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Karaikkal Ammaiyar of Chola Country in Ancient Cambodia

U-tain Wongsathit
Department of Oriental Languages
Silpakorn University, Thailand
tainzgree@yahoo.com
Abstract
Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār, the most important among women
poet-saints from the southern state of Tamil Nadu. She was one of the
sixty-three Nayanars or Shivite devotee-saints of Tamil country.
Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār lived in the 6th century A.D. When Punitavati, the
young and beautiful girl from Karaikkal town, beseeched the god Shiva
to divest her of the burden of her flesh, asking only that she watch him
dance into eternity, a miracle occurred. In place of the young lady stood
an emaciated hag, known henceforth as Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār or Mother
of Karaikkal. She composed beautiful poetry in order to praise her
beloved God Shiva, describing herself as a demon. The glory of
Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār got more recognition in the time of Chola Empire
which flourished during 9th-12th centuries A.D. Her images in the
demonic form as the devotee constantly gazing to dancing Shiva were
frequently depicted in several Chola temples. Moreover, bronze idols of
Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār playing cymbal represented her role as a goddess
of music, were found throughout the Chola country. Her legend is very
rare in the northern part of India. Thus it is fascinating to find that her
figure was depicted in several Hindu temples of ancient Cambodia. The
finding clearly shows the strong influence of Chola over Angkor Empire
through Shaivism. This paper aims to show the appearance of Kāraikkāl
Ammaiyār on pediment and lintel in ancient Cambodian sanctuaries
from 10th-12th centuries A.D. which is contemporary to the time of Chola
Empire.
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Story of Karaikkal Ammaiyal

The story of Karaikal Ammaiyar was mainly narrated in Periya
Puranam, the Tamil Shaivite hagiography written in 12th century A.D. by
Sekkizar, the Prime Minister of Chola Emperor Kulottunga II (1133-
1146 A.D.). The Periya Puranam, the great purana or epic, sometimes
also called Tiruttontarpuranam (the purana of the holy devotees) is
a Tamil poetic account depicting the legendary lives of the sixty-three
Nayanars, the canonical poets of Tamil Shaivism. Karaikal Ammaiyar is
one of the sixty-three Nayanars and the most important of female saints.
She is the historical person who lived in around 6th century A.D. at
Karaikkal, the port town near Nagapattinam, Tamil Nadu. Punitavati or
Punitavatiyar was her original name. She was born in a Vaisya family.
Her father, Danadathan was a wealthy merchant and very pious, too.
From her childhood, Punitavati had an intense faith in Lord Shiva and
His Bhaktas. She married to Paramadatta, a wealthy Vaisya. Both of
them were leading an ideal householder’s life. One day Paramadatta sent
two mangoes to his house. Punitavati kept them to serve at meal-time. In
the meantime, a Shiva Yogi appeared before her. He was hungry and
completely exhausted. Punitavati worshipped him and wished to offer
him Bhiksha. She had nothing to give him, except the mangoes of her
husband. She decided to offer one to the guest. At midday Paramadatta
came back to the house. The wife served him with one mango. He liked
it, and asked for another. She was upset and appealed to the Lord Shiva
for help. When she finished her prayer, mysteriously a mango fell on her
palm. She served it to husband. He tasted it and found it was
exceptionally sweet. He asked her from where she got it, as he was sure
it was not his mango. Punitavati told him the whole truth. Paramadatta,
however, did not believe this and challenged her to produce another
mango. She prayed again to the Lord and again a divine mango
appeared. She gave it to him. But, immediately it disappeared from his
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hand. He was astounded and recognized the greatness of Punitavati. He

