Sage Vyāghrapāda and the Tillai Nataraja Temple at Cidambaram
“The foot raised to kill the Moon,
at Dakṣa’s sacrifice,
the foot which sent Death to his death,
the foot which Nārāyaṇa and Brahmā
sought in vain to see,
the foot raised in dance
in Tillai’s Little Ampalam hall -
that is the foot which possesses us!”Appar (translated by Indira Vishwanathan Peterson)
The sthala purāṇa of the Thillai Nataraja Temple at Cidambaram is associated with the great sages Vyāghrapāda and Patanjali. Sculptures of Vyāghrapāda and Patañjali are found on all the gopurams except the West.
From the ‘Cidambara Mahātmyam’ (a part of Skanda purāṇa), the ‘Koyil Puranam’ (in Tamil) and ‘Kuncitanghristavam’ (in Sanskrit) of Umapati Sivacarya, we have details of the earliest saints, Vyāghrapāda and Patanjali, who are associated with the history of Cidambaram and who are said to have attained salvation here. Śiva performed his Ānanda Tāṇḍava or the dance of bliss to bestow divine grace on Vyāghrapāda and Patanjali and the devas, in the presence of His consort, Śivakāmasundari. The Pañcasabhā or Cit Sabha of the Tillai — one of the “five halls where Śiva is said to have danced” is described in Koyil puranam.
Vyāghrapāda was the son of Madhyandina Munivar, who taught him the Vedas, the śāstras, and the Śaiva āgamās. Vyāghrapāda searched for the sacred Tillai forest in which to conduct his penance. He found a Śiva liṅgā under a banyan tree near a sacred tank and set up his hermitage. The sage found that the flowers were spoiled by honey bees when gathered after dawn and so prayed to the Lord that he might be provided with the eyes, claws and feet of a tiger to fulfil his desire of collecting untouched flowers for worship. Śiva blessed him with the limbs of a tiger to climb trees without slipping and the ability to see in darkness, such that he could collect untouched flowers before sunrise, to offer to Śiva. The lord, after showering upon him these graces, named him Vyāghrapāda (one with a tiger’s limbs).
Since Vyāghrapāda (Pulikkal Munivar in Tamil: the saint with a tiger’s feet) devoted himself to the Lord of Tillai, the holy centre came to be known as Perumparrapuliyur — or Puliyur, in short whose praise Appar sang.
Śiva promised that Anantā would be born on earth with five hoods, as the son of Sage Atri and Anasūya. In due course, Ananta emerged from Anasūya’s hand as a serpent. The frightened Anasūya dropped the hooded serpent and so It came to be known as Patañjali (one who had been dropped from the palm). Patañjali went to Tillai through the Nāgaloka and joined Vyāghrapāda at Tillai.
From tradition, it is very clear that the dance of Śiva is mainly associated with several rishis, like Patañjali, Vyāghrapāda, Agastya, Durvāsa, Sanaka, Sanandana, Sanātana, Sanat-kumāra, and others. Ramabhadra Dikshita gives a vivid description of the raised foot of Śiva in his bhujaṅgatrāsita mode of dance at Cidambaram. Śiva’s performance of karaṇas, making up aṅgahāras, which go along with his whirling movements in forming maṅdalas, scatters a spray of water from the heavenly stream on his head, bathing and purifying, as it were, the entire space around, packed with spectators. The rapid swirl of his arms creates explosions, resounding in the caverns of the mountains of the quarters, while the light from his raised lotus foot, creates a halo of light around him, fully observed only by the side-long glances of Devi, whose dark eyes are twins it would seem of the blue lotus or nīlōtpala. As Śiva dances with the universe as his theme, he almost lets fall the curtain of illusion, mystifying like Sambara’s, when soon he reveals the truth to Patañjali, Vyāghrapāda and the other ṛshis, ‘This is the illusion of the world as you see it here, and you will now know the eternal truth of the supreme Brahmaṇ, immanent, beginningless, eternal, sentient and blissful, unending and monistic..’
References:
1. Tillai and Nataraja by B. Natarajan; Balasubrahmanyan Ramachandran
2. Poems to Siva: The Hymns of the Tamil Saints, Indira Viswanathan Peterson
3. Nataraja in Art, Thought and Literature by C. Sivaramamurti
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