Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Hinduism and Tribal Religions

Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of Indian Religions ((EIR))

  • 47 Accesses

Synonyms

Karaikkal Ammaiyar

Definition

Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār, the “Mother/Woman from Kāraikkāl,” a town in the southeastern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, was arguably the earliest poet to write hymns in the Tamil language to the god Shiva, in approximately the mid-sixth century. She is regarded as the author of 143 devotional poems organized into four works: Aṟputat Tiruvantāti (“Sacred Linked Verses of Wonder”), with 101 veṇpā verses; Tiruviraṭṭai Maṇimālai (“The Sacred Garland of Double Gems”), with 20 stanzas alternating in veṇpā and kaṭṭalaik kalittuṟai; and the two patikams called Tiruvālaṅkāṭṭu Mūtta Tiruppatikaṅkaḷ (“First Sacred Verses on Tiruvālaṅkāṭu”), which are ten-verse poems with an eleventh “signature” verse each and which are set to music (some texts call the first patikam Tiruvālaṅkāṭṭu Mūtta Tiruppatikaṅkaḷ and the second patikam simply Tiruvālaṅkāṭṭu Tiruppatikaṅkaḷ or Sacred Verses on Tiruvālaṅkāṭu). These works are included in the eleventh book of the Tirumuṟai, the...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. Craddock E (2007) The anatomy of devotion: the life and poetry of Karaikkal Ammaiyar. In: Pintchman T (ed) Women’s lives, women’s rituals in the Hindu tradition. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp 131–147

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  2. Craddock E (2010) Śiva’s demon devotee: Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār. State University of New York Press, Albany

    Google Scholar 

  3. Karavelane (ed and trans) (1982) Chants Dévotionnels Tamouls de Kāraikkālammaiyār, 2nd edn. Institut Français d’Indologie, Pondicherry

    Google Scholar 

  4. Pechilis K (2006) The story of the classical woman saint, Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār: a translation of her story from Cēkkiḻār’s Periya Purāṇam. Hindu Stud 10(2):173–186

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Hart GL III (1975) The poems of ancient Tamil: their milieu and their Sanskrit counterparts. University of California Press, Berkeley

    Google Scholar 

  6. Zvelebil KV (1975) Tamil literature. EJ Brill, Leiden

    Google Scholar 

  7. Champakalakshmi R (2004) From devotion and dissent to dominance: the bhakti of the Tamil Āḻvārs and Nāyaṉārs. In: Lorenzen DN (ed) Religious movements in South Asia, 600–1800. Oxford University Press, New Delhi, pp 47–80

    Google Scholar 

  8. Peterson IV (1999) Śramaṇas against the Tamil way: Jains as others in Tamil Śaiva literature. In: Cort JE (ed) Open boundaries: Jain communities and cultures in Indian history. Sri Satguru Publications, Delhi, pp 163–185

    Google Scholar 

  9. Mahalakshmi R (2011) The making of the goddess: Koṟṟavai-Durgā in the Tamil traditions. Penguin Books, New Delhi

    Google Scholar 

  10. Monius AE (2004) Love, violence, and the aesthetics of disgust: Śaivas and Jains in medieval South India. J Indian Philos 32:113–172

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Ramaswamy V (1997) Walking naked: women, society, spirituality in South India. Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla

    Google Scholar 

  12. Doniger O’Flaherty W (1981) Śiva: the erotic ascetic. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  13. Kaimal P (1999) Shiva Nataraja: shifting meanings of an icon. Art Bulletin 81(3):390–419

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Zvelebil KV (1985) Ānanda-Tāṇḍava of Śiva-Sadānṛttamūrti: the development of the concept of Āṭavallaṉ-Kūttaperumāṉaṭikaḷ in the South Indian textual and iconographic tradition. Institute of Asian Studies, Madras

    Google Scholar 

  15. Peterson IV (1989) Poems to Śiva: the hymns of the Tamil saints. Princeton University Press, Princeton

    Book  Google Scholar 

  16. Dehejia V (1988) Slaves of the Lord: the path of the Tamil saints. Munshiram Manoharlal, New Delhi

    Google Scholar 

  17. Pechilis K (2009) Experiencing the mango festival as a ritual dramatization of hagiography. Method Theory Study Relig 21:50–65

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Pechilis K (2011) Interpreting devotion: the poetry and legacy of a female bhakti saint of India. Routledge, London/New York

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Religion, Southwestern University, Georgetown, TX, USA

    Elaine Craddock

Authors
  1. Elaine Craddock
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Elaine Craddock .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept of Anthropology, The University of North Texas Dept of Anthropology, Denton, Texas, USA

    Pankaj Jain

  2. The Graduate Theological Union , Berkeley, California, USA

    Rita Sherma

  3. Jamia Millia Islamia, Centre for the Study of Comparative Reli Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, India

    Madhu Khanna

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2018 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

Craddock, E. (2018). Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār. In: Jain, P., Sherma, R., Khanna, M. (eds) Hinduism and Tribal Religions. Encyclopedia of Indian Religions. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-024-1036-5_40-1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-024-1036-5_40-1

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-024-1036-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-024-1036-5

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Religion and PhilosophyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Humanities

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation