The Life
Kalikkamba was a prosperous merchant of Pennadam (Tirupennagadam) who served Shiva by lovingly honouring His devotees, washing their feet and feeding them as though they were the Lord Himself. One day a Shaiva arrived whom Kalikkamba rose to serve. His wife, recognising the guest as one who had once been their servant, felt it beneath her to wash his feet and drew back her hands from holding the water-vessel. To Kalikkamba, who saw every Shaiva as a form of Shiva, this was an unbearable insult to the Lord. Without a moment's wavering he cut off the hands that had refused the sacred service, and completed the washing of the devotee's feet himself. By this uncompromising devotion to the servants of Shiva, Kalikkamba won the grace of the Lord and a place among the sixty-three.