Telugu poet Dhoorjati's 'Srikalahasti Mahatmayam' has many interesting stories beautifully depicted. Thinna is another devotee, who attained salvation through his unstinted devotion. He is none other than Arjuna of Mahabharata fame, who asks Siva for Moksha (salvation) and was born as Thinna, a hunter, to attain the same.

The story about Thinna, the hunter, goes like this.

He was a rustic tribal lad. Lord Siva appeared to him in a dream and inspired him to worhip him. One day he strayed into a forest while hunting, and came across the Siva Linga, covered with leaves. Taking pity on the lonely god, he tried to cajole him into going over to his village. Failing in his efforts, Thinna cleared the Linga and the surrounding place of all the leaves and went in search of food to offer to the God. He killed a wild boar and brougt its roasted meat as an offering to Siva. He brought water from the nearby river to sprinkle on the Linga. Since he had no vessel to carry water, he filled his mouth with water and brought it!

Imagine the hunter in his loin cloth, with his bow under one arm and bower of arrows on his back, with chunks of roasted meat in leaves in both hands and his mouth filled with water to sprinkle on the deity!

A devotee with no inhibitions indeed! All Hindu gods are strict vegetarians. How could Siva eat meat? When there was no response from Siva, Thinna was prepared to give up his life. Then Siva appeared and appeased his devotee by partaking the meat offerings.

In fact, the Siva Linga was not uncared for, as Thinna thought. There is another interesting story. A Brahmin used to go there once a week, clean up the place, light a lamp and cook food and offer it to the Lord. After Thinna's worship, when the Brahmin came on his weekly visit he found to his shock, the whole place desecrated, with meat strewn around.

The Brahmin blamed Siva for eating meat, called him all kinds of names - a greedy soul who could not even wait for his weekly offerings, one who smears ash from cremation ground on his body, wears skull for an ornament and a snake around his neck and skin as attire. Now he has become a meat-eater too! The Brahmin sat there in protest. Siva took pity on him and asked him to comprehend the depth of Thinna's devotion.

To test Thinna's devotion Lord Siva shed blood from one eye. Without hesitation, Thinna scooped his eye out with his arrow and offered it to Siva and was ready to repeat (to scoop out the other eye) the same when Siva's second eye too started bleeding! Pleased with his unstinting devotion Lord Siva offered him a boon. Thinna asked for salvation. Since Thinna offered his eyes to God he is popularly called Kannappa - 'kannu' being the Telugu word for eye.

There are ever so many stories about Srikalahasti.

As the legend goes, the Siva Linga which is in Srikalahasti, actually belongs to Vali ( Sugreeva's brother) of Ramayana. Once, on his way to some place (being an ardent devotee of Siva, he carried the linga wherever he went), Vali stopped near a lake for morning obulations. He placed the Linga on the ground and went to take bath in the lake, before worshipping the Linga. After the pooja, when Vali tried to lift the Linga to proceed with his journey, he could not budge it from its place, however hard he tried. He came to the conclusion that Lord Siva was enamoured by the beautiful big lake and hence did not want to leave. He spotted a mountain nearby, uprooted it and dumped it in the lake, which flowed as the present Swarnamukhi river. Even then the Linga would not budge. So Vali had to give up his efforts and proceed, leaving the Linga there.