LORD SIVA’S MIRACLES

(Madurai Thiruvilaiyadal)

Dr. P. GOPALAN
Lecturer in Tamil
Government Arts College
Udumalpet 642 126

Lakshmi Pathippagam
374-V.G.R.Puram, Alagesan Road
Saibaba Mission Post
Coimbatore 641 011
 BIBUOGRRPHICRL BBTB

Title of the Book- Lord Siva’s Miracles

(Madurai Thiruvilaiyadal)

Author.. Dr. P. Gopaian

Lecturer in Tamil,
Government Arts College,
Udumatpet - 642 126

Publisher- Lakshmi Pathippagam

374-V.G.R.Puram,
Alagesan Road, Saibaba Colony,
Coimbatore -641011.

Copy Right.. Author

Publication Number.. 5
Language.. English
Edition .. First Edition April, 1995
Size of Book- Crown
Type used.. 10 Point
No.of copies.. 1000
Number of pages.. 124
Printers.. Kannappa Art Printers
Madras - 5
Price.. Rs. 30.00 (Rupees Thirty)

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 PREFACE

DR.K. KALAAMANI, u.a., pu.d.,

Sr. Lecturer in English, Department of English

Bharathidasan University,
Palkalaiperur, Tiruchlrapalli - 620 024.

Siva’s Miracles is a refreshingly new endeavour

by Dr.P. Gopalan who has recreated the sixty - four
miracles of the games of Lord Siva from the Tamil
Thriuvilaiyadal. The stories are narrated in an easy style,
the puranic style, so much so that it is readily acceptable
to the common man. The historic accounts of the
various ‘leelas’ carried out by Lord Siva is brought out
with lucidity and simplicity that not only an Indian
audience, but any foreign reader will find it most
palatable. The leelas of the Lord are believed to have
been narrated to sage Agastya by Lord Subramanya and
by the sage Agastya to other sages. The stories relate
how Lord Somasundareswara of Madurai city as its
presiding deity has chosen to reside in this city. The
author brings out succinctly how this city was formed by
His dictates, His guidance and his grace; and how the
city thus became not only sacred, but sweet - its name
stemming from the word ‘Maduram’. The book traces
 P. Gopalan 6

how she was given in marriage to Shiva and the various

Leelas that the lord performed in order to please his
consort which gave rise to the birth of river Vaikai. That
the Lotus Temple is one of the revered spots in the
Temple history is duly established with the various
episodes that take place on its shore and with the
confluence of the seven sacred seas in it.
The Banabhadra incident and the episodes that
inform the founding of the sangam of Tamil poets at
Madurai are illustrative of the greatness of the Lord
Somasundareswara. There are also events that inform
the infinite and abounding compassion in the heart of the
greatest of the great as portrayed in His Love for even
the animals tike the sow or the small chirping
sparrow - he who can become a warrior and win battles
against evil forces can also become a nestling or a sow
and mother the young ones. Such Is the compassion of
the Lord that rules over the city of Madurai. The task that
the author has chosen is commendable. To perpetuate
Tamil literature to a wider audience ; crossing the
regional, linguistic and cultural barriers is a laudable
enterprise and the wr/ting is successful. May Lord
Somasundareswara, bless him in all his future attempts
tfpre be many more fruitful attempts in such
scholarlypursuits.

K. KALAAMANI
 FOREWORD

In Tamil, ‘puranam’ means ancient history or

account. In Sanskrit, there are eighteen Mahapuranas
and Twenty nine Upapurnas. The Mahapuranas were
written by Veda Vyasar. In Tamil, Nine Puranas are
considered to be famous. They are : Kandapuranam,
Periyapuranam, Thiruvilaiyadalpuranam, Koil puranam,
Sethupuranam, Sikalathipuranam, Kanchipuranam,
Thanigaipuranm and Kurralapuranam. Of these, the first
three are the most popular.
Kandapuranam wgs written by Kachiappa
Sivachariar and it deals with the emergence and exploits
of Lord Kandan. Periapuranam was written by Sekkizhar
and it recounts the lives of sixty three individual saints
and the qualities of the groups of saints. Thiruvilaiyadal
purnam was first written by Perumparrappuliyur Nambi
and later by Paranjothi Munivar. Paranjothi was born at
Vetharaniam and an Athi Saiva. He was a Thambiran in
a Maduraimutt. He was well versed in Sanskrit and
Tamil. His knowledge of Ahama Sastras was profound.
He translated Vedharaniamanmiam in Tamil and called It
Vedarania puranam.
He composed the miracles of Siva in his famous
work Thiruvilaiyadal, which contains 3 cantos comprising
64 padalams and 3363 stanzas.
 P. Gopalan 8

Lord Linga form in this shrine is the first of its

kind having been in existence even before the sacred
Lingas in all other places come into being. Hence it is
called Mooiaiinga and its worship confers all blessings,
■ including the expiation of all sins and the attainment of
Moksha.
Having thus expounded the three kinds of
greatness of the kshetra, (Sthala, Theertha and
Moorthy) Agastya proceeded to describe the sixty four
miracles of the Lord of Madurai.
Naradha Maharishi and Vyasa Maharishi, when
approached, said that Agastya Maharishi was eminently
suited to enlighten them in the matter as he had imbibed
all knowledge from Lord Subramanya. Agastya
acquiesed saying that Lord Siva once gave a discourse
to Parvathi Sankara Samhita about all Saivite Shrines
and that Lord Subramanya who was seated in his
Mother's lap also heard the discourse which he later
narrated it to him.
According to the Sankara Samhita, Agastya
said, Haksya Kshetra would answer to the description of
the most meritorious Saivite Kshetra. In the first place,
Lord Shiva himseif once ruled the Pandya kingdom from
its capital Madurai, a well planned and well-built city. The
Lord created the Kshetra before all other and the mere
mention of its name would confer all benefits including
Moksha. In the second place, the tank in the Kshetra
which is called Golden Lotus tank was similarly created
by the Lord, missing. His abhisheka even before the
rivers like Ganga, Cauvery, etc., came into being. For
 Lord Sivs'a Miracles 9

this reason, it was also called 'Adhl Theertha’ Parama

Thimbu (superior to all others) ‘Siva Theertha’ (as it
confers unalloyed happiness on those who bathe in it).
Gnana Theeertha" (as it confers Gnana) and Moksha
theertha -(as it confers Moksha). It is also called Siva
Ganga as the Lord sprinkled Ganges water from his head
on this tank.

