The story of Abirami Anthathi happened in Thirukadiyur, a small village in the back of river Cauvery. It was under Chola reign and ruled by Sarabhoji Maharaja.
Thirukadaiyur is very famous for its Shiva temple where the ruling god and goddess are Amirthaghateshwar and Abirami.
There lived a Brahman, Subramanya Iyer, who was a great devotee of Mother Abirami.
His devotion and love towards the goddess knew no bounds.
One day, Sarabhoji Maharaja visited the temple for Darshan.
Everyone present there gave their respect to the king.
But Subramanya Iyer who was in the transcendental state did not notice the happenings around him.
The people around the king told him that Subramanya was disrespecting him.
This made the king angry and he disturbed Subramanya from his meditation and asked him what day it was.
His focus, mind and eyes were faced towards the goddess. He saw the powerful brightness on her face.
Without even turning his face, Iyer replied to the king that the day was a full moon day. Actually, it was a new moon day.
The king got furious and ordered that Iyer would be punished if he did not show the full moon on the sky.
He ordered the soldiers to tie him and suspend him over the piles of wood with blazing fire.
Subramanya Iyer came to reality and realized the mistake he had made.
Afterwards, he was made to stand over the wood piles over the fire. He started to compose Abirami Anthathi. He composed 100 songs in praise of Abirami.
After each song, one log under him turned into ashes.
After finishing the rendering of his 79th song, Abirami appeared before him and thew her earring to the sky, where it appeared as the brightest full moon.
He composed 22 more songs to show his respect.
The king realised his mistake and ignorance, and understood that the power of devotion is more powerful than his false pride and begged for his pardon.
Afterwards, Subramanya Iyer was fondly known as Abirami Pattar. The collection of songs he made was called Abirami Anthathi.
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