Devalok
Local story · 1 telling · South India

The gooseberry and the golden rain (the Kanakadhara Stotram)

The boy Shankara, on his alms round, is given a single dried gooseberry by a woman with nothing else in the house. He sings to Lakshmi for her, and pleads when Lakshmi says the woman's past is to blame. Golden gooseberries rain on the house, called Swarnathu Mana ever since, and the hymn is recited on Akshaya Tritiya.

Who is in it

Places: Punnorkode, Kalady

The story, beat by beat

  1. The boy Shankara begs at a poor Brahmin's door.
  2. The wife has only a dried gooseberry kept to break her fast, and gives it.
  3. Shankara sings the Kanakadhara to Lakshmi for her.
  4. Lakshmi says the woman never gave in past lives; Shankara pleads that she has given now.
  5. Golden gooseberries rain down; the house is called Swarnathu Mana.

giving poverty grace festival

How it is told, place by place

Base telling · Temple tradition

The Shankara tradition at Swarnathu Mana

South India · ml All traditions 🪔 Akshaya Tritiya

As a boy student living on alms, Shankara stops at the house of a destitute Brahmin couple. The wife, finding nothing in the house but a dried amla she had kept for breaking a fast, gives it to him in tears. Shankara composes the Kanakadhara Stotram on the spot, asking Lakshmi to rain her mercy on the house. Lakshmi replies that the woman's poverty comes from not giving in past lives; Shankara answers that her gift of her only possession is enough. A shower of golden amlas falls, and the house at Punnorkode is known as Swarnathu Mana.

Kanakadhara Stavam and Swarnathu Mana (Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham; Kanakadhara Mahalakshmi Temple, Punnorkode)

Sources: Kanakadhara Stavam and Swarnathu Mana (Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham; Kanakadhara Mahalakshmi Temple, Punnorkode)

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