Dear colleagues,
This is a question for those of you familiar with the
Periyapurāṇam (or Tiruttoṇṭarpurāṇam), Cēkkiḻār’s hagiography of the Tamil Śaiva saints.
In the Māṇḍukarṇīśvara temple in Kanchipuram, there is a local tradition according to which the Nandī in the temple turned his head on Śiva’s command in order to allow Campantar and Appar have an unobstructed view of
the god when they visited this site. This story is recorded in a modern inscription in the temple itself, where it is attributed to the “second part of the
Civapurāṇam in the Periyapurāṇam composed by Saint Cekkiḻār” (cekkiḻār perumāṉ iyaṟṟiya periya purāṇattil uḷḷa civapurāṇam iraṇṭām pākattil). However, I have not been able to locate this episode in the
Periyapurāṇam, neither by conducting a full-text search of the e-text on Project Madurai nor through reference to the indices in Alastair McGlashan’s translation. As such, I start suspecting that the ascription may not be factual.
My questions are the following:
Any insights would be appreciated!
Best wishes,
Jonas Buchholz
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Dr. Jonas Buchholz
Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities
Project “Hindu Temple Legends in South India”
Karl Jaspers Centre
Voßstr. 2 | Building 4400 | Room 004
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P: +49 (0)6221 54 4095