People have seen ear phones in black and white films long ago. Pilots in the cockpits of airplanes or people working in communication departments or music directors used unusually big air phones in those days. When Sony invented Walkman, ear phones became a household thing. Even then it was big and uncomfortable to keep it in the pocket. They clipped it to their belts. Then we saw the revolutionary MP3 players and IPods. Thousands of songs were packed in a tiny biscuit like thing with small ear phones, which you can put them in your shirt pockets. Now no youth goes out without a musical player and earphones. But who gave the idea to the world? No encyclopaedia gives the correct information. It is Lord Shiva who gave the idea to the world!!
Thevaram Hymns were sung by three great Saivaite saints who lived in7th and 8[SUP]th[/SUP] centuries. First and foremost of the three Thevaram hymnists were Thiru Gnana Sambabdhar. He was a boy genius like Adi Shankara. Sambandhar started singing about Lord Shiva when he was just three years old. His very first verse was sung at Sirkazi in Tamil Nadu when he was three. A lot of commentaries are available for this first verse. He described Shiva wearing studs in his ears. The scholarly commentaries on the poem give very interesting information about Lord Shiva’s ear phones blaring 24 hour music, 365 days a year. No IPod or MP3 player battery will last that long. But Lord Shiva hears the music in both ears 24 hours for ever. So, what is the story?
Kripananda Variar (1906—1993), a famous speaker on Lord Kartikeya and Lord Shiva narrates the story: Asvadharan and Kampadharan were two great Gandharvas (celectial musicians). They were so great that they excelled Narada in music. But they had no fans. Poor musicians thought of approaching Shiva who was a great Veena player. So they went to the Himalayas and did penance for a long time. Shiva is known as Ashutoshi, means one who can be easily pleased. So he immediately appeared before them and asked what they wanted. They did not ask for billion dollars, but requested Shiva to listen to their music 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Shiva never said NO to anyone. Even when Pasmasura asked for a boon to kill anyone he lays his hands on, Shiva said YES and ran for his life when the Asura (demon) wanted to use Shiva as guinea pig. Shiva agreed to listen to their music. For all the practical purposes it wouldn’t work. He thought of an innovative idea. He told them, I will make both of you ear studs and wear them. You can sing forever”.
My interpretation:
This is the story of Shiva’s ear phone= ear studs. This story was very old, but narrated by Kripananda Variar in his talk on 7-12-1975 at Virudunagar Sakti Sangam.
It is crystal clear that the idea of listening to music through ear phones/ ear studs came from Lord Shiva. Let him own the patent for this innovation!