The city of Madurai in South India is an

important pilgrim centre for Hindus all over India. The
shrine of Lord Siva there is very famous and the place is
considered to be Bhooloka Kailasam. The presiding
deities are Goddess Meenakshi and Lord
Somasundareswara. The Kshetra is called Hatasya
Kshetra. Lord Somasundareswara is credited for having
performed sixty four leelas which are described in the
Haiasya Mahatmya Puranam (in Sanskrit) and
Thiruviiaiyadal puranam (in Tamil).
The Leelas of the Lord are believed to have
been narrated to sage Agastya by Lord Subramanya and
by the sage Agastya to other sages in the circumstances
mentioned below.
Sage Sootha, well known disciple of sage Vyasa
and the exponent of the eighteen Mahapuranam,
distributed to sage Vyasa, was once seated in the
thousand pillared Mandapa on Mount Kailasa, the abode
of Lord siva. Then Sadanata and several other sages
approached sage Sootha and enquired him about the
most meritorious Siva Kshetra with reference to the
merits of Sthala, Theertha and the boon-giving qualities
 P. Gqpalan 10

when Brahma performed Aswamedha yaga in Varanasi,

many Rishis assembled there and the same question
was raised then.
Another ‘Thiruviiaiyadai' by Perumpatra
PulHyurar of Sellinagar alias Vembathurar Thiruviiaiyadai
is to be rendering of the Sanskrit Uttara Mahapuranam is
more ancient and valuable. Between Paranjothi’s and
this work, there are many differences in the order and
treatment of the various divine sports. Pandit
Swaminatha Ayyer had published it with introduction,
lexicon and appendices and places the author
Perumpatra Putiyur in the 12th century. Potri-kafi-venba
which gives the essence of his puranam and Mathurai-
Pathirm-Patthu-Anthathi are his other compositions.
The puranam of Paranjothi Munivar is more
popular in Tamil, fn this work i have tried to portray a
brief account of the contents of each chapter in order to
make known to the Non-Tamiis and foreigners too.
Following are the gist of the miracles are serialised in
this book.

Coimbatore -11,
14-04-1995.
Dr. P. GOPALAN
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

My special thanks are due to my colleague

Thiru. P. Thangaraj, M.A., M.Phll., Senior Lecturer in
English, Government Arts College, Udumalpet for
reading the manuscript and for offering many pieces of
editorial advice and suggestions.
I am deeply grateful to Dr. (Mrs.) N. Kalaamani,
M.A., Ph.D., Senior Lecturer, Department of English,
Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli for her
Preface for this book and to Dr. E. Sundaramoorthy,
Professor of Tamil, Madras University for his valuable
suggestions and help in bringing out this book.
The author is profoundly indebted to and wishes
to record his gratitude to the Expert committee headed
by the enlightened and religious minded Executive
officer along with the devout theist members, of
T.T. Devastanams, Tiruppathi for granting financial
assistance under their scheme AID to publish Religious
Books.
Kannappa Art Printers 60/4, Surapaa St,
Triplicane, Madras - 5 have brought out this book in time
without sacrificing quality. My thanks and
congratulations are due to them. I am glad to know that
the Lakshmi Pathippagam, Coimbatore is bringing
 P. Gopalan 12
out this small monograph on Siva’s Miracles in
English and I hope this small book will give to its
readers an account of our travail of mind and heart our
hopes and aspirations.
At the end of the book, thematic venbas of
Thiruvilaiyadal are annexed. These were originally
written by Thiru A. Sankaralingam Pillai and published in
the monthly ‘Gnanabodhini’ from August 1900 to August
1901. Every thematic venbas points out each miracle of
Lord Siva briefly. I hope this will be very much useful to
the Tamil reading public and religious minded people.

Coimbatore -11
14-04-1995. Dr. P. Gopalan
 CONTENTS...

1. MADURAIKKAANDAM

Miracle No. Page. No.

1. Lord Siva a$ a redeemer of Indira 17

2. Airavatha redeemed from sin 20

3. Building of Madurapuram in Kadamba forest 21

4. Parvathi born as Thatathakai 23

5. Lord Siva as Pandyadeva wedded
Thatathakai 24
6. Dance before sage Pathanjaii 26
7. Kundodara granted power to consume much rice 27
8. Quenching of Kundodara’s thirst and hunger and 28
the birth of river Vaigai
9. Merging the seven seas to please his wife 28
10. Bringing down Malayadhuvaja to earth from Devaloka 29
11. Birth of Subramanya to humiliate the forces against him 30
12. Ugra given three weapons like sula 31

13. Devesting Ugra Pandyan of his power over the sea 32

14. Breaking of Indira’s crown 33

15. Ugra pandya given gold from Mahameru 35

16. Teaching the meaning of Vedas to Maharishis 37

17. The God as vendor of gems 33

 II. KOODAL KAANDAM

18. Ordering the clouds to drink water from the ocean 40

19. Stoppage of torrential rain 41
20. The king comes to Siva, the Siddha 42
21. Stone elephants, eat sugarcane 43
22. Killing the elephant sent by Jains 44
23. Blessing the Brahmin girl 46
24. Performance of various kinds of dances 48
25. Brought to light the truth about the killing of 49
Brahmin woman
26. Annihilating the evil man for the sin of having slept 51
with mother and killed the father
27. Executing the siddha to save the wife of preceptor 52
who taught archery
28. Maying the snakes sent by buddha sannyasins poisonless 54
29. Killing cows sent by same sanyasins 55
30. Creating the illusory soldiers to save the commander-in 56
Chief of Pandya Army
31. Pandya King gifted with a money-bag which would 57
never become empty
32. Lord Siva disguising and selling bangles 58
33. Astasiddhis granted to Yaksisi 60
34. Throwing open the door of the temple for Chola King 61
35. Lord Siva supplying water to the Pandyan Army 62
36. Convertirfg base metals into gold etc., 64
37. Vanquising the Chola king 65
38. A Sudra given vessel filled with glngilly seeds 66
39. A Vaisya boy given victory in a suil 67
40. Redeemer of the Pandya king from the sin of Bramhatya 69
41. Carrying firewood to save the devotee named Banabhadra 71
42. Writing a letter to the Chera king on behalf of Banabhadra 72
43. Banabhadra presented with a plank 74
44. Banabhadra1$ wife granted victory in Nagavidya 74
45. Assumed the form of Ubw and saved the offsprings 76
46. Smail pigs made ministers 77
47. Instructing a khanjarita bird 78
48. A Sarari bird granted with salvation 80

IIL THIR UVAALAVAYKKAANDAM

49. Boundaries of Madhurapuram shown by serpent 81

50. Waging battle with arrow engraved with ‘Sundaresan’ 82
51. Dravidian scholars given the Sangam p/ank 83
52. Writing a verse for a brahmin at the instance 86
53. Resuscitation of Nakkeeran 88
54. Nakkeera being taught sutras 89
55. Made a comparative study of theses 90
56. Idaikkaitu Pulavar’s complaint against the king 91
57. Lord siva becoming a fisher man 92
58. Instructing Vaadhavur Adigal 95
59. Sold magic horses to the Pandyan king 97
60. River made bigger 99
61. Carried mud for pancakes 100
62. Cured the fever and hunch back of Koon Pandyan 103
63. Mode Gnana Sambandhar killed the naked one on the sula 105
64. Brought tree, tank, sivalinga etc., to Madurai as witness 107
65. Supplication 109
 1. LORD SIVA AS A REDEEMER OF INDIRA

