GODDESS KANYAKUMARI
KANYA-KUMARI MEANING:
Kanyakumari is the Southern tip of Indian peninsula where three water bodies - Indian Ocean, Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal -- meet. It is also the shrine of the goddess of the same name. The word KANYAKUMARI is the portmanteau of the words KANYA meaning 'Young Girl' and KUMARI meaning 'UNMARRIED'. The word KUMARI also has the implications of being virgin.
A young girl, Kanya-kumari, meaning one who is virgin, invokes Shiva and expresses her desire to be his wife. Shiva agrees. But the devas are not pleased with this news. As long as Kanya-kumari is without husband and children, she has the power to kill demons.
Her power unused in marriage and motherhood will also prevent the sea from overwhelming the land. So they go out of their way to disrupt this wedding. They tell Kanya-kumari that to ensure the marriage is a happy one she has to marry at sunrise the following day. But Shiva lives far away in the north of Mount Kailas; he must be asked to set forth immediately and travel through the night.
Shiva agrees to travel fast, eager to meet his bride, while Kanya-kumari spends the night preparing the wedding feast, adorning herself with cosmetics and jewellery.
In the middle of the night, the devas take the form of roosters and start to crow. Shiva thinks the sun is about to rise and that he will not make it to the wedding on time. So he turns around, disappointed. When the sun really does rise, there is no sign of Shiva.
A heartbroken Kanya-kumari breaks all the pots containing the wedding feast; the pulses and grains turn into the colorful sand that one finds near the southern tip of India. She washes away her cosmetics in the sea: that is why the sea is multi-coloured there.
She stands on the Southern tip, killing demons, preventing the sea from overwhelming the land and, like a divine beacon, enabling fishermen to battle tempestuous seas and come home safe to their wives.
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Source: Excerpts from 7 Secrets of the Goddess by Devdutt Pattnaik
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