Hounds of Shiva

by Preetha Rajah Kannan

Hounds of Shiva is a treasure house of tales with impassioned, heroic acts of sacrifice, devotion and service in the lives and times of the Nayanmars – the sixty-three Shaivite saints who were exemplars of bhakti.

216 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 16, 2018

About the author

My earliest recollection of Ponniyin Selvan is of five hardbound volumes standing tall in Amma’s book collection. To my eternal regret, the convent-educated-English-speaking me had my nose too deeply in English novels to explore one of the greatest Tamil novels ever written.

The years passed and I stepped into the courtyard of Thanjavur’s ‘Big Temple’ for the first time. I froze: the towering gopuram drew my eyes like a magnet and automatically lifted my head towards the evening-sun-splashed sky. The immense lingam in the sanctum thrilled my soul with its stark, truly ‘God-sized’ grandeur. And so, I came to Raja Raja Chola, the emperor who had the audacity to think big and build on this vast scale.

The brilliant Ramasamy Aiyar Krishnamurthi, or Kalki, immortalized Raja Raja Chola as Ponniyin Selvan, packing his masterpiece with dashing warriors and beautiful princesses, secret passages and dark dungeons, sorcerers and spies, vengeance and romance, shipwrecks and quicksand, leopards and assassins … in 2000 odd pages of roller-coaster excitement.

Dear readers, I give you Ponniyin Selvan as an 800-page, one-volume treat: The Tiger Throne. I have tried to give you a compact version, suited to todays’ ‘fast’ world, while retaining the body and soul of Kalki’s work and remaining true to the original in every way.
As always, I hope you will pass on the story to your children and grandchildren: for this is not just a book. It is a record of our glorious history and culture … it parts the veil of centuries to give us a glimpse of our roots and the rich lives of our ancestors.

Happy reading to you all!

Reviews

[Vishnu Chevli · Rating 4 out of 5]

You will simply get lost in the world of Shiva Devotion.

I know "Hound: means "Hunting dogs" but don't go by the literal mean. As cover, blurb, and prologue suggest here Preetha has taken stories of Shivagana or famously known as Gana or Bhutgana. This the third book in Siva series by Preetha. Though she or publisher have never claimed these books as series you can easily categorize them under one. The first book was "Shiva in the city of Nectar" which was based on Shiva's stories in and around Madurai. The second book was "Son of Shiva" which was based on Shiva and Karthikeya. And this book is based on Shiva again.

The difference between 1st and 3rd book is the central them. The 3rd book is dedicated to solely devotees of Shiva. Thirty-seven stories covered are of such staunch devotees of Lord. Shiva has directly/indirectly tested their devotion. Their devotion and love towards Shiva undaunted by difficult tests of Lord. They were blessed moksha and given place in Shivaloka among Lord's Gana.

Preetha's writing style is magical. She writes short stories with full conviction. You can feel her devotion towards Shiva through her words. Each story starts with a place, a devotee and a beautiful narration. the author set the stage and deliver a wonderful story in just 4-6 pages. If you are fed up with Mytho-fictional made up stories those are hitting market currently, then check this book. It has maintained the same touch of our old religious stories. Instead of criticising lord like current trend, stories here show his importance.

This book can be gifted to middle graders to people in their eighties or nineties, due to the simplicity of language, narration, and subject.

Detailed Review Link - http://chevusread.blogspot.com/2018/0...

[Harshita Gupta · Rating 4 out of 5]

The “Nayanmars” being called as “Hounds of Shiva” were a group of sixty-three Shaivite saints in Tamil Nadu. They worshipped Lord Shiva with extreme dedication and loyalty. Hounds of Shiva book is a collection of short stories of thirty-seven Nayanmars out of the total sixty-three.
The book retells the account of Shaivites who were immensely devoted and were the true admirers of Lord Shiva. Their tales gives the insight into the meaning of what is to be called as true bhakti towards the Lord. Their love to their Lord is selfless and pure making them perform astounding acts of renunciation and sacrifice.
Be it Iyarpahai who blindly sacrificed his wife to the Brahmin in the name of the Lord, Meiporal who forgave his assassin only because he was in his Lord attire, Kannappa who gouged out his eye to stop his Lord’s bleeding, Naminandhi who lighted diyas with water simply by naming the Lord, all of them had the miraculous essence of true Bhakti.
The author has written this rich text of Nayanmars’ tales who were the real epitome of bhakti with her magnificent narration and fascinating the readers at the same time.
The appreciable part of the book was the texts given in the grey boxes providing the significance of the temples associated with the tales or the elucidations of the terms and phrases used in the stories.
The book is a profuse read about saints of Lord Shiva and their selfless devotion. It is notable and splendid.
If you’re one of a reader who admires Lord Shiva and is on the look-out for the books on his ancient text, then this book is definitely for you.

[Ritika Chhabra · Rating 3 out of 5]

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I received a copy of this book from the publishers in exchange for an honest review.

