Nayanar 49: Kari

The 49th saint is Kari Nayanar. Arurar, as mentioned above, gives us only the name Kari. This is a name known to Tamil Literature from the days of Malayaman Kari, one of the seven Vallals or patrons. In this connection one may note, though Arurar knows of great men of the Cankam age like Pari, he does not include any of the Shaivite patrons like Vel Ay who is famous for the surrender of his precious cloth to God Shiva. Koccenkanan and Poyyatimai illata pulavar, included in the list of saints, however, are considered by some to belong to the Cankam age. People who bore the name Kari were not only patrons and chieftains but some of them at least were poets like Maturakavi Maran Kari.

Kariyacan is the author of Cirupancamulam and the author of Kanakkatikaram is another Kariyacan. The word Kari means that which is black (Kari katanancan—Kalittokai) or one who is of dark complexion. It occurs as the name of Aiyanar. The father of Nammalvar was also known as Kari, It is, therefore, difficult to say who the saint referred to was, a chieftain or a poet.

The tradition takes him as a poet probably because by the time the tradition solidified into the present form the name has become associated more with literary men than with chiefs and patrons. But, here also, the details given vary from author to author. Nampiyantar makes him a native of Katavur, which Cekkilar speaks of as Thirukadaiyur, probably the place of that name in Mayavaram Taluk.

According to Nampiyantar, Kari praised the Lord Shiva with words and combination of words which he made beatutiful and upright avoiding all faults. Cekkilar, however, speaks of him as composing strings of Tamil verses or Tamilkkovai which he collected in his name or in such a way as to become famous as his work. The poems were not on Shiva. He was moving with the three Royal families of the Tamil land with whose costly presents he constructed many a temple for Shiva, always thinking of the Kailas of the Lord. What Tamil works and what temples were known to be the gifts of Kari during the age of Cekkilar it is not possible to say.

The Sanskrit and Kannada traditions speak of him as Kari Nayanar or Karinatha constructing a number of Shiva temples with the money he collected by begging. The Ddrasuram sculpture of the story represents two persons wearing sacred thread in front of a background of mountains. If one is Kari, it is not clear who the other is. The mountains probably remind us of the saint reaching Kailas or his travel through various countries.