Once Indira was engrossed in witnessing the

performance of the Apsaras, the classical dancers. His
Guru, Brahuspathi, arrived there but Indira failed to
receive him and do obeisance to him befitting the
occasion. Brahuspathi got annoyed and walked away.
Consequently, Indira’s prosperity dwindled. Afterwards
he searched for his Guru but he could'nt find. He had
consulted Brahma, who suggested that Indira should
take another Guru till the return of his erstwhile Guru.
Brahma had also suggested the name of the
three headed Vichravas who ivas an Asura by birth but
was a scholar of unexceptional erudition and reputation.
Indira had acted accordingly. When Indira wanted to
perform a yaga, his newly .‘found Guru showed his real
leahings towards the Asuras and performed the yaga
which only resulted in the prosperity of the Asuras. Indira
was furious at this deceit did he cut off the three heads
of his Guru. Brahmahathi Bbsha seized Indira
immediately. This he passed on to the trees, earth,
women and water and thus becefrne absolved of the sin.
But, Thwashta, the father of Vichravas, was
grief-stricken on the murder of his son. He therefore
performed a yaga from which vratrasura, a demon,
emanated. Thwashta put the demon on a mission to kill,
Indira in a battle. Vratrasura’s challenge was accepted
by Indira. But in the battle he could not withstand the
 P. Gopalan 18

onslaughts of the demon. He took Brahma into

confidence and both went to Lord Vishnu. Lord Vishnu
had explained in detail as to how the Devas and Asuras
had, at the time of the churning of the Kshenabdhi for
Amruta, deposited all their _ weapons with Dadhechi
Maharishi and also explained how Dadhechi Maharishi
had devoured them when the depositors failed to collect
the weapons from him. Those weapons had therefore
formed part and parcel of the Maharishi’s backbone and
Lord Vishnu had suggested that Indira should beg
Maharishi to give his backbone for his use as Vajrayudha
to kill the demon Vratrasura. The Maharishi had
benevolently gifted his backbone to Indira and attained
Moksha.
Indira now challenged the demon and a
ferocious battle ensued. When Indira took up the
Vajrayudha to attack the demon, the latter took to his
heels and hid himself in the ocean at the suggestion of
Brahma. Indira had sought Agastya's help. Agastya
drunk the water and Indira could locate the demon and
killed him by his vajrayudha.
Indira had again been subjected to
Brahmahathi Dosha and had hidden himself within the
thin stem of a lotus. Absence of Indira from his Loka
made it desolate and the Devas selected Nahusha, a
king who had performed many Aswamedha yagas, as
their Indira. Soon after his selection Nahusha expressed
that he should be served by Indirani, the wife of the
defunct Indira. She got frightened and consulted
Bruhaspathi. he suggested that she should send word to
Nahausha that he could welcome him if only he would
come to her in a palanquin lifted by the Saptharishis
A .4. A _ . j.1_ __ __
 Lord Siva's Miracles 19

Markandeya and Vasishta. Nahusha accordingly got into

a palanquin lifted by the said Rishis. Not knowing the
greatness of the bearers, he unduly hastened them by
ordering “sarpa” (meaning “go fasf’).
Agastya who was the first bearer cursed him to
become a ‘sarpa’ and nahusha became a snake.
Again, the Devas were without Indira.
Bruhaspathi contacted Indira in his hiding place and
advised him to go to bhooloka ostensibly for hunting
purposes. /\s the original sin of Indira was born of his
slighting Bruhaspathi, his Guru, that sin could be
absorbed only by his Guru, and hence bruhaspathi now
came to the rescue. Indira came to Bhooloka and took
bath in sacred waters and offered worship in many
shrines but the Brahmahathi did not release him. While
wandering from place to place, he happened to approach
Kadambavana (Halasya Kshetra is also called
Kadambavana Kshetra) and immediately, the Dosha
released him. Bruhaspathi informed Indira that a very
sacred Theertha and a sacred sthala existed in the
place and asked him to identify it. Indira found a sacred
Linga in the place and, after taking bath in the theertha
(Golden Lotus Tank), worshipped Lord Siva in the
Linga's form. Indira sent the Devas to procure materials
for the performance of puja to the Linga. To his delight,
by Lord’s grace, several golden lotus flowers were found
floating in the tank. He gathered them and hastened to
do the puja. The forest around the Linga was cleared and
then a celestial vimanaa brought by Vishwakarma at the
behest of Indira descended on the place. Indira fixed it
and completed his puja with all the materials brought
from Devaloka. Lord Somasundareswara was much
_P.GtjMaa 20

be fortunate if he was allowed to do puja to the Lord

who so benevolently relieved him of his Brahmahathi
Dosha. The Lord ordained that Indira should do puja on
one day every year (namely,the Chitra Pournamf day)
ami get the .benefits of having done puja throughout the.
year. Indira returned to his Loka with the blessings of
the Lord.

%. IRAAVATA REDEEMED FROM SIN

Once sage Durvaasa installed in his nankt^ft

sacred Linga in Varanasi and was worshipping Be tJ§i§i
when, by the Lord’s grace, a golden lotus ffcme/f.
(trapped from die Linga.Durvadsa was delighted and.%&
picked it up with great devotion and care.
’ Me them went to Devatoka where the Devas were
celebrating the Victorious returni of Indira from a battle
with Asuras. Indira was riding his white elephant,
iraavatham. The Devas were giving various presents to
fndira. Durvaasa presented the golden lotus flower to
Indira who received it nonchalantly With one hand and
placed it on the elephant. The elephant pushed it down
amt trampled it under its foot. Durvaasa was incensed at
this and cufppd Indira to puffer humiliation at the hands
of a Pandya King and the elephant to become an
ordinary black elephant in 4 juggle,
Indira and the Devas apologised to the sage and
fervently prayed that the curse be nullified. Durvaasa
relented■ and, said "that Indira’s humiliation would be
symb0c.,s^lit^':,’^3hart^!woufd. regain its celestial life
after a centiuy. Ajocopfdmgiyj the elephant left the
Devaloka and m t^fy ^lphant and wandered about in
the jungle.
 Lord Siva's Miracles 21
After a century, the elephant, happened to enter
the Kadambavana. It was the ‘Golden Lotus Tank’.
Immediately it regained full knowledge about its own real
self, bathed in the tank and was transformed into
iraavatham. Once., again it worshipped Lord
Somasundareshwara.The Lord appeared before the
elephant and gave a boon to it. The elephant prayed that
it should be allowed to bear the Lord's Vimaanaa along
with the eighi elephants which were already bearing it on
their backs. The Lord told iraavatham that it would give
immense pleasure to Him even when it bore Indira on
its back as usual as Indira was a good devotee of the
Lord.
iraavatham then created a Theertha known as
Iraavatha Theertha. It also installed Linga and Vinayaka
Idol near Kadambavana (to the west of Lord
Somasundareswara) and was worshipping them. Indira
sent his messengers in search of Irravatham and the
latter sent them back with a promise to return to
Devaloka in due course. It then formed a city called
Iravathapumm (to the east of Lord Somasundareswarar)&
and installed a Linga called Indireswara there.Then it.
went back to the Devaloka. 1

