Ponnar Shankar

The legendary folklore Annanmar Kathai also called Ponnar-Shankar Kathai is set in the medieval period (600–1300 CE), post-sangam history of the Tamil country. This period saw the rise and fall of many kingdoms some of which were empires that exerted influence far and wide. This story is about the considered the unwritten epic of Gounder community. It is also named as a source of their cultural materials and traditions, transmitted orally from one generation to another either by messages or testimony or speech or song or street theatre and many other forms.

The society back in the time may have used rustic traditions prevalent, for example, of folktales, sayings, ballads, songs, or chants, to transmit oral history, oral literature, oral law and other knowledge across generations without a writing system. A narrower definition of oral tradition is sometimes maybe appropriate as well.

In Sanatana Dharma, the age of mankind is recorded as four Yugas, they are Sathya Yuga, Tretha Yuga, Dvapara Yuga and Kali Yuga respectively. Yuga (Devanāgari: युग) in Hindu philosophy is the name of an epoch or era within a four age cycle. In one of the yugas, preceding the current Kali yuga, there was a Cobra, which lived north of Mount Kailas, an area back in the day called the dark country. The serpent was very worried about not having a child. In order to seek some divine intervention the serpent had started penance toward Lord Shiva and sought his grace to fulfill its desire to have a child. Lord Shiva and his divine consort Goddess Parvathi were surprised by this act of penance that was being done and more so by a cobra.

Pleased with the serpents penance Lord Shiva asks Goddess Parvathi to reborn born as a child for the cobra. The Goddess agrees and she incarnates as female child with male stature, born to the cobra. The child was named Periyakandi otherwise known as Goddess Periyakandiya amman. Goddess Parvathi in the form of Periyakandi starts penance to Shiva to get rid of the earthly form and be rid of the birth and death cycle. Lord Shiva, pleased appears before her and suggests that she (Periyakandi Amman) to go to Veera Malai down South where she would find the white peak of Vennmudi. As directed by the lord, Periyakandi amman travels across Himalayas from Mount Kailas to Veera Malai mountain range which is located down south in Central Tamil Nadu.

Lord Shiva have sends Kannimar (Saptha matha i.e. seven divine goddesses) as a protective ring for Goddess Periyakandi during her travel. Goddess travels toward South and has been known to have done lot of miracles among the people she interacts on her way down south. Finally, she reaches Ratnagiri hills with a Shiva temple (now known as Iyermalai which is near Kulithalai, Karur, TN), where Iswarar of Ratnagiri tells her the way to reach Veeramalai and also bestows Periyakandi incomplete form to a complete female form. Lord Ratnagiri Iswarar directs Periyakandi to remain there and continue her penance atop of the Veeramalai Hills Vennmudi peak until the brave brothers Ponnar-Sankar are born and raised and engage a Dharma yuddha(righteous battle) to destroy the rising evil forces in the country.

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