The Ascetics Who Witnessed The Ananda Thandava At Thillai

Lord Adishesha once heard about Shiva's Ananda Thandava from a rapturous Vishnu who recalled the ecstasy He felt while witnessing the dance at Darukavanam. Adi Shesha begged his Lord Vishnu's permission to go and see the Cosmic dance for himself. After performing strenuous tapas, Shiva promised that he would be able to witness His dance at Chidambaram and blessed him with the boon of being born a son to the sage Atri and his wife Anasuya. Anasuya was frightened to see the baby with a half snake form, and she dropped him from her hands out of shock. From there came his name Pata-anjali, Patanjali, Fallen from Folded Hands.

At this time, Rishi Madhyandina (one of the fifteen disciples of Sage Yajnavalkya) who lived on the banks of the Ganga, directed his son to go to Thillai forest and pray to Lord Shiva. The son started praying to the Swayambhu linga under a banyan tree near a tank in the same forest. He used to collect flowers for puja and he prayed for the boon of getting tiger’s feet and claws, so that he could easily climb up the trees and pluck plenty of flowers. He also prayed for the eyes of bees, so that he could collect the flowers before any bee could taste the honey in them. His prayer was granted, and since he had the feet of a tiger, he was called Vyaghrapada.

Sage Patanjali constructed his own hermitage at Ananteeswaram and Vyaghrapada built his hermitage at Tirupuleeswaram in Chidambaram. They started worshipping Shiva. Days passed and when the time came for Shiva to give them Darshan, the guardian Goddess of the place, Kalika Devi, interfered and did not allow Shiva to give His Darshan.

Shortly afterwards, Shiva and Devi agreed that they should participate in a dance contest and that the winner should have undisputed possession of Tillai. So the dance started. At one moment during the dance, the Lord’s earrings fell down, but the Lord took them up from the floor in such a way that nobody could notice the loss and the recovery. This dance is called Urdhva Tandavam in which Shiva defeated Kalika Devi.

Now Nataraja performed the Ananda Tandavam, i.e. the Dance of Bliss, in the presence of Shivakamasundari and all the Gods and Rishis, and the two devotees, Patanjali and Vyaghrapada. In fact, both Patanjali and Vyaghrapada beseeched the Lord to let them be eternal witnesses to his dance of bliss at Chidambaram, and Shiva granted their wish.