In 1927, a dog from somewhere came along with Periyava’s camp. No one bothered to drive the dog away, as he seemed to be a reasonable dog. The dog neither disturbed the sacred paraphernalia of Sri Matam nor did he dug into anything dirty outside the camp. The dog stayed near the Sri Matam during night as if protecting the Sri Matam’s properties.

He would eat only the food given in the Sri Matam and would not accept any food from anybody else. If the person who usually fed him forgot to do so for some reason, he would starve for the day. Hence Periyava used to inquire if the dog was fed.

Whenever Periyava traveled in the palanquin from place to place in those days, this dog would walk under the palanquin. If the palanquin got stopped in the middle for some reason or the other, the dog would move outside the crowd and wait at a distance like a humble servant. Sometimes, the dog would even walk between the legs of the elephant of Sri Matam.

Once the dog got separated from Periyava, but soon came rushing to Him. Since that day, he would not eat food without having the darshan of Periyava. The dog never hurt any devotee but wagged hi tail to show them his welcome or gratitude. But once, a boy threw a stone at the dog and he came barking towards the boy, as if to bite. Worried by this, Sri Matam workers thought the dog could be a danger to the devotees and took him 25 miles away from the camp and tied him to a pole. The dog somehow escaped from that village and came rushing to Periyava’s camp, even before the workers who took him to another village arrived at the camp.

Till the dog met his death, he was with Periyava’s camp all the time. No one hurt him. Devotees who came to see Periyava were eager to see the dog as well.

The dog was named ‘karuppan’, as called by the Sevakas of the Sri Matam probably because of it’s skin colour, though it is the other way inside.

The dog’s service, ‘viSwASam’ to Periyava is something we aspire!

Courtesy: Online transcriptions of Sri Jagadguru Divya Charithram by Sri Sambamurthy Sastrigal (1959) and Experiences with MahaPeriyava shared by Sri Thyagu Thatha.

There is a story in Puranam that a lower-being gets uplifted and gets reborn as a higher-being at the darshan of a ‘Mahaan’. (Lower and Higher simply mean level of ‘buddhi’/senses – Human beings, having 6 senses is considered ‘higher’ in line to realize God).

A thought came to a friend of mine whether he got the human birth because he was ‘that’ dog and he wondered why the ‘viSwASam’ is much lesser in this birth ? Here few lines depict the longing…

Thanks to navEdaham – Ardent Devotee of Periyava and Sri Sivan SAR And a disciple of Triplicane Periyava for the article and these beautiful verses on HIM.