Hounds of Shiva by Preetha Rajah Kannan is a collection of short stories of the sixty three Nayanmars, the true Shiva devotees or in this case, the hounds of Shiva. The stories show how Shiva often tested his devotees of their devotion. Sometimes, he takes these tests himself by playing tricks on his devotees. Other times, the humans use a certain Shiva-devotee's devotion as a weakness and tries to overpower him/her that way. Whatever the case, the end result comes out to be that each of these devotees show their true devotion to the Lord and hence, are rewarded heftily in return. While some of them are given a place directly under Shiva's feet, others were given a youth in return.

Basically, the thing that I loved about Kannan's book was that he had a rather splendid writing style. There was this beautiful curve to each of the thirty-seven stories that I read. However, what I did not like was how each of them seemed to be a new form of the previous one. I mean, here is the gist of each story:

Some devotee of Shiva is tricked in some way, or asked to do something that is against his etiquette or dharma but he/she still does it because the person asking this of him/her is a Shiva bhakt. In the end, when that devotee is about to die or has already broken his dharma, Shiva arrives in front of him/her granting him/her a boon.

To be honest, considering how these are mere re-tellings, I should expect nothing else but then that's the thing! They are re-tellings. They can be modified. At least in such a way that every story doesn't follow the same story-line. Such things get monotonous after a while. And because I give a lot of priority to the tone of a book, I have to rate the book a little lower than I otherwise would have.

On the other hand, this book is a remarkable take on the mythology revolving around Shiva and his hard-core devotees. I mean, honestly, before this book, I wasn't even aware that there have been people in the Hindu mythology called as Nayanmars before reading this book! So of course, the book raised my terminology and knowledge a lot.

All in all, the book was an easy read that would rather be read slowly in order to understand the true meaning of the bhakti. But perhaps, the book could be edited a little to take off that monotonous tone from it.

[Geeta Nair · Rating 4 out of 5]

A journey into the lives of some of the greatest Shiva Bhakts, ‘The Hounds of Shiva’ is both interesting and enlightening. The stories 37 in all, introduce us to a bhakti of very high order in simple, crisp and lucid language. The glossary at the end of the book is a ready reckoner of sorts and makes the read easy to comprehend and appreciate.

Short and crisp, the stories move from that of one Nayanmar- Shaivite Saint – to another with ease. While each story gives us an insight into the level of love that that particular Saint has towards Lord Shiva and the extent the said person could go to, to keep his faith in the Lord intact, the penance and sacrifice he / she could undertake to attain salvation at the lotus feet of the Lord, it also enlightens us to the fact that the life of Saints is anything but easy and that nothing can be attained via shortcuts. The road to salvation is tricky and dangerous. It takes its toll in the form of renunciation or extreme suffering. So the life of the blessed one is not exactly something that mere mortals need be jealous of. They suffer; they strive and earn their reward after undertaking a journey arduous without a sigh, and undergoe untold miseries with a smile on the face and the ‘Om Namaha Shivaya’ mantra on the lips.

Though the blurb mentions Shiva as the book’s Hero, I personally felt that the Lord was just an instrument to define and extol the virtues of the Shaivite Saints and that it is they who are the true Heroes. Had it not been for their unwavering faith in the Lord, they would never have undergone the extreme trials and tribulations required of them, with a stoic attitude.

Another thing that struck me was the level of understanding each story brings out, between the family members of each of these Saints. It goes without saying that in a way these Saints were able to heed their calling and follow their heart without an iota of doubt or misgiving, because they had the unstinting support of their family be it their parents or spouse.

TAKEAWAY

Gems of knowledge in the form of snippets nestled in a box within each chapter. These gems can pertain to anything from the significance or history of a particular temple, a text, a special day or even a cult. They are truly ‘delectable’ (read knowledge enhancing).

VERDICT

An easy read, yet one that needs to be read without a hurry in order to imbibe the essence which is true bhakti.

[Uma | Books.Bags.Burgers]

(I received a free copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.)

BLURB

Hounds of Shiva is a treasure house of tales with impassioned, heroic acts of sacrifice, devotion and service in the lives and times of the Nayanmars – the sixty-three Shaivite saints who were exemplars of bhakti.

REVIEW

It's not everyday I come across books that celebrate south Indian Hindu mythology and scriptures. The thirty seven stories in this book are about the 63 Nayanmars, staunch devotees of Lord Shiva. I absolutely enjoyed reading about the stories i'd heard as a kid from the older relatives in my family. The author's narrative is whimsical and has a way of pulling in the readers. She sticks true to the original mythology stories and the book is as informative as it is entertaining.

The repetitiveness in the plot curve could make the stories a little monotonous but the rich writing helps to stay enraptured. I do like how this is different from the 're-tellings' we usually hear. They are generally retold in a different way by the author with new twists. But in this book the authors stays true to the original lore with it's interesting philosophies and ideas.

One of my favourite things about the book were the little knowledge boxes in every story with some kind of interesting information from old time words to information about temples.

Despite being short stories, each story captures it's main character (a Nayanmar) so beautifully, letting the readers feel their emotions and thoughts. The writing definitely has to be my most favourite aspect of it all. The writing flows naturally and has a poetic feel to it that keeps one turning the pages.