3. BUILDING OF MADURAPURAM
IN KADAMBA FOREST

Kulasekara the Pandya fang was ruling from

Manavur which was situated to the east of
Kadambavanam. Dhananjaya, a merchant was once
returning to manavur after transacting business in
 P. Gopalan 22
several places. When he reached Kadambavanam it was
dark and it was a Monday. To his surprise, he found
Devas from. the Devaioka doing puja to Lord
Somasundareswarar. The pujas continued throughout
the night and the Devas disappeared at the dawn. The
merchant, on return to his place informed the king about
it. The king was an ardent devotee of Lord Siva who had
appeared in the form of a siddhapurusha in the King’s
dream and asked him to transform the Kadambavana
into a beautiful city.
Next day, the king with his retinue went to the
Kadambavana, bathed in the golden lotus-tank and
worshipped Lord Somasundareswara. The jungle was
speedily cleared under the king’s supervision. The king
then discussed with his ministers the formation of a
city.The Lord then appeared before the king in the same
form , of sj^Dji^PLiRusHA and explained to him in
detail how the gify and the temple should be formed. A
big city wjtfj, ajtgmple in the middle was then built
according to the specifications given by the Lord. At the
tyng^pf inauguration of the city, the Lord, in order to
sanctify it, sprinkled drops of Apmita from the crescent
on the Lord’s head and the city thus became not only
sacred but also sweet; Hence, it was called
Madurai (Meaning sweet; •maduram% For She protection
of the city, lyyanar (hariharaputra) Sapthamathas
(Brahma, Narayana and others) Viushnu and Badrakali
were installed respectively to the east, south, west and
north cf the city,
The city was, therefore, formed by. His dictates,
His guidance and His grace.
 4. PAMVATHI BORN AS THATATHAKAI

Malayadhwaja Pandya, son of Kulasekhara

Pandya, succeeded his father to the Kingdom. -Like his
father, he was an ardent devotee of Lord siva and was
ruling the Kingdom according to the tenets of Dharma.
His wife was Kanchanamalai, daughter of Surasena, a
Chola king.Malayadhawaja had no offspring for a long
time. He therefore, performed ninetynine Aswametha
yagas and started the hundredth also. Then Indira,
fearing that, on completion of the hundredth yaga, the
Pandya king would oust him from power and become
Indira himself, advised the pandya king to perform the
puthra Kameshti yaga for getting an offspring.
Malayadhwaja performed that yaga and, much to his
delight, there appeared from the sacrificial fire a girl
child of three years. The beauty of the child defied
description as she was an Avatar of Goddess Parvathi.
The child straightaway walked into the lap of the queen
who was seated by the side of the king. The ecstasy of
thus getting a child was, however, marred on finding that
the child had three breasts instead of the normal two. He,
therefore, felt sad but, the voice of Lord was heard
saying that the king should not worry about the unusual
feature as it would disappear the moment the girl set
Her eyes on Her would-be husband. He also said that
the King should give the child all the training that would
normally be given to a boy and that the child should be
called thatathakai. The king was immensely pleased.
In due course, thatathakai completed Her
studies and training. The king crowned Her as the ruler
of the Kingdom before he passed away.
 P.Gopalan 24
thatathakai had proved to be an ideal ruler.
Anindhithai and Kamalini, two celestial residents of
Kailas who had also been born as mortal beings, became
Her bodyguards.
Agastya who was narrating this to the other
sages was asked by them how the Supreme Mother,
Parvathi, happened to become the child of mortals.
Agastya told them that Viswavasu, a Vidyadhara had a
daughter by name Vichavathi, she wanted to worship
Goddess Parvathi. Her father taught her the special
Mantra for the purpose and told her that Madurai (known
as Booloka Sivaioka) was the first among the sixty
four sakthi peetas and the worship of Parvathi at the
place would yield all the desired benefits. Vichawathi
accordingly proceeded to Madurai and ardently
worshipped Parvathi. The supreme mother appeared
before her in the form of a small child and asked
Vichavathi what her prayer was? Vichavathi expressed
the wish that she should always have the grace of the
supreme mother and that she should become her child
in'the same form in Which she had appeared before
her then. The supreme Mother granted the request and
said Vichawathi would become wMe or Malayadhwaja
Pandya and that the Supreme Mother would become
hdf Child.

5. LORD SIVA AS PANDYADEVA

4, a. \ f f 4 f *

WEDDED THATATHAKAI

, ,,
In the course, thatathakai came of age and fter
mother became anxious of her daugajfiter’s marriage.
 Lord Siva's Miracles 25

Thatathakai assured her mother that the

wedding would take place at the approporiate time and
that in the meantime she should set out on a Dikvijaya
tour with all her retinue. She conquerred the Dik palakas
(Indira and others} without any difficulty and then went
to Mount Kailas. Her forces surrounded the Mount. The
watch and ward of the Mount informed Nandikeswara of
this. Nandikeswara appraised Lord Siva, the Lord of
Mount Kailas, of this and directed the Siva Ganas to
prepare themselves for a battle against the invaders. A
fierce battle ensued and Thatathakai quickly routed the
Siva Ganas by her powers. Lord, Siva, therefore,
personally arrived at the battle field and beheld
Thatathakai. The latter also saw the Lord and noticed
that He was looking at Her with admiration. Immediately
the third breast in her body disappeared. Sumathi, a
minister of Thatathakai, informed Her of the Divine voice
which had said at the time of Her appearance from the
Yaga Kunda as a child that the third breast would
disappear at the moment. She set her eyes on Her
would-be husband. She gave up her fight. She blushed
and made obeisance. The Lord said that He would marry
Her on the next Mondy and asked Her to return to
Madurai. She did so.
The entire city of Madurai was beautified and
people were delighted at the prospective wedding of their
divine queen. A beautiful wedding hall was also prepared
and guests' quarters were arranged to receive Devas,
devotees of Lord Siva, Kings and others. Invitations were
sent to all including Lord Vishnu, Brahma and all Devas.
The Devas arrived at Mount Kailas.
Lord Siva was suitably dressed and adorned by
Kubera for the occasion. Lord Siva, accompanied by all
 P. Gopalan 26

