Mayi Amma

Kanya Kumari was home to a great avadhuta³ named Mayi Amma. She took mahasamadhi in 1993, but the date of her birth is unknown, as she is said to have lived for more than 600 years. Her disciples were a pack of stray dogs, that lovingly followed her everywhere. She would swim naked to one of the rocks off the tip of the coast and sit under the hot sun for hours, as if lost to the world. Her dogs would swim after her, and sit at her side. During one of Amma's visits to Kanya Kumari in the early 1980s, Amma met Mayi Amma, a rare encountre between two sages.