The Story of Thirukadaiyoor

The people of Thiru Kadvoor (the holy place in which Goddess Abirami is said to reside) did not like Abirama Bhattar because of his abnormal behaviour. He always appeared immersed in his contemplation of the Goddess and totally unconcerned with worldly matters. When the king of Tanjore, Saraboji made a visit to this town, people complained to him about Abirama Bhattar, and his inexplicable abnormal behavior. The King went to the temple to worship the Mother. At that time, Bhattar was in meditation thinking about Mother’s glowing face. Just then, King approached him with due respect and asked him what the day’s (Thithi) was.Without remembering that the actual thithi of the day was New Moon Day (Amavasya), Abirami Battar mentioned to others that the day was a Full Moon Day (Pournami). Every one burst out laughing at him. The King became incensed with Bhattar’s reply and ordered that he be burnt alive if his words (i.e. the appearance of Full Moon on that day) turned out to be untrue. He was put to test from a hanging platform with lots of fire underneath. Abirami Bhattar realized his mistake and put the blame on the Goddess . He said to her that he had made this mistake only because of her as he had been immersed in thinking about her.. He started singing with complete devotion about the Goddess Abiraami in 100 slokas.Bhattar’s verses or slokas belonged to a class of Tamil poetry called “Andhaathi”. This means that the next poem should start with the ending from the previous one. This required spectacular talent to be able to compose such Andhaathis and it was clearly an instance of Divine Grace that Abirama Bhattar could sing all these beautiful 100 songs in one single night. Another hallmark of Abirami Andhathi is, there is no starting and ending. The first verse starts with “udhikkindra sengathir utchi thilagam….” and the 100th verse ending with ” …… udhikindravE”.
Bhattar’s singing of these spectacular slokas ended with the Goddess Abiraami becoming so pleased that she appeared before him. More wondrously, the Goddess thew her earring (thadanga or kundalam) into the sky which brightened up the horizon in such a manner that it was as if a full bright moon was shining forth!As Bhattar completedng the 79th verse, “vizhikke arulundu vEdam sonna “, his crestfallen challengers, awed by the bright full moon that had suddenly appeared in the sky on what was said to be a New Moon Day realized the awesomeness of the Goddess and her majestic powers. The King tendered his apologies to Abirama Bhattar and prostrated to him with great respect.