the Devas, Rishis, etc., left for Madurai. The bridegroom

and party were appropriately received at Madurai and
were given palatial residences for their occupation.
Kanchanamala, mother of Thatathakai, prayed to Lord
Siva that He should consent to marry her daughter. The
Lord agreed and proceeded to the wedding. Thatathakai
arrived there in her wedding dress and sat by the side of
the Lord. The wedding ceremonies were performed
according to the Vedic rites under the guidance of
Brahma.
After the completion of the wedding and other
ceremonies, the guests left. The Lord then assumed the
rulership of the Pandya Kingdom under the name of
Sundarapandya. He established a town called Naduvur
and installed a Linga and worshipped it Himself. He also
worshipped Lord Somasundareshwara at Kadambavana
thrice a day.

6. DANCE BEFORE SAGE PATHANJALI

Lord Siva invited all the Devas, Rishis and

others, who had attended the Lord's wedding, to dinner.
They completed their ablutions in the Golden Lotus Tank
and arrived for the dinner. Then Pathanjali and
Vyagrapada told the Lord that they could take food only
after witnessing the Lord’s dance at Chidambaram
(Golden Sabha). The Lord told them that He would
peform the dance at Madurai itself for their benefit and
also told them that Madurai was equal in merit to
Chidambaram'. Immediately a silver Sabha appeared on
the scene with a dazzling platform at the centre. The
Lord then performed the dance from the platform in the
same manner as at Chidambaram.
 Lord Siva's Miracles 27
Pathanjali and Vyagrapada and all those present
witnessed the dance much to their delight and
worshipped the Lord. Pathanjali and Vyagrapada were
also assured by the Lord on their request that He would
give darshan-in the dancing posture to all worshippers at
Madurai and bless them with Moksha.

7. KUNDODARA GRANTED POWER

TO CONSUME MUCH RICE

The food prepared for the wedding feast was

served to all guests but yet the unconsumed remnants
were in Himalayan quantities. Thatathakai Devi
approached the Lord and informed Him of Her concern
about it. The Lord smiled and willed that Gundodara, a
Siva Gana attending on Him, should have insatiable
hunger. Gundodara immediately felt the terrible pangs of
hunger and prayed to the Lord for its appeasement. The
Lord asked Thatathakai to feed Gundodara. She thanked
the Lord and went with Gundodara.
Gundodara who was taken into the dining hall,
helped himself with all that remained there and left
nothing. All those who witnessed this including
Thatathakai were awestruck. Then Devi went to the Lord
looking abashed. The Lord immediately enquired of her if
there was more unconsumed food and said that He
would be pleased to depute a few more of the Siva
Ganas if necesary. The Devi said that Gundodara was
still feeling hungry after eating the entire food.
Gundodara also followed closely and confirmed this.
 8. QUENCHING OF KUNDODARA’S THIRST
AND HUNGER AND THE BIRTH
OF RIVER VAIGAI

The Lord, on hearing from Gundodara that his

hunger was still to be appeased, smiled at Thatathakai
and thought of Annapurna Devi, His Sakthi. Immediately,
four big reservoirs of curd and rice appeared and the
Lord asked Gundodara to help himself. He ate
sumptuously and expressed his satisfaction. But, he was
beset with another problem now. He grew very thirsty.
The water available from the wells and tanks could not
quench his thirst. Therefore he approached the Lord
again. The Lord enjoined Ganga Devi, who was adorning
His Jata, to flow in the form of a river in Madurai.
Accordingly, the river Vaigai began to flow and
Gundodara quenched his thirst drinking it. The river is
also called Siva Ganga ( as it came from the Lord’s J&ta)
Siva Gnana Theertha (as it confer Gnana), Vegavathi (as
it flows with speed of the wind) and Kruthamalai (as it
surrounds Madurai in the form of garland).

9. MERGING THE SEVEN SEAS

fO PLEASE HIS WIFE

While the Lord was ruling Pandya Kingdom as

Sundara Pandya, several Rishis and Yogis used to visit
Madurai and make obeisance to the Lord. Gauthama
 Lord Siva’s Miracles 29

residence. Kanchanamala respectfully received him and

requested him to instruct her how to avoid rebirth. He
eulogised her good fortune m having become the mother
of Thatathakai and the mother-in-law of the Lord Siva.
He told her that penance was-of three Kinds;
namely, mental, oral and physical. The first pertains to
charity, kindness to all, speakifrg nothing but the truth,
control of the senses and meditation of the Lord, the
second relates to tapas like Panchafcshara, Sri Rudra
Mantras, study of the upanishads and preaching of
Dharma and the third relates to doing puja to the Lord,
going round the temples and sacred places, and bathing
in sacred waters. Of the three, he said, the third was the
best and to bath in the sea into which ail rivers fiow was
the most beneficial.
Kanchanamala told Thatathakai about this and
the latter accosted Him of her mother’s wish to bath in
the sea. The Lord said that He would summon not one
but all the seven seas to Madurai. Immediately, the
Seven seas, with their distinct colours Intact, entered a
tank in Madurai and roared but, by the Lord’s command,
they settled quickly within the tank.

10. BRINGING DOWN MALAYUDHUVAJA

TO EARTH FROM DEVALOKA

The Lord and Thatatahkai were seated on a

throne on the bank of.the tank into which the seven seas
had entered. The Lord then asked His Devi to call Her
mother for taking bath in the seven seas. Accordingly
Kanchanamala arrived there.
 P. Gopalan 30

She enquired the learned men as to the mode of

taking bath in the seas and they told her that the proper
way was to hold the husband’s hand, son’s hand or the
tail of cow’s calf while bathing. Kanchanamala felt sad at
having to hold the tail of a calf while bathing as her
husband had died and as she had no son. On hearing
this from Devi, the Lord thought of Malayadhwaja
Pandya who was at that time seated with Indira in the
Devaloka, Immediately, Malayadhwaja arrived at the tank
in a celestial vimanam. He expressed his gratitude to the
Lord and was about to prostrate before the Lord but the
Lord held and embraced him.
, The Lord then asked him to bath in the tank with
his wife and they did so. After the bath, they assumed
the form of the Lord to signify that they had become one
with him. They then ascended the celestial Vimanam
and went’to Sivaloka. The Devi profusely thanked the
Lord for his great kindness to Her parents.

