Abhirami Anthathi

The Abirami Anthathi is a divine song that is based on Goddess Abirami. It has one hundred verses. “Anthaathi” means a style of composition where each new stanza begins with the same word that was used to end the previous stanza. The beauty of this Anthathi is the story behind it. It was composed by Abirami Pattar (Subramaniya Iyer) on the spur of the moment, out of great devotion.

Legend about Abirami Pattar (Subramaniya Iyer)

Abhirami is the Goddess of Thirukadayur near MayiladuThurai in Tamil Nadu. Lord Shiva in the temple is known as Amritha Gateswarar. Legend goes that while transporting the Nectar (Amritha) which they got by churning the ocean of milk, the Devas kept a pot of Amritha in Thirukadayur. This pot became one with the land and became the siva linga. At this temple, it is believed, that the Sage Markandeya prayed Lord Shiva and could avoid death forever.

Abhirami means “She who is attractive every moment of time”. This goddess is believed to be extremely powerful and fulfils the wishes of all her devotees. One of her great devotees of the past was Abhirama Bhattar. He was so much her devotee that he never used to think of any other thing except her. This made him look like a mad man. People even suspected him of practising evil rites. One day Raja Serfoji, the Mahratta king who was ruling over Tanjore visited the temple. The Archakas told him about Abhirama Bhattar. The king while returning to the palace casually asked Abhirama Bhattar the Thithi. Abhirama Bhattar who was at the time seeing the Goddess in his reverie answered that it was Pournami (Full moon).

The Raja went along. However, it was Amavasya and Bhattar realised his mistake.  He was extremely upset and set up 100 rope hangings and hung in them. Below he created a huge fire. He prayed Goddess Abhirami to prove that he is right. This he did by singing 100 stanzas in praise of Abhirami.  As soon as one stanza was completed one rope was cut. He also composed the stanzas in such a way that the first word of a stanza was the last word of the previous stanza (this style of poem is called Anthadhi meaning end-start).It is believed that when he completed the 79th stanza, the Goddess appeared before him and reassured him that she will do the needful. She took her Thadanga (a diamond ornament) and threw it in the sky where it stood. This was so sparkling that it appeared like a full moon. The Goddess also ordered Abhirama Bhattar to complete his poem. He continued and ended with 100 stanzas. Raja Serfoji realised how great Abhirama Bhattar was and honoured him.

Each stanza of the poem Abhirami Andhathi is a gem of poetry in itself. The language is not the spoken Tamil and this was further complicated by the fact that the first word of the next stanza should be the last word of the previous stanza, making the thought process of the stanza entwined.