Lord Siva appearing in Tinna’s Dream

Let us know the manner in which Tinna worshipped Lord Siva, about the offerings he made , about how his actions were despised by a Brahmin devotee of Siva and finally about how he attained Mukti.

Tinna led the life of a hunter. Once, as part of his worship of Vana Devata (Goddess of forests), he set out to hunt for an animal to be sacrificed to the Goddess. In his wanderings, he came into the Bilwaka grove and stumbled upon Sri Kalahastheeswara.

Surprised and saddened to find Sri kalahastheeswara at such a remote place, Tinna wondered how long the Lord would have gone without food. He immediately set about catching small creatures in the neighborhood and offered the raw meat to the Lord. He offered water bought from the nearby river Suvarnamukhi along with the raw meat. This went on for some time. One day he was pained to see that his offerings were not accepted by the Lord. Pleading repeatedly to the Lord to partake his offerings, he fell asleep exhausted. The Lord woke up Tinna and accepted his offerings. Tinna was very happy and ate what was left. This went on for some time.

How these events caused displeasure to a Brahmin devotee of Siva and how Lord Siva subjected Tinna to a test will be described below.

In sharp contrast to Tinna’s devotion to Lord Siva, the Brahmin devotee purified himself by bathing in the Suvarnamukhi river, clothed himself with a fresh ochre robe, wore a rudraksha mala (a rosary), bathed the Siva Linga with water from the river and worshipped Lord Siva with all the necessary materials.

He was pained to see meat in the vicinity of the Siva Linga and pleaded with the Lord for an explanation failing which he would sacrifice his life.

Lord Siva consoled the devotee saying, O bhakta! Tinna serves me food everyday with great devotion. If you wish to know the sincerity of his devotion, you may test him”. The Brahmin devotee was overcome with joy at hearing his prayer answered. Wishing to test Tinna’s devotion, he hid himself in a corner and waited to observe Tinna’s activities closely.

Soon Tinna came there. He brought meat and a mouthful of water from the river Suvarnamukhi. Placing the food before the Lord, he apologized for the delay in bringing the food and requested the Lord to accept his offering. There was no reply. Repeated requests were of no avail. Tinna saw tears streaming down the eyes of the Lord. Immediately, Tinna proceeded to make a paste of leaves and seeds of medicinal plants and applied it on the Lord’s eyes. Soon, instead of tears, blood started streaming down the eyes of the Lord. On seeing this, Tinna swiftly took an arrow from his quill, gouged his eyeball, and placed it on the Lord’s eye.

The Brahmin devotee watched the turn of events with awe. To prove Tinna’s devotion further. Lord Siva has blood streaming down the other eye too. Tinna unhesitatingly gouged his other eyeball and placed on Lord’s eye, guiding himself with the help of right foot placed on the Linga. In joy, he exclaimed, “O Lord! From now on, your vision is my vision!” Immensely pleased with Tinna’s sacrifice, the divine couple appeared before him and praised his single-minded devotion. Turning to the Brahmin devotee, Lord Siva said, “O Brahmin! Are your doubts cleared now? Do you not see how sincere his devotion is? Do you know who he really is? He is none other than Arjuna, the Pandava, in the previous birth. In the previous birth he desired to attain Mukti and so he took this birth and is being liberated.” The Brahmin devotee realizing his mistake said, “O Lord! Today my ego and pride have been destroyed. I am fortunate to have your darshan and have nothing else to seek in life.”

Lord Siva comforted the Brahmin devotee and said, “from now on, you shall be one with me. You shall be liberated.” So saying the divine couple vanished.
This is the story of how Tinna came to be Bhakta Kannappa for offering his eyes to the Lord. Even today, one can see a stone image of Bhakta Kannappa in the Sanctum Sanctorum of Sri Kalahasthi temple.