11. BIRTH OF SUBRAMANYA TO HUMILIATE

THE FORCES AGAINST HIM

Lord Siva ruled the Pandya kingdom as Sundara

Pandya for a long period (sixteen Deva Years) and
proved to be an ideal ruler. During that period, the
Pandya Kingdom eclipsed the greatness of Chera and
Chola Kingdoms.
The Lord desired to add one more laurel to the
brown of the Pandya Kingdom. Accordingly, He ordained
that Lord Subramahya should make an Avatar and
become the son of Thatathakal Devi. This happened on
an auspicious day. The Devas, rishis and other Kings
 Lord Siva's Miracles 31

came and had darshan of the divine child. The citizens of

Madurai were immensely happy at the birth of a prince.
All the Vedic ceremonies were duly performed
and the child was named Ugra Varman. On the fifth birth
day, Upanayanam was-performed. UgraVarman learnt all
the Vedas and arts required of a prince. He attained
great physical prowess and His cultural attainments were
unique. When he was in his teens, he displayed his
talents in various ways and was the cynosure of all
eyes. The Lord found that his son had all the thirty two
‘Lakshanas’ (ideal physical features) and was satisfied
that he would be an ideal and successful ruler. The Lord
then bestowed His thoughts on the question of getting a
suitable bride to His son.

12. UGRA GIVEN THREE WEAPONS

LIKE SULE

The Ministers were seized with the question

of finding out a suitable bride to Ugrasena and
finally concluded that Kanthimathi, daughter of
Somasekhara, the king of Manavur, who hailed from
the Surya Vamsa, would be the most suitable bride.
Lord Somasundareswara of Madurai appeared in
Somasekara’s dream and asked him to take his
daughter, Kandhimathi, to Madurai and give her in
marriage to the son of Sundara Pandya. Somasekhara
was delighted at the Lord’s appearance and lost no time
in carrying out the divine injunction, while he was on his
way to Madurai, Sundara Pandya and his ministers had
started from Manavur and they met him enrouie.
_P. Gopalaa 3'.

Somasekham told them of his dream and they were all

delighted.
Preparations for the wedding were made on a
colossal scale. The entire city of Madurai wore a festive
appearance and all its citizens were extremely happy. All
the Devas, Rishis, Kings and others arrived at Madurai
to grace the function. Bruhaspathi Deva pointed out to
Sundara Pandya the ideal features of Kanthimathi’s
physical form and said that they augured quite well for
her husband. The celestial wedding took place
according to Vedic rites. Somasekhara gave invaluable
presents to the bride and bridegroom. Then they were
taken in a procession along the streets of the city. The
guests, who attended the wedding, were duly honoured
by Sundara Pandya and they then left for their places.
Sundara Pandya then decided to anoint the
prince as a king. He told the prince that he should be
aware of Indira, Varuna (see lord) and the Mount Meru
and gave the prince three weapons to oppose the three
when the need arose. The prince was then crowned as a
king.Sundara Pandya instructed the ministers to look
after the interests of their new king properly. Sundara
Pandya and Thatathakai Devi then gave up their tmmafi
forms, assumed their Godhood and entered the temple
in Madurai.

13. DIVESTING UGRAPANDIYAN OF

HIS POWER OVER THE SEA

tfgra Pandiya ruled the Kingdom efficiently. He

performed ninety six Aswamedha yagas. Hence Indira
 Lord Siva's Miracles 33

succeed as a ruler and could perform so many

Aswamedha Yagas purely because there was
widespread prosperity owing to unfailing seasonal rains.
Hence Indira asked Varuna, the Sea Lord, to
destroy the city of Madurai with floods. At his behest, the
seas rose to great heights as if touching the moon. The
tidal waves invaded Madurai from the east at the dead
of night. Ugra pandiya was then asleep. Lord Siva
appeared in his dream as a siddha purusha and
informed him that the seas were about to destroy his city
and advised him that he should immediately use the
weapon given to him by his father at the time of
ugrasena’s marriage.
The king rushed with the weapon and threw
it on the seas in the 'presence of siddha purusha.
No sooner was this done than the roaring seas lost
their ferocious form and became ankle deep: The
siddha purusha then disappeared and Lord Siva and
Parvathi gave darshan to Ugra Pandiya who gratefully
prostrated before them. The King as a token of gratitude
donated all the lands and villages between Madurai city
and the sea to the Lord for this service.

14. BREAKING OF INDIRA’S CROWN

During the rule of Ugra Pandiya, there was an

acute famine in the three Tamil Kingdoms of chera,
Chola and Pandya. the Kings, therefore, went to Agastya
and sought his help. After reading the planatary
movements, the sage told them there would be a famine
for twelve years. He advised them to seek the help of
Indira, he also told them that they should propitiate Lord
 P. Gopalan 34

Somasundareswara of Madurai by observing the

Somavara viratham and that would help them to conrtact
Indira in the Devaloka. The sage also told them that the
observance of the viratham in Madurai would yield most
beneficial results and he explained in detail the mode of
observing it.
The three kings observed the viratham in
strict accordance with the Rishi’s instructions and
this helped them to reach Indira’s presence in
Devaloka. Indira received them suitably and provided
them with three seats which were slightly lower
than the throne occupied by his self. The Chera and
Chola kings occupied two of them but Ugra Pandiya
ascended the throne of Indira and shared it with him.
Indira was incensed at this. He, therefore, enquired
only of the Chera and Chola kings what they wanted
and granted their request for rains in their kingdoms.
He also made suitable presents to them and they
returned to their respective kingdoms.
Then Indira turned to Ugra Pandiya and,
feigning to honour him, presented him with a necklace
made up of pearls. The necklace was two heavy to be
worn by an ordinary person. In fact, the necklace had to
be carried by several assistants of Indira. But Ugra
Pandiya received arid wore it easily. Indira was
wonder-struck and he praised Ugra Pandya by naming
him, “necklace- wearing pandya”. Ugra Pandya was not
carried away by this praise and he returned to Madufai
without making any request to Indira about the rains.
Hence the Pandya kingdom did not get rains while the
other two kingdoms received copious rains.
 Lord Siva's Miracles 35

Sometime later, Ugra Pandya was hunting near

podiya Mountain (the abode of Agastya) and he noted
the four celestial rain-bearing clouds, namely, Pushkala
virutham Sangaritham, Dronam and Kalamukhi resting
on the mountain. The king chained and imprisoned them.
Indira, who was already jealous of Ugra Pandya
for this great prowess in humiliating the seas and
wearing his heavy pearls necklace, invaded Madurai
with all his forces with the imprisoning of the
clouds as a pre-test. The Pandya king’s forces
encountered and routed the forces of Indira. The
Indira and Pandya entered into a duel. Ugra Pandya
attacked Indira with the unique weapon given to him
by his father and it caused the fall of Indira’s crown to
the ground. Indira felt ashamed and ran away.
Indira then sent an emissary to the
Pandya promising to send rains to his kingdom
and requested him to release the clouds. The Pandya
king did not have faith in his words. A vellala courtier
of the king then offered himself as surety. The clouds
were released. Indira then blessed the Pandya kingdom
with copious rains.

