The devotion of Kannapar who gave his eye to Shiva!
In tamil tradition, which is predominantly Bhakti, there are many local histories of many saiva devotees who became absorbed in Bhakti and attained salvation. These saiva devotees never called upon the Lord for their own life or food. On the contrary, their request is only for salvation to avoid from birth. It is a culture with such a mature legacy.
Such people are called Adiyars, Alvars and Nayanmars and they are also worshiped as gods. It was one such Nayanmar who gave his own eye to the Lord as Kannappanayanar.
Born in the Vedar (hunter) clan, Kannapar’s birth name was Thinnan. As he was a vadar(hunter), he kept the custom of worshiping the meat of the animals he had hunted in front of the Shiva lingam. One day God wanted to test Kannappan’s devotion. While Dinnan was worshiping the Shivalinga (he worshiped daily), blood started to flow from one of Shivalinga eyes.
On seeing this, Kannapar got panicked and tried to wipe the blood, but to no avail the blood continued to flow. Then, deciding to take out his eye and give it to the Lord, he took an arrow and took out one of his own eyes and placed it in the bleeding eye. Soon the other eye started bleeding. Seeing this, Tinnan again withered and decided to take out his other eye and place it in the lingam.
After that, if he took out the second eye, he could not put it on Lord Shiva‘s bleeding eye, so he prayed to the Lord, placed his toe on the eye of Shiva Lingam and tried to take out the other eye with the help of an arrow. A long arm from the Shiva linga stops thinnan , Eason calls thinnan as appa (father) accepted Tinnan as his father.
The place where this incident took place is the Kalahasti temple. Due to this, Shiva is blessed in the name of Kalathiappar and Kalatheeswarar here. As this event took place, the Shiva Lingam worshiped by Kannapar, a Shiva Lingam with bleeding eyes can be seen today on the Kalahasti Hill. There is also a shrine of Kannapar nearby.
A lot of Shivanatiyaar’s graves can be found in many parts of our South India. This is the holy land where 63 Nayanmars lived, including Karaikal Ammaiyar who walked to Kailayam with her head and hands so that the abode of the Lord would not be trampled by her feet, Pusalar who built a temple for the Lord in his heart, and Nayanar who saw and worshiped anyone who identified him as Shiva. Tenkaila Bhaktiperavai provides a great opportunity for people to be Shivanatiyaar and worship Isaan (God Siva) as they are in their daily lives in such a spiritual land even today.
Every Shivratri of every month they conduct a pilgrimage event called ‘Sivanga’ which is a devotional festival. Devotees start their fast by registering 42 days in advance to participate in it. They are very intense in bhakti with two meals a day, yoga practice called shiva namaskar. Although this yatra is held every Shivratri of every month.