felt that it was a great sin to live with her as her husband. On the pretext
of going to a foreign country for trade, he sailed with a ship load of
goods. On return, he established himself in a big city in the Pandya
kingdom. He married a Vaisya girl and had a daughter. Punitavati’s
relatives came to know of her husband’s whereabouts and took her there.
When Paramadatta heard that Punitavati was coming to him, he with his
second wife and child fell at Punitavati’s feet. When the people asked an
explanation, he revealed that he regarded her as a Goddess. Punitavati
understood his mental condition, and prayed to the Lord to divest the
burden of her flesh: ‘In that case, Oh Lord, deprive me of the present
physical charm and let me have a demonic form.’ Her prayer was
immediately granted and her charming body was transformed into a
skeleton. Since then she was called Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār which means
the Mother of Karaikkal town.
Then she went on a pilgrimage to the holy Kailasa. She felt that it
was a great sin to place her foot on those sacred grounds. Thus, she
made the last part of the journey on her head. Mother Parvati was
surprised to see her strange form and wonderful devotion. The Lord
Shiva welcomed her with extreme love and granted her a boon. She fell
at His Feet, and prayed: ‘Oh Lord of Mercy, give me sincere, pure,
unalloyed, eternal and overflowing devotion unto You. I want no more
birth. And whenever You dance, I must be at Your feet singing Your
praise. This is my only wish.’ Lord Shiva granted the boon and asked
her to proceed to Tiruvalangadu to witness His cosmic dance. She went
to that place and spent her life singing the praise of Lord Siva. Karaikkal
Ammaiyar was credited for 4 works - Arputta Tiruvantadi containing
100 verses in the form of Venpa in antali style, Tiru Irattai Mani Malai
containing 20 verses and two short poems called Tiruvalangkattu and
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Mutta Tirup patikam or Divine Verses in Tiru Alangkatu (Cutler 1987:

118).
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Iconography of Karraikkal Ammaiyar

Mutta Tirup patikam or Divine Verses in Tiru Alangkatu is the
main source providing the iconography of Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār. As per
boon granted to see cosmic dance at Tirukkailai and sing under the
sacred feet of Lord Shiva, Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār reached there by
walking on her head. She saw Lord’s divine dance along with the ghosts
or Bhutaganas. She was struck by divine grace, and then sung to
describe the greatness of cosmic dance in Mutta Tirup patikams. In the
first verse of patikam she speaks about herself as follow:
‘Breast fallen, nerves bulging,
Eyes sunk, stomach hollow,
White teeth with two projecting,
Heels raised, angles lengthening,’
(Parmeshwaranand 2004:59)

And in another work she said

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‘The ground is damp with liquid marrow--

Skeletal ghouls with sunken eyes
jostle and elbow--
looking furtively around them
extinguishing the fires
with gleeful hearts
they eat half-burned corpses--
There, in that menacing forest
holding fire in his hand
dances our beautiful lord.
(Vidya Dehejia 1990: 105)
From these sources Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār image was presented in the
form of skinny female demon with big bulging eyes and along pointed
deterrent lean breasts accompanying the cosmic dance of Lord Shiva.
She constantly fixes her eyes on the Lord. She occasionally was depicted
as a demon musician playing cymbals along with other gods or Shiva
attendants.
Karraikkal Ammaiyar in Chola country
Although the worship of Shiva Nataraja is a long tradition in Chola
country since the time of Pallava around 7 th century A.D. (Srinivasan
2004), but the first appearance of Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār is introduced in
the time of Chola Empire probably since the popularity of Periya
Puranam.
In Chola country we found the appearance of Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār
in two aspects.
(1) The first aspect is the group appearance as one of the
attendants of Lord Shiva. In this context Kāraikkāl
Ammaiyār is depicted as a female demon devotee seated on
the pedestal of the Shiva Nataraja with the other musicians or
demons.
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(2) The second aspect is an individual. Besides presentation of

Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār as part of a Shiva Nataraja, there is also
the individual appearance of the skinny woman found
terrifying and playing cymbals, often with inscriptions
identifying as Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār.
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Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār was not only depicted in bronze, but also in

the stone reliefs of many great Chola temples. The most interesting is an
image of Shiva Nataraja in an alcove south of the great Shiva temple,
Rajarajesvara or well known as Brihadisvara in Thajavor. Directly
below Shiva there are a group of four musicians. At the most left of the
row, it is shown Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār as a seated woman with thin
pointy breasts whiles her wild hair spread all sides. She looks a bit like
the fearsome goddess Kali, to the right of Shiva is depicted in the niche.
The individual figure of Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār is found totally over
Tamil Nadu and Kerala, the two southernmost states of India. The
earliest image is from the date 981 A.D. It was a stone image found in a
niche as the fact that Gangaikondacolapuram Kailasanathasvamin
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Sembiyan Mahadevi temple in the village on the southeast coast of

