Jambupathe Krithi's Background

This is one of Muthuswami Dikshithar’s pancha bhuta krithis.  Pancha bhuta, of course literally means five( pancha) elements( bhuta).

It is believed that the basis of all creation, including the physical body, lies in the five elements -  earth(prithvi), water(jal), air(vayu), fire( agni) and ether( akasha).

Dikshithar’s pancha bhuta krithis refer to the five pancha bhuta sthalas or the five Shiva temples, where he is worshipped as a manifestation of one of these elements.

In this essay one will basically focus on the sthala which pertains to water.

But before that, a very brief aside on Muthuswami Dikshithar. Muthuswami  was born to Ramaswamy Dikshithar( born 1735) and Subbamma in the month of Panguni( March-April) in the year 1775, under the ascending krithika star. He was named Muthukumaraswamy in honour of Lord Subramania in Vaideeshwaran koil , which was their kula deivam( family deity). He was born in a small village called Manali in Tiruvarur district.

In this connection it is interesting to note that:

JananAt kamalAlaye, darshanAt aparasadasi

smaraNAd aruNAchalam, kAshi tu maraNan muktih.

The puranas have declared that birth at Tiruvarur, darshan of Chidambaram, thinking of Arunachala and death at Kashi result in liberation. All the three members of the Carnatic trinity, of whom Muthuswamy was the youngest, were born in Tiruvarur.

This composition in Yamuna kalyani is set to tisra ekam (2 kalai). Dikshithar has composed two other krithis in this raga – nandagopala and parama shivatmajam. Both these two other krithis are set to adi talam.

Yamuna kalyani, as we know is a vakra bhashanga janya of the 65^th melakartha mecha kalyani. While the arohana follows the kalyani notes, the avarohana has a bhashanga note of sudha madhyamam and is vakra in the P M(2) G  M(1) R S phrase. It is interesting that this raga was referred to as Yamuna in the Dikshithar system of nomenclature.

Before we go to the krithi, let us go to this particular sthala .

Thiruvanaikaval or Thiruvanaikoil is in the suburbs of Tiruchirapally on the northern banks of the Cauvery river adjacent to Srirangam island. Why is this called Thiruvanaikaval? What is the genesis of this name? It comes from Thiru( holy), aanai( elephant) and kaa or kaadu( forest). This refers to an incident from Hindu mythology.

There were two Siva Ganas (Siva’s disciples who live in Kailash): Malyavan and Pushpadanta, who were always quarelling with each other. They cursed each other. As a result of this Pushpadanta became an elephant and Malyavan became a spider on earth. They came to Jambukeswar and continued their Shiva worship, The elephant collected water from the Cauvery and conducted ablution on the Shiva Linga under the jambu tree, while the spider weaved a web over the linga to prevent dry leaves and sunlight from falling on it. The elephant would see the web and thinking it was dirt wash it off. This angered the spider so much that it crawled into the trunk of the elephant and bit the elephant and itself to death.

 Siva, in the form of Jambukeswara, moved by the deep devotion of the two, relieved them from the curse. As an elephant worshipped Siva here, this place came to be known as Thiru Aanai Kaa (thiru means holy, aanai is elephant, kaa (kaadu) means forest).^[2] Later the name 'Thiruaanaikaa' become 'Thiruvanaikaval' and 'Thiruvanaikoil'. The spider was born as the king Kochengot Chola in his next birth and built many temples , of which this was also one. Remembering his enmity with the elephant in an earlier birth, he built the Shiva sannathi (sanctorum) so that even a small elephant could not enter.  The entrance of the  Jambukeswara sanctorum is only 4 foot high and 2.5 foot wide.^[2]

The sanctum of Lord Jambukeshwara has an underground water stream and one can see water coming out of that stream.  Shiva’s consort here is called Akilandeswari or ruler of the universe ( akilam- universe; aanda- ruled; eeswari – goddess)

According to the mythological scriptures, Parvathi in her incarnation as Akilandeswari performed penance in the Jambu forest. She made a Lingam out of water from the river Cauvery and commenced her worship. Hence the Lingam is known as Appu Lingam (Water Lingam). Lord Siva at last gave darshan to Akhilandeswari and taught Her Siva Gnana. Devi Akhilandeswari took upadesa (lessons) facing East from Lord Shiva, who stood facing west.

 Hence this Temple is also revered as a Upadesa Sthalam. Since Devi Akhilandeswari worshipped Lord Shiva in this temple, even today at noon the 'Archakar' (priest) dresses like a female and performs Puja to Lord Jambukeswara . As the Devi was like a student and Lord Jambukeswara like a Guru (teacher) in this temple, there is no Thiru Kalyanam (marriage) conducted in this temple for Lord Shiva and Devi Parvathi, unlike the other Shiva temples.

This is also the 60^th paadal petra sthalam north of the Cauvery. There are a total of 274 such paadal petra sthalams, which are revered in the verses of the Nayanars and are believed to be the most important Shiva temples on the sub continent. They are comparable to the Divya Deshams, which are the 108 Vaishnava temples glorified by the Alwars.

The sthala vriksha at Jambukeshwar is obviously the white  jambuka tree( Vennaval ; naval – blackberry). The temple has a seven tiered rajagopuram and five enclosures. The innermost sanctum sanctorum does not have a door but a stone window with nine holes, signifying the nine outlets of the human body or the nine navagrahas.