ABSTRACT
Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār said that she would commune with God herself. The way she said this was to compose two poems and two hymns that expressively trace an intimate relationship between herself and Lord Śiva, between human and divine. To study her poetic representation of this intimacy, this chapter uses several interpretive strategies. The first is to keep closely to themes and ideas that can reasonably be understood to emerge from within her compositions themselves. The reason I adopt this strategy is in part to counteract the disproportionate influence that her biographer’s narrative has had in representing her ideas, interests, and self. Of course I will bring in other literatures with which the poet may be in dialogue, as well as aspects of her political and social context, but these are not the focus. The focus is on what she is saying in her poetry about her communication and communion with Śiva. In taking this stance, I self-consciously prioritize the sum as greater than its parts: Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār creates a devotional subjectivity that is more than a collection of literary, social, and political influences.