India. Apart of that we found bronze images of Karaikkal Ammaiyar in a
big number. The unique of these images is the seated woman in the
terrific form playing cymbals. The Karaikkal images were worshiped in
individual as the goddess of music or poet since her talent and
contribution in such science.
Because generally the South India images refer directly to the great
epic and puranic stories as all over India, it is regarded as unique to a
local poet / saint as Karaikkal Ammaiyar so popular from the tenth
century A.D. This reveals cultural tensions concerning women’s roles
and the devotional path.

Karraikkal Ammaiyar in Ancient Cambodia

Among the countries in Southeast Asia which received Indian
culture, Cambodia shows very strong Indian influence in varied manner.
The Funan, the first kingdom in Southeast Asia emerged in around 1 st
C.A.D. Shaivism also played very important role in Ancient Cambodia
society since the early time. The people of Ancient Cambodia worshiped
the Shiva Nataraja since the 5th C.A.D. The K.440 inscription of King
Ishanavarman I who ruled around 616-628 A.D. recorded the installation
of the silver image of Nrittesvara. Then in 10th C.A.D. one record of
King Suryavarman I, K.276 mentions the name of Shiva god as Shri-
Natakesvara dasabhuja along with other deities. Even though the
Ancient Khmers respected the Shiva Nataraja for many centuries, but the
first appearance of Karaikkal Ammaiyar took place in around 10th
C.A.D. and continued until 12th C.A.D.
Bateay Srei Temple was built in 968 A.D. by Yajnavaraha who
enjoyed the honorific title of ‘Vrah Guru’, holy preceptor of
Jayavarman V of Angkor Empire. Yajnavaraha was a grandson of one
previous king Harsavarman I. He found the jewel of ancient Khmer
monuments, Bateay Srei temple to enshrine the Shivalinga named
Tribhuvanamahesvara. On one pediment of the temple the scene of
cosmic dance of Lord Shiva was depicted. On the left corner of the
pediment we witness the figure of Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār. If we compare
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this image with that of Chola Shiva temples, then indeed, apart from
stylistic and regional differences, many similarities can be found. We
see a dancing Shiva with musicians including, drummer at the right
corner and one to the left, terrifying female figure playing some
instrument. She has large round eyes, a gaping mouth with big teeth in it
as a female demon and it is clear skinny.
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Prasad Banteay Srei, Cheam Khsan, Prah Vihear Province

It is not only in the Angkor area where the capital located that the
image of Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār was represented, but outside the capital to
the west we also found her image. A pediment of the Prasad Basset
temple in Battambang province shows an image of eight-armed dancing
Shiva and in the below part of the said pediment at the most left corner
we found the seated woman is depicted. Mireille Bénisti (1969)
identified her with Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār. We know from the several
inscriptions from the site (K.205-208) that the temple was erected in
1063 A.D. probably by high official Gunapativarman dedicated to
Shiva. This date coincides with the Baphuon style of 11 th C.A.D. in that
pediment.
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Prasad Basset, Songkea, Battambang Province

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Map of Cambodia
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Prasad Sneng Krabei Chaung, Cheam Khsan, Prah Vihear Province

To the North of Angkor in Preah Vihear province we found a stone

temple, Prasad Sneng Krabei Chaung. On the pediment of that temple
the Lord Shiva was engraved in dancing gesture with ten arms. On the
left side of that there was a figure of seated female attendant who has
pointed lean breasts. Although her body was not quite skinny, but she
cannot be other than Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār since having the pointed lean
breasts is a unique of her iconography. It is interesting to note that her
gesture is same as that on the lintel of Prasad Basset, Battambang.
Although we do not know the date of the temple, but from the Ancient
Cambodia Art background this pediment belongs to Angkor Vat style of
art which falls to 12th C.A.D.
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Preah Theat Baray, Srei Sonthor, Kompong Cham Province

