Dance of Kuṟaṭpūtaccelvam: My appaṉ ‘Śiva-Naṭarāja’ as versified in the hymns of Kāraikkālammaiyār 1 R.K.K. RAJARAJAN Gandhigram Rural University, Gandhigram rkkrajarajan@yahoo.com Abstract The present article is exclusively designed to suit the conference ‘Demonology in South and Southeast Asian Sculptural Art’, but the work extemporaneously deviates from the main concept (note) of the conference. In Hinduism, not all the demons are heinous and harmful; especially female demons are not always seducers of men. A paragon from the early bhakti Tamil literary tradition is Kāraikkālammaiyār, her malicious transformation from a charming maid to pēy ‘ghoul’. Tiruvālaṅkāṭṭu-mūttatiruppatikam (1.1) clearly emphasizes her transformation: koṅkai tiṟuṅki narampoḻuntu kuṇṭukaṇ veṇpaṟ kuḻivayiṛṛup paṅki civantiṟu paṟkaḷnīṇṭu paṟaṭuyaṟ nīḷkaṇaik kālōṛpeṇpēy taṅki alaṟi ulaṟum kaṭṭil tāḻcaṭai eṭṭut ticaiyumvīci aṅkaṅ kuḷintaṉal āṭumeṅkaḷ appaṉ iṭantiṟu ālaṅkāṭō veins protruding breasts / bulging eyes/ white teeth / ravenous belly red hair / long fangs / bony ankle with legs / the female ghoul / reside / howl and scream in the burning cremation forests / matted hair spinning around eight directions cooling the body from the heat/ dancing (is) my father / exist in Tiruvālaṅkāṭu The saints who propagated the cult of Śiva during the medieval period in South India were 63 (Cēkkiḻar in his Tiruttoṇṭar Purāṇam lists more than 70), called aṟupattumūvar. Cuntarar, one 1 Presented in the International Webinar on Demonology in South and Southeast Asian Sculptural Art. Organized by Department of Archaeology, University of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala (24 – 27 March, 2023)