dharma. She loved the Devas and Devi. She was beautiful.
She was chaste.
She waited for him nevertheless.
Eventually the fool came back, after the loss of all his valuables, honor, and wealth spent on this dancing girl. He came back to her, without anything left.
She was chaste, she had waited, and she took him back. For her, he will be her husband. It was a life commitment.
They had nothing now.
Except, they did have something. She still had her anklets, her “bank”. These is where wealth was kept then, in the anklets of the lady. And inside these anklets, there were rubies.
So he decided he would take himself and his wife, along with the anklets, and go to the great city of Madurai, in hopes that in the great city there would be someone who had something of value to trade in return for only one of these two anklets, to save the day for them. For there were some rich people in Madurai. Perhaps some land, or a cow or two, or perhaps something even better such as gold coins.
They came to Madurai and stayed in a small cottage, just a shack. Kovalan then went to the great market in Madurai, leaving his wife Kannagi behind in the cottage.
He did not know that in Madurai, there was an angry Rani. A court jeweler had stolen one of her anklets.
This anklet looked just like the anklet of Kannagi.
The police of the Raja were being misled by the court jeweler, as they went about to find who had stolen the anklet of the Queen.
During this time, Kovalan came to the market, and the corrupt jeweler saw the anklet for sale. He saw it looked the same. He saw his chance.
He told the guards of the King, that Kovalan had stolen the anklet of the Queen. The guards were on Kovalan very fast. Indeed, he had the anklet. Yes, this is the stolen anklet, they had no doubt.
They killed Kovalan at that place, after it was reported back to the King who became infuriated to know that this son of a rich merchant had stolen the Queen’s anklet.
Kannagi quickly found out what happened. She was a woman unprecedented for her time. And also, the King and Queen, though they acted so rashly, still were much better examples of rulership than of which we find in politicians of more modern times. They gave Kannagi a hearing.
She produced her other anklet. It looked the same as the Queen’s other anklet.
Then she asked the King, what did the Queen have inside her anklet? He told Kannagi. It was pearls.
She then told the King, that her anklets held rubies. And when the anklet recovered by the King’s guards was opened, out poured rubies and not pearls.
The King and Queen were aghast at their crime of executing an innocent man. The King died at that moment out of shame, for he was supposed to example Dharma. He dishonored his own father.
Kannagi left the presence of the Royalty. She took a knife, and cut away at her own breast, for she knew she would be without her husband from that time forward.
Meenakshi was already there looking upon the people of Tamil land even then. She looked upon Kannagi who left to become an ascetic and to die.
Very soon the fire started.
Madurai would be burned to the ground.
Kannagi went to a hill to do yoga and to die. Can a human become a God? Sometimes, we hear of "new Gods". It is said, perhaps she was already one. Or they say, the chaste one, she became a Goddess. You can go see her today in her temples. She is now an Amma.
Here is a picture of the Devi, who is now called Kodungallur Amma and Attukal Devi.
http://www.dddirectplus.in/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Attukal-Pongala-2012-Live.jpg
When Madurai burned, it is said four great temples existed at that time. I do not know if they burned down as well.
From the Silappatikaram circa 100 - 500 CE, "The Story of the Jeweled Anklet", by the Jain monk by the name of Ilango Atikal:
King’s straight sceptre is bent!
What can this mean?
“Lost is the glory of the King Over Kings,
The Lord of the Umbrella and Spear!
A New and a mighty Goddess has come before us,
In her hand a golden anklet!"
What can this mean?
“This woman afflicted and weeping
From her lovely dark-stained eyes
Is as though filled with godhead!"
What can this mean?”
Today some politicians fear this Goddess. They are concerned, that this Goddess may threaten their status and power, or become a rally call for something they may not be able to control. Thousands of years does not change everything you may expect to change.
Om Namah Sivaya