We found two other lintels from the South of Cambodia which the
image of Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār was carved. In Kompong Cham province
an unfinished lintel from Preah Theat Baray illustrates the ten-arm
dancing Shiva surrounded by several deities. On the left next to god
Brahman there is the seated Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār gazing to the cosmic
dance. In this lintel her hair style is similar to that of Bateay Srei
Temple, but the gesture is same as that of Prasad Basset. This lintel also
is in Angkor Vat style of 12th C.A.D.
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Lintel from Phnom Thma Doh, Bati, Takeo province

Another lintel is from Takeo province, south Cambodia. The lintel

is found at Phnom Thma Doh mountain of Bati district. Although the
lintel is not in good condition, but it is clear that it shows the scene of
Nataraja. On the most left corner of the scene one picture is very
obvious. An image apparently represents the female demon and her
location in the last left also implicates the humble status. She cannot be
any other than Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār who was in the demon form.
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Prasad Phimay, Nakorn Rajasima Province, Thailand

Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār is found not only in Cambodia, but also in the

Northeastern of Thailand. Three ancient Khmer temples from that area
draw her figure on base-relief.
Phimay temple, the biggest Khmer monument in Thailand, was
built during 11th-13th centuries A.D. Although Phimay was a Buddhist
monastery, but sculptures also present images of Rama and Shiva. A
pediment of main sanctuary depicted the scenes of Nataraja. On the most
left of the pediment there is an image of skinny female which can easily
identify with Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār, even though her face was lost.
Regarding to the style of art that pediment is apparently carved in
Angkor Vat style of 12th C.A.D.
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Prasad Phnom Rung, Burirum Province, Thailand

The Phnom Rung temple located in Burirum province was built by

Narendraditya, a relative of King Suryavarman II of Angkor. On the
eastern pediment above the entrance of the main hall (Mandapa) there is
a representation of a ten-armed Shiva dancing surrounded by deities
such as Ganesha in the right part whose hands keep joining. This relief
is unfortunately severely damaged, and other figures are difficult to
identify. On the left side there is the figure of woman having the pointed
lean breasts. Her face was huge damaged. However from the
iconographic surroundings this signifies Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār. The time
of construction of Phnom Rung falls in 12th C.A.D.

 
 
 

In the National
Museum Phimai a lintel
from the Prasad Ku
Suan Taeng temple from Buriram Province is dated back to 12 th
C.A.D. A two-armed dancing Shiva is depicted with this on right the
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four-headed Brahma and Ganesha playing instruments. On the left of

another terrifying seated female figure depicted with big bulging
eyes. Peter de Bruijn, Dutch scholar made an identification of Kāraikkāl
Ammaiyār.

Prasad Ku Suan Teang, Buriram Province, Thailand

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Map of Thailand
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Prasad Naray Ceang Veang, Sakon Nakorn Province, Thailand

Another example from Northeastern Thailand is from the Prasad

Naray Caeng Veang, Sakon Nakorn dated 12th C.A.D. On a pediment
inside the main sanctuary the Nataraja picture was depicted. In the left
part next to Ganesh who is attaining an audience figure of seated woman
is represented. The decorative ornaments mark her more significance
than other attendants in the right side. This is a good evidence of
Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār’s appearance as the female saint.
Conclusion

From the data of all images of Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār in Khmer Art

both in Cambodia and Thailand it is worthy to note that the appearance
of Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār is in group as devotee attendant companying
with the Nataraja scene. She never appeared in individual. Her position
in the audience in Khmer Art is fixed in the left part of the setting from
various temples during 10th – 12th C.A.D. Three styles of Khmer Art are
employed for her appearance namely
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Banteay Srei (967-1000 A.D.)

Baphuon (1050-1080 A.D.)

Angkor Vat (1080 – 1175 A.D.)

The Iconography of Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār in Khmer Art is

represented by the artists in two features i.e.

1. The female demon with the skinny body occasionally playing

cymbals
2. The female saint with normal body and has pointed lean breasts
sometimes posted in audience gusture.

These two forms of Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār agree with that of Chola

bronzes. The Ancient Khmer artists probably learned the character of
Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār through these images.
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The figure of Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār of Chola country in Cambodia

proves the strong influence of religious activities through Shivism and
also the concept of women’s roles and the devotional path.

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