Vayanattu Kulavan or Adhitheeyan was born from the soul of Lord Shiva. While examining the roots of his birth, it leads to the story when Shiva and Parvathy were indulged in hunting disguised as Tribals. It was the days of amusement for Shiva and Parvathy. They enjoyed spending time together hunting in the forest. Once during the hunt, Shiva felt physically attracted to Parvathy and pleaded her to make love, but she rejected. Shiva lost control and his body fluid was ejected into the ground. From those droplets rose three trees; ‘thenmakal’, ‘karimakal’ and ‘thirumakal’.
Out of these three trees, thenmakal (coconut tree) started to flood a river of toddy. Shiva drank the toddy and felt boozed up. In happiness, he started to engage in “Shiv Thandav” completely forgetting the existence of Parvathy. Worried about her husband, Parvathy gently rubbed the tree and stopped the flow of toddy. When Shiva returned to the tree to have his next sip, he was totally disappointed and lost his fuse. As the result of his anger, Shiva punched his own thighs, out of which Adhidivyan/Adhitheeyan was born. Shiva gave the responsibility to collect toddy from Thenmakal to his son, who was born from his thighs. Adhitheeyan respected his father’s decision and started to collect and serve toddy for Shiva regularly.
When the routine came back to the track, Shiva became happy. But Parvathy had no interest in her husband getting boozed up every day. With the help of Lord Vishnu, Parvathy exiled Adhitheeyan from Devaloka, subjecting him to Shiva’s anger. Exiled from heaven, Adhitheeyan was born as “Vayanattu Kulavan” on earth. Vayanattu Kulavan means the head of a group. Kulavan was born to Neelimadathingal Thammarasseriyamma who was a regular devotee to Lord Shiva. In all prospects, Kulavan was the son of Shiva. Kulavan spent most of his time hunting and consumed toddy regularly. During the time when booze was no longer available on earth, Kulavan decided to drink the toddy (Astamadhukalasham) which was preserved in “Kadhalivan” for his father, Shiva.
When Kulavan tried to drink his father’s share, Shiva appeared in front of him with his face turned red in anger. He cursed his son that he will live blind for the rest of his life. Instantly, Kulavan lost his eyesight. Feeling guilty for his action, Kulavan pleaded Shiva for mercy. Shiva felt sorry for his son and offered two silver eyes. Even after wearing them, Kulavan couldn’t see anything and he begged his father for any other way to regain his sight. Shiva granted him a light stick and asked him to see the world with the glow from the stick. With his father’s offerings, Kulavan started his journey but faced many difficulties. Bristled with rage, Kulavan threw the silver eyes and light stick towards “Vadakkumanniran Mahaparvatham”. The eyes ended up into Shiva’s ‘homakundam’ and the lightstick into the courtyard of “Adhiparamban Kannan”. Kulavan conferred Kannan to place the firestick in his parentage and from then “Vayanattu Kulavan” was worshipped as God especially by the people belonging to the Hindu “Thiya” community.
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