REVIEW

The author is definitely someone to keep an eye out for if you’d like to read about the lesser known Hindu mythological myths written in beautiful poetic prose.

[Devika Ramadoss · Rating 4 out of 5]

Being a Tamilian I was aware of Nayanmars and few famous nayanmars stories. Even We had Tamil movies on selective Nayanmars. But that didn’t stop me to get involved with this book. There are 37 Saiva Devotees stories out of 63 in this book.

These are the collection of re-telling of Hounds Of Shiva. Gods, they love to test their devotees. This book tells us how these 37 nayanmars became special to Shiva and how Shiva embraced them all to his eternal life.

The story line may be same for all the stories but the way author recited was unique and reassuring. Your mind will be blown by the devotion of these hounds as Shiva himself takes the path of adharma to test them. Nayanmars are the perfect example to show Shiva is indeed an Omniscient One. Because Nayanmars are the people who is a King, a Raskshas, a poor,a rich,a women, a child,everyone. Shiva bows to their devotion alone.

Author succeeded well in this book because I am speaking all about shiva and his devotees and not about author writing. So now, I am going with author work.

Author narration was simple, way more easy and captivating. The glossary will help to understand the native words. And the bulletin remarks about the temples of Tamilnadu and few specific information made the writing to be informative to know about the places and culture over here. It takes immense research and knowledge to re tell about nayanmars. Hence I loved the deliverance and writing style of author.

Overall “Hounds Of Shiva” is an exquisite book to know about the devotees of Shiva and their devotion which implies the level of dedication of hounds as well as author.

[Shobana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Living in Mylapore a person can hardly miss the beautiful festivals of Kapaleeswarar Temple. The 63 devotees of Lord Siva also have their own special day during the Chariot festival. This book is a collection of stories of those sixty three devotees and it's beautifully written. Some of the stories come across as a little harsh. The saints did not have an easy life. Their unshaken belief even during bad times makes this book an interesting read.

[Prabhat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Faith in three eyed lord

Passionate love by ardent followers of Shiva is what describes this book. The saints have done the impossible to prove their unalloyed love to Shiva. All the stories have common hero that is bholenath.Many Shiva temples are mentioned in it with a story attached to them. It makes the reader to search for those temples and also pine to visit them if you are s fan of mahadeva. I am looking for more such reads

[Gayathiri Rajendran · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is both interesting nad enlightening written in an easy to understand lucid language.I have heard about a few Nayanmars or "Hounds of Shiva" but I did not know most of the stories present in this book.
This book is written in a lucid manner and each of the stories convey strong messages within 4 to 5 pages.Though the storyline is reptitive at places,I loved the historical tidbits about the temples of Shiva scattered all over India.Overall,an enlightening and pleasant read.

[Khayma · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was fascinated to know what Hounds of Shiva was going to be about. The title gave no indication to me. But when i started reading, the author's note gave me the idea. Hounds of Shiva is the story of the 64 nyayanmargal..the 64 shaivaite saints who dedicated their lives to the worship of Shiva, the destroyer. Their devotion and single minded love for shiva superseeded everything, that each of them attained moksha in Shiva's embrace. These were the saints who sang thevarams (hymns and songs) in the glory of Shiva

The book tells the stories of 37 of these esteemed saints, and included the Nalvar, or the four Shaiva siddhantas, Appar, Sundarar, Samandhar and Manikavasagar. It also included the story of Karaikal Ammaiyar, the only woman among the 64 nyayanmarkal.

The beauty of this book is that it includes bits of knowledge about the temples where the saints were based at, and uses many tamil words, keeping to the authenticity of the times in which the saints lived in.

I remember walking into temples, and not knowing the greatness of the 64 saints, but now i do. Thank you Preetha, for a book that was both educational and spiritual, and wonderfully written.

[Nivedita Dhar · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are Mythological book lover then trust me, this book is really really really for you. You will not put down this book easily until you finish all the tales in one sitting . I did the same. I read this book in single sitting. Because this is the first i read about those Nayanmars. I have read about the Apostles of Lord Jesus. This is the first time i am reading about the Hounds of Lord Shiva; the Nayanmars, the true Shiva Bhakts. Stories has dictated by each Nayanmars, with their journeys to become Bhakts to Hounds. Language is simple and spirited and highly enlightened. All the stories are constantly related to South India, from the 7th Century by the movement of Shaivaite Nayanmars and Vaishnavaite Alwars. I loved this book because of those Picturesque tales to know more about loyal devotees of Lord Shiva.

[Visalini Kumaraswamy · Rating 5 out of 5]

"One more page, just one more; I try to convince myself, I'd pause with the next page. Alas, I can not! If it was Shiva's tale, I could have. But, this sublime prose & translations of heavenly poetry of Thevaram ensconced before my eyes, I can not part off from this book!

I promise myself, I'd be reading this at least once every year. I need to meet this author. Seriously! The outpouring of Shaiva-Bhakti melts me!"