|
|
Devi At Kanayakumari
The land's end of India is a legendary spot for several reasons. Swami
Vivekananda, the renowned religious philosopher and freedom fighter meditated on the rocks
here in 1892 and is said to have received divine knowledge. Tourists and
followers of the Swami flock to the atmosphere tawdry and frivolous, but the exquisiely
tinted ocean more than makes up for these disadvantages.
In ancient times when the legend of the perpetual virgin was still fresh in peopl's minds,
her home, Kanyakumari (Cape Cormorin) was a great centre of pilgrimage. Her temple,
an unimpressive structure apparently reconsturcted by the Pandyas in the 12th or 13th
century, stands on the rocks today at the southernmost tip of the Indian peninsula
overlooking the newer Vivekananda Memorial on the rocks across the strait.
Meanwhile, she awaits her lover, observing wistfully the mingling of the lucid azure,
emerald and aquamarine waters of the Bay of Bengal, the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean.
As most of the gods in the Indian pantheon occasionally descended from heaven to earth to
protect mortals from evil, so did the goddesses. And when Vanasura, the demon of the
forest, is said to have threatened the kingdom which stood where Cape Cormorin does now,
the mother goddess Sakti (for Devi) came there, taking birth as the daugher of the local
king.
As was common with goddesses and Indian princesses, she grew up to be a beautiful woman.
And as was customary with Indian fathers, whether royal or not, the king started
the search for a suitable husband for his young blossom. Since in heaven she was
Siva's consort, he was the only man she could remarry. So the princes prayed to Siva
on Mount Kailash to come down and wed her again at a particular muhurta (auspicious
time, decided by the positions of the stars, for all Hindu ceremonies). Hearing her
prayers, he awoke from his meditation and started the long journey to the south.
In the meantime, the other gods were worried. If the wedding took place, the girl
would revert to her divine form and return home with Siva leaving the original purpose of
her descent to eath to kill Vanasura incomplete.
So they conspired against their lord. Th meddling sage Narada followed Siva on his
journey. Just before the god was about to reach Cape Cormorin, Narada crowed like a
rooster. The puzzled Siva thought he had miscalculated the distance and that morning
had already arrived. He had missed the muhurta. Shocked, he realized he would
not now marry Devi. The spot where he stopped walking is marked by the beautiful
Suchindram temple with its exquisite gopuram and carvings visible from afar.
Not many miles away, the lovely princess kept waiting, adorned with the clothes and
ornaments of a bride. The town was festive for the royal wedding, flower garlands
were festooned across streets, and platters of akshata (brightly coloured grains of rice)
were kept by to shower the happy couple with. But Siva never came.
Vanasura, the demon did. So Devi did her duty and killed him, scattering the trays
full of akshata in her wake. Then she waited again, but in vain.
It is said that the faithful goddess stood there so long she turned into stone.
That tragic stone figure is worshipped at the spot where she had pined for her divine
lover. The akshata that had fallen unhappily around her also turned into
stone. They are the little coloured pebbles visible even today on the rocky shores
of Kanyakumari.
The princess, Devi was simply another incarnation of Sati whose body had sanctified the
Indian sub-continent eons before. As the perpeual virgin, defender of her kingdom,
Kanyakumari proided a reassurance to mortals that their land would always be hallowed and
that the gods would inhabit it forever.Go
to Top
|
|