Kadayam

Kadayam is a village in the district of Tirunelveli in the state of Tamil Nadu in India. It is known for its association with the Tamil revolutionary poet Subramania Bharati.

Origin of the name

The name "Kadayam" actually is variant of the term "Kedayam". "Kedayam" is a form of a war shield. Local legend says that many hundreds of years of ago, the Goddess Nithya Kalyani, a reincarnation of Goddess Parvathi showed her 'rudhra swaroopa' (feeling of anger) at the villagers for not performing their religious and dharmic duties and dwelling too much on materialism. The Goddess' anger manifested itself in the form of successive deaths of the priests who were to perform the Daily Puja for Her. After seven deaths of seven priests on seven successive days, the villagers begged the Goddess for forgiveness. Her anger somewhat subsided, She was supposed to have thrown her "kedayam" which fell about 4 miles from the existing Nithya Kalyani temple. The villages migrated to this spot where the "Kedayam" fell. Eventually, the new location came to be known as the village of Kadayam.

Association with Subramania Bharati

The eminent poet and freedom fighter Subramania Bharati once lived in Kadayam. Subramania Bharati's wife was a native of Kadayam and it is said locally that Bharathiar often sang patriotic songs on the rooftop of his in-laws' home in "Pazhaya Gramam" ("old village") in Kadayam.

The Thala Malayan Temple

In the forested hills near the village is the Sastha (Thala Malayan) temple. The Ramanadhi (a tributary of the Thamirabarani) flows past this temple.