The story of Swaminathan and Swami Malai from the Tamil Kanda Puranam challenges one of the accepted relationship hierarchies of Hindu mythology, albeit in a manner that is typical to the region. Usually the father-son relationship is one of obedience – be it Rama and Dasarath, Yayati and Puru and Bheeshman and Shantanu – in Hindu Indian mythology. This story however has a twist.

Swami Malai is a small hillock near Kumbakonam, a small town in Tamil Nadu. The temple at Swami Malai is one of the six important temples associated with the cult of Murugan. This story forms the sthala purana of the temple.

Vaishampanaya narrates the tale of a remarkable brahmin and minister from Mahabharata whose valuable advice to Dhritarashtra went unheard
The story goes that the worried father and distressed King saw his dream of getting Duryodhana installed as king of Hastinapur fading as he found the Pandavas growing from strength to strength. Their superior skills were particularly evident after they defeated the powerful ruler of Panchal, King Drupada. Dhritrashtra grew suspicious of them and summoned his finest minister Kanika for his advice. Kanika an expert political counsel responded with an animal fable that is reminiscent of the tales from Panchtantra and Hitopadesa.
He addressed the king, “My majesty possessing the strength of thousand elephants, listen to me and do not be angry with me for saying what I am going to say.” A king’s business is to rule and to extend his might and influence; he should not make mistakes himself but profit from other’s mistakes. Rule with a vigilant eye and incapacitate your enemy with conciliation, money, discord and punishment.

The mythological world of gods and goddesses is not immune to the array of emotions that ordinary mortals are captive to — sadness, happiness, anger, revenge, joy, deceit, you name it and there will be a narrative illustrating it. The following are two such narratives or local beliefs that record jealousy and petty competition among the gods of Kerala.

According to popular belief, the Vaikom and Ettumanoor* deities are not on good terms with each other.  Ironically both shrines are dedicated to Lord Shiva.

Back in 1798, Maharaja of Travancore, had a dream that the Vaikom deity- Shiva Mahadeva had asked for an offering of eight elephants. The Maharaja immediately ordered for eight wooden elephants plated in gold to be made and sent these with his trusted men to the Vaikom temple. As the entourage carrying the elephants reached Ettumanoor temple, the hungry and tired men handed over the elephants to temple guards for the safekeeping and went to bathe and eat. When they returned, they were taken aback to find that every single elephant had a serpent coiled on it with its hood spread in an attacking posture. The Maharaja’s men tried every trick in the book, but the snakes wouldn’t budge. Helpless and crestfallen as they could not reclaim the elephants the men went back to the king and reported the strange incident. The Maharaja immediately consulted his astrologers and found out that the Ettumanoor deity was unwilling to let go off the elephants** and was staking claim on the gift meant for the Vaikom deity.

As there was no other way out, the Maharaja decided to get another set of eight elephants made and sent to Vaikom deity.  That night the Vaikom deity approached the Maharaja in his dream saying he is no longer interested in the offering of elephants and instead a special ritual should be conducted for him using the same expense. This was done immediately. However this did not bring peace between two deities. It is believed that the two deities are still not on ‘talking terms’ with each other. This is confirmed by the practice of Ettumanoor residents boycotting the Vaikom celebrations on Ashtami day every year.