IS. UGRA PANDYA GIVEN GOLD

FROM MAHAMERU

Ugra Pandya was constantly observing the

Somavara Vlratham as per the instructions of Agastya.
Consequently he became the father of a remarkable son
whom he named as Veera pandya. Veera pandya In
course of time became a great scholar and warrior.
 P. Gopalan 36

The Pandya Kingdom once again experienced

a famine. Ugra pandya ascertained from learned
men that the famine would last for a year. He
became sad and prayed to Lord Somasundareswara to
avert the misfortune but the Lord did not respond
to his prayer. The king returned home grief-struck.
That night, the Lord appeared in the form of
siddha purusha in the king’s dream and told him
that the rains would fail as predicted; but the king
should not worry about it as considerable riches were
stored in a cave in the Mountain Meru and the
king could fetch them after subjugating the Mountain.
The king immediately set out with his armed forces to
Mount Meru.There he respectfully invoked Meru but it
did not respond. The king was enraged and he smote
the mountain with the special weapon which his father
had given him. The mountain shook to its foundations
and then the titular deity of the mountain appeared
with four heads and eight shoulders and white
umbrella. The king accosted the figure and
asked why it did not appear on his invocation. The
deity told him that every day it had been sending reeds
for the worship of Lord Sundareswara and Devi
Meenakshi at Madurai. It had failed to do so that day.
Therefore it had deserved punishment at king’s
hands.The Mountain then delivered the riches to the
king as desired by him. The king returned
to Madurai with the riches and distributed them
among the people. He worshipped Lord
Somasundareswara whose kindness had enabled
him to tide over the difficult period. He then anointed
his son Veera Pandya as king.Ugra Pandya then
passed away.
 16. TEACHING THE MEANING OF
VEDAS TO MAHARISHIS

Once the great Deluge overtook the world and

all including Brahma and Vishnu and the vedas were
eclipsed. Lord Siva was directed to receive the
three-fold functions of creation, protection and
destruction and so he created Vishnu and from Vishnu’s
body Brahma also. Brahma took up the function of
creation. Lord Siva pronounced the Pranava Mantra and
from that the Vedas came into being.
At Naimisaranya, the Rishis have studied Vedas.
But they could not understand their import. At that time
a Rishi named Arabanda appeared before them. They
told him that they were unhapppy as they could not
understand the import of the vedas. Arabanda told
them that the vedas which emanated from Lord
siva could be interpreted only by him. He also
asked, the Rishis to proceed to Madurai where
Somasundareswara’s Vimanas, Lord Dakshinamoorthy
was seated. They should do penance in front of Lord
Dakshinamoorthy for getting enlightenment. The Rishis
accordingly went to Madurai, worshipped Lord
Somasundareswara and Goddess, Meenakshi. Then they
went to Lord Dakshnamoorthy. They worshipped him and
chanted the Mantras which they had learnt from
Arabanda, for a year.
Towards the end, the Lord appeared in the
form of lad of sixteen years. They prostrated and
presented their prayers. He took them to Lord Siva’s
 P. Gopalan 38

Linga and explained to them the import of the vedas

which only signified Lord Siva, He also explained that
pranava also emanated from the Lord and the Gayatri
from the pranava. The Lord ordained that the Vedas
should be four. From him also emananted the twenty
eight sivagamas. The Lord concluded saying that
worship of Lord Siva alone would confer all the earthly
benefits and Moksha. The Lord blessed the Rishis by
touching them and then merged with siva linga form.

17. THE GOD AS VENDOR OF GEMS

Veera Pandya had several concubines. He had

several sons through them but his queen did not bear
him any child. Therefore, he and his queen prayed to
Lord Somasundareswara and observed several vratas.
At last, the queen gave birth to a son. When
the prince was a child, Veera Pandya was killed by a
tiger while hunting. The illegitimate sens of Veera
Pandya took this opportunity to pilfer valuable ornaments
from the treasury and also took possession of horses,
elephants and others. They also stole the king’s crown
and ran away. The king's funeral obsequries were
performed by the minor son of the queen.
The ministers wanted to crown the prince but
they found to their dismay that the down and priceless
gems were missing. They did not know what to do and
hence they took the prince to the temple of Lord
Somasundareswara for guidance. In front of the temple,
the Lord appeared before them in the guise of a Vendor
of gems. The ministers explained to the vendor the
requirements of gems for making a new crown for the
 Lord Siva's Miracles 39

king. Thereupon, the vendor spread the various precious

gems on a carpet and said they were worth fifteen
crores of gold coins. He also told them that they were
taken from the body of an Asura called Valan. The
ministers became curious. They wanted to hear his story.
The vendor narrated the story.
There was an Asura by name valan. He prayed
to Lord Siva who was pleased with his penance and
pujas. The Lord appeared and asked what boon he
wanted. The Aaaura said that he should be immortal,
and, if even he should die, his body should become a
corncopia of valuable gems. The Lord favoured him with
the boon. Then Valan challenged Indira for a battle.
Indira could not withstand the Asura and so he adopted a
strategy to kill the Asura surrounded by the Devas,
Indira approached the Asura and told him that he
(Indira) was pleased with his prowess and wanted to
bestow a boon on him. The Asura rediculed the offer and
said that he could obtain boons even from Lord Siva and
there was no need for him to be bestowed a boon by
Indira who had earlier suffered a defeat at his hands in a
battle. On the other hand, he said, he was prepared to
favour him with a boon if he so desired. Indira asked the
Asura to become a “Yaga pasu, “to be sacrificed at a
yaga in Mount Kailas to propitiate Lord Siva. The Asura
agreed and he was accordingly sacrificed at the yaga.
The various parts of his body became valuable gems.
The vendor had explained the various qualities
of each of the gems, the places where the gems were
found and their beneficial effects. He then took the gems
in his hands, turned to Lord Somasundareswar and
blessjsd the prince while handing them over to the
prince. He told him that he should assume the name of
 P. Gopalan 40

Abisheka Pandya on his ascendening the throne. The

ministers were making arrangements to weigh gold for
payment to the gems. But suddenly he vanished. Lord
Siva and Parvathi were found entering the temple. The
Prince and the Ministers concluded that it was the Lord
who had taken the form of the Vendor and they entered
the temple and Worshipped the Lord.
Then a crown was made with the gems and the
prince was enthroned. He adopted the name of Abisheka
Pandya. Later, he also recovered the valuables stolen by
the illegitimate sons of his father.

