Chandeshvara Nayanar

Chandeshvara Nayanar
Chandeshvara

Chandesha or Canda or Chandeshvara is one of the 63 Nayanmars. Processional bronze images of him generally show him as a boy, with entwined locks of hair, standing with his hands in Añjali Mudrā and with an axe in the crook of his arm. In the Shaiva temples of South India, his shrine is positioned within the first enclosure wall of the temple complex and to the North East of the lingam. He is there typically shown seated, with one leg dangling downwards, a hand on one thigh and an axe clasped in the other. He faces inwards towards the main temple wall. He is depicted as deeply lost in meditation, and devotees snap their fingers or clap their hands to attract his attention. Another explanation, since he is considered to be the guardian of the temple belongings, is that devotees clap their hands to show that they are leaving the temple empty-handed. It is also customary to leave even the sacred ash inside the temple itself.

His original role was probably that of recipient of nirmālya, that is to say of offerings of food and garlands that had originally been offered to Shiva.[1]

Mythology

The South Indian legend, narrated, for instance, in the Periyapuranam, states that he was born into a Brahmin family. When he was a young boy, he found that cows remain uncared for, and hence he himself commenced tendering and caring for the cows. While doing so, he would pour some milk on a lingam, which he made of sand. The news of this wastage of milk reached the ear of his father, Datta; and he himself came to the field to scold his son. Chandesha was deep in meditation in front of the sand lingam, and he did not see his father. The enraged father kicked the sand lingam. At this Chnadesha’s meditation was interrupted, and he struck his father’s leg with a staff. The staff turned into an axe and his father’s leg was severed. At this point, Shiva manifested himself, and blessed Chandesha, declared that he would become a father to Chandesha; and restored the severed leg of Datta to normal state.

In some Sanskrit works, however, Chandesha is instead said to be an incarnation of Shiva's anger. Chandesha is now often regarded as an exclusively South Indian figure, but he was once known in North India too, and probably also as far afield as Cambodia.[2]

Notes

  1. ↑ See Erik af Edholm, “Caṇḍa and the Sacrificial Remnants. A contribution to Indian Gastrotheology”, Indologica Taurinensia XII (1984), pp.75--91.
  2. ↑ For evidence of Chandesha outside South India, see Dominic Goodall's article “Who is Caṇḍeśa?”, in The Genesis and Development of Tantra, ed. Shingo Einoo, Tokyo: Institute of Oriental Culture, 2009, pp.351-424.

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