Karaikkal Ammaiyar (Tamil: காரைக்கால் அம்மையார், which means "the revered mother from Karaikkal"), one of the three women amongst the sixty three Nayanmars, is one of the greatest figures of early Tamil literature. Her birth name was Punithavati. She was born at Karaikkal, South India, and probably lived during the 6th century. She was a great devotee of Lord Shiva.
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Punithavati was born in Karaikkal, a maritime trading city in Chola Nadu, to Danathathan, a merchant. From childhood, Punithavati grew up in a religious atmosphere and worshipped Lord Shiva diligently. She chanted the five letter mantra Namasivaya and attended to the needs of Shaiva devotees.
Punithavati was wedded to Paramathathan, the son of a rich merchant in Nagapattinam. Even after marriage, she continued her chosen religious life. Shaiva devotees who visited her home were lavishly fed and were given clothes and jewels.
A hungry Shaiva devotee came to her residence one day. As the luncheon was not yet ready, she gave the devotee one of the two mangoes that her husband, Paramathathan, had sent home earlier that day to be kept for him. Later, when her husband came home, she served him the other mango. The mango was very delicious, and her husband requested that the other mango be served. Punithavati prayed to Shiva, and a mango appeared in her palm, which she served to her husband.
As this fruit was divinely sweet and was infinitely delicious compared to the previous one, her husband inquired as to how she obtained this mango. When Punithavati told how she received the second mango by God's grace, her husband didn't believe it. He asked her to produce another mango with divine help. She entreated Lord Shiva, obtained another similar mango, and gave it to her husband. The mango then disappeared, and Paramathathan realised the divine nature of his wife and his own arrogance. Paramathathan understood that she was worthy of worship and he was unworthy of her. He then deserted her, becoming a trader and married the daughter of a merchant who then gave birth to their child. Paramathathan named her Punithavati. When word reached Punithavati's family, they decided that they must take her to him. When he saw his former wife, Paramathathan addressed her reverentially, saying that he realised she was no ordinary human being. Dismayed, Punithavati prayed to Shiva asking for a boon - that she may worship Lord Shiva as a disembodied wraith. The story goes that she received the boon, and leaving all her beauty and her body behind she travelled to Mount Kailas, climbing it upside down on her head.
In 1954, A.L. Basham published a photograph in his The Wonder that was India depicting an ascetic or demonic female figure that he called “Kali as Demoness playing Cymbals”, and in 1955, Heinrich Zimmer called this female character “Kali". One year later, this type of figure was identified as the Tamil Nayanar Karaikkal Ammaiyar by Jean Filliozat in Kârâvêlane’s Kâreikkâlammeiyâr: œvres éditées et traduites. In 1956, Kârâvêlane and Jean Filliozat presented a publication that included the first French translation of the verses ascribed to the Tamil saint-poet Karaikkal Ammaiyar, which probably dated to the 6th or 7th century. Karaikkal Ammaiyar was depicted in South Indian art from the 11th century onwards. The publication included several plates depicting the female Nayanar, in bronze, stone, or as being a part of a temple structure. A dancing Shiva on the south wall of the Brihadeeswarar Temple at Gangaikonda Cholapuram (c. AD 1025) shows, on Shiva Nataraja’s right side, an emaciated female figure playing the cymbals and displaying ascetic or demonic features. She has wild uncombed hair, pointed shrivelled breasts, and a fierce facial expression. Filliozat identified this figure as Karaikkal Ammaiyar.
This depiction of the squatting female figure was published by Hermann Kulke in 1970 in his analysis of the religious and historical background of Cidambaram in Tamil Nadu based on the Cidambaramahatmya. He also calls the figure Karaikkal Ammaiyar, and states that this emaciated figure strongly resembles the Mother Goddess Chamunda (Kulke 1970:123). In 1976 Mireille Bénisti published an article in which she states that the figure of Karaikkal Ammaiyar is depicted in Khmer art, especially in Cambodia. On a lintel from Vat Baset in Cambodia she found a figure that she interpreted as the emaciated Tamil Nayanar Karaikkal Ammaiyar. However, the study of Peter de Bruijn published in 2007 pointed out that similar emaciated female figures are to be found in Southeast Asia, but cannot be identified as Karaikkal Ammaiyar.