Eripatha Nayanar was
born in Karuvur, one of the main
cities of the Chola Kingdom. It was a very sacred place, situated on the bank
of the river Ambiravati. On both the banks of this river saints and sages were
doing Tapas and were radiating spiritual vibrations. A famous temple was there,
too, dedicated to Lord Pasupatheesvarar who was showering His grace on the king
and the people alike. They were all happy. Eripatha Nayanar was daily
worshipping Lord Pasupatheesvarar with great faith and devotion. His one aim in
life was to serve Siva Bhaktas and to offer them every kind of protection. He
always carried a weapon, an axe, for this purpose. With the axe he would punish
anyone trying to harm Siva Bhaktas. He was doing by this the Lord’s own work
In that city, there
lived a Siva Bhakta by name Sivakami Andar. He was very regular in his daily
worship of Lord Siva. Early morning would find him in the garden after bath,
collecting flowers, making garlands for taking to the temple and offering to
the Lord. This was his routine.
On a Maha Navami day
when all the people were jubilant, Sivakami Andar was rushing to the temple, as
usual, with a basket of flowers. At the same time, the king’s pet elephant was
returning from the river, after its bath. On its back were two Mahouts, and
three others were escorting it. Suddenly, it went mad and was chasing the
people. They were running here and there. It ran towards Sivakami Andar. It
caught hold of him, wrenched the basket of flowers from him, threw it on the
ground and ran away. The flowers were all scattered on the ground. Sivakami
Andar was greatly upset. The elephant had destroyed the flowers he had kept for
the worship of the Lord. He chased the elephant. He was very aged and soon fell
down exhausted. He was weeping bitterly, crying aloud “Siva, Siva”. Eripatha
Nayanar happened to pass that way. He heard Sivakami Andar’s pitiable cry and
the cause of it. “Where is that elephant?” asked Eripathar and began to run in
the direction indicated by Sivakami Andar. Soon he overtook the elephant and
hurled his powerful axe, killing it with one stroke. Then he pounced on the
Mahouts and killed them, too.
The news of the
elephant’s fate reached the king who immediately reached the spot on his horse,
surrounded by his soldiers. He could not see who had killed the elephant, he
could not associate the Siva Yogi Eripathar with such an act. He began to shout
“Who killed my elephant?”When someone pointed to Eripathar, immediately the
king’s wrath vanished, for he knew that if the Siva Yogi had done so, there
should have been a very valid reason for it. “He must have killed it in self-defense,”
thought the king and felt happy that the elephant had done no harm to the Siva
Yogi. He addressed Eripathar “Oh Swamin, I did not know that you killed the
elephant. Definitely, the elephant and the Mahouts must have done some harm to
you and you rightly punished them.”Eripathar narrated to the king all that had
happened, and said “Since the elephant and the Mahouts were guilty of Siva-Aparadham,
I killed them. The moment the king heard the expression Siva-Aparadhara he suffered terrible mental agony. He fell at
the feet of Eripathar and said “O Swamy, for what they have done, the
punishment awarded by you is not enough. I have committed a great crime by
keeping such an elephant and such Mahouts. Now, I don’t deserve a death through
your holy weapon, the axe. Here is my own sword. Please be gracious enough to
cut off my head with it.
Eripathar was stunned
to hear these words. He himself was struck with remorse. “What a great pain have
I inflicted on the king? What a noble king he is!”he thought; and, lest the
king should execute the punishment on himself, he took the sword from the king.
Eripathar felt that he was the cause for the king’s affliction, and in
self-punishment, he began to cut his own throat. The king was alarmed. He
thought that he would now be guilty of another offence and at once gripped the
sword and stopped Eripathar from cutting his own throat.
The Lord’s Leela was
over. A voice was heard in the sky “Oh noble souls! This is Lord
Pasupatheesvarar’s Leela. It is His wish that His Bhakta’s sincere and faithful
service to Him must be recognized by the world.” Immediately, the elephants and
the Mahouts got up, as from sleep. Sivakami Andar’s flower basket was full. All
were amazed and began to sing Lord Pasupatheesvarar’s glory. Eripathar placed
the sword at the king’s feet and prostrated to him. The king also fell at
Eripathar’s feet. Both embraced each other and were in great joy. Eripathar
wished that the king should mount his pet elephant. The king did so. Eripathar
returned to his place. Sivakami Andar went to the temple with the flowers.
Eripathar continued to
serve Siva Bhaktas. Finally he cast off his mortal coil and reached the Abode
of Lord Siva.
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