18. ORDERING THE CLOUDS TO DRINK

WATER FROM THE OCEAN

Abisheka Pandya worshipped Lord Soma

sundareswara on a chaitra natshatra day of chaitra
(Mesha) month and offered abhisheka and puja were
conducted on a grand scale. ordained earlier by the
Lord, that day was the day Indira used to perform puja
there. As the pandya king was doing the puja on that
day, Indira had to wait till the king finished his worship
and then he performed his puja. Indira felt depressed.
Varma noticed this and Indira told him about
what had happened at Madurai. Varuna then asked
Indjra whether the Linga form of Lord Siva in the
Madurai temple was better than all the other Ungas.
Indira told him that it was so and that Lord
Somasundareswara in Madurai had relieved him and his
iravatham of their curses. Varuna who was suffering
_ Lord Siva's Miracles 41

Somasundareswara could cure him of the malady, Indira

said that the Lord could cure even the evil of birth and
death which even Vishnu and Brahma could not and that
Varuna could verify this.
Varuna wanted to test the Lord’s powers and
get his malady cured. So, he ordered the seas under
his control to destroy the city of Madurai. The seas
accordingly entered the city of Madurai, The king
and the citizens were terribly afraid that the city
would be submerged. The king, therefore, rushed to
Somasundareswara and prayed for protection. The
Lord directed the four clouds in his ‘Jata’ to drink
all the water from the seas. The king and the people
of Madurai were greatly relieved and worshipped
the Lord in graetfulness.

19. STOPPAGE OF TORRENTIAL RAIN

Varuna was greatly incensed at the draining of

the seas and directed the seven clouds under his control
to rain torrentially on the city of Madurai and destory it.
The clouds carried out Varuna’s order and the city of
Madurai was baffled, by the heavy and incessant rains.
The King Abhisheka Pandya, and citizens prayed to
Lord Somasundareswara to save them from the calamity.
The Lord responded to their prayers and directed the
four clouds in his 'Jata' to enclose the city on all the
four sides and shield it from the rains. The clouds did as
ordered and the entire city became a closed area. The
four clouds released by the Lord from His 'Jata'
acted as a bulwark against the rains discharged by
Varuna’s clouds. Varuna was again humiliated.
 P. Gopalan 42

Realising that he was up against heavy odds,

Varuna came to Madurai and took his bath in the Golden
Lotus Tank and fervently worshipped the Lord. Even
before He took his bath in the tank, he was cured of his
stomach pain. Varuna profusely apologised to the Lord
for his audacity in having challenged the Lord's prowess.
The city of Madurai is also called
“NaanmaadakoodaI” to signify its fortification on all the
four sides and the top by the Lord's four clouds.

29. THE KING HIMSELF COMES TO

SIVA, THE SIDDHA

Lord Somasundareswara once appeared as a

Siddha Purusha with long and flowing jata, tiger skin
robe etc. He performed several miracles in Madurai city.
He appeared and disappeared as he liked, was seen in
several places at the same time, made young persons
old and old persons young and changed the sex of
persons, converted base metal into gold and did various
other super human acts. The entire city of Madurai was
awe struck at these activities of the Siddha.
The king, Abisheka Pandya. heard about this
and sent his men to fetch the siddha. The men went to
the Siddha but had forgotten their duties while watching
the Siddha’s miracles, The king then sent his ministers
but the siddha refused to go to the king saying that he
did not want anything from the king: The king was duly
informed of it. The king observed that such great men
would not mind even the gods and hence could
understand Siddha's refusal to come to him.
 21. STONE ELEPHANT EATS SUGARCANE

Abisheka Pandya was struck with remorse for

having asked the Siddha to come to him instead of
going himself to the great purusha. He, threrfore,
deci. 'ed to visit the Siddha himself. The Siddha became
aware of the king’s intention and was staying near
the Indira Vimana of Lord Somasundareswara
On the first day of Makara Masa (Pongal
festival day) the king used to go to the temple and
worship Lord Somasundareswara. The king completed his
worship and was coming out of the temple. His orderlies,
who were going in advance of the king, saw the Siddha
seated on a tiger skin, and, waving the canes in their
hands, they ordered him to leave the place. The king
who came behind them enquired the Siddha where
from he came and what actually he wanted. The Siddha
told him that he was on a pilgrimage to all kshetras to
worship Lord Siva and that in the course of his
pilgrimage he came to Madurai, a visit which
would emancipate souls from bodily bondage. He also
said that he could perform great wonder and that he did
not want anything from the king.
The king was struck with what the Siddha had
said and wanted to put him to a test. Just then, a ryot
arrived there with a sugarcane. The king asked the
siddha to prove his capacity to work miracles by making
the stone elephant eat the sugarcane. The Siddha said
that, though he had nothing to gain by proving his
capacity to the king, he would all the same make the
 P. Gopalan 44

stone elephant eat the sugarcane. So saying, he looked

at the elephant and lo! In a moment, the elephant rolled
its eye, saw all around, raised its trunk, shrieked and
then plucked the pearl necklace from the king’s neck and
swallowed it. The king’s orderlies approached the
Siddha menacingly and later asked them to stop. They
were unable to move further. He regretted his folly and
prostrated before the Siddha and apologised. The
Siddha then blessed him with a son and the
elephant also disgorged the pearl necklace and put it
on the king’s neck. It again became a stone elephant
as before. The Siddha also instantaneously disappeared
from the scene.
The king concluded that this was a Leela of the
Lord Somasundareswara. He regretted his folly which
had closed his mind and eyes to the Leela vibuthi of the
Lord. The king then begot a son vikrama by name. He
passed away soon after.

22. KILLING THE ELEPHANT SENT

BY JAIN

Vikkrama Pandya was ruling his kingdom effi¬

ciently. He put the Saiva religion on. strong foundations
by weeding out the newly sprung Buddhism and Jainism.
He built a new temple adjacent to the Indira Vimana of
Lord Somasundareswara and installed the idol of the
sidddha therein. He was worshipping it regularly.
The contemporary chola king, who was in
Kancheepuram, embraced Jainism, became acrimonious
towards Vikkrama pandya. He however, did not have the
 Lord Siva's Miracles 45

prowess to defeat the Pandya in a straight battle.

Therefore, he decided on a strategy. Accordingly, he
sent for the eight thousand jains who were residing in
eight mountains. On seeing the king’s letter, all of them
proceeded to Kancheepuram and blessed the king
touching his head with peacock’s feathers which they
used to hold in their hands. The king told them that if
they could kill the Pandya by performing an
“Aabiehara - Homa” (sacrifice for causing harm to others)
he would reward them with half his kingdom.
The jains immediately prepared themselves for
the Homa and performed it on a large scale. So huge a
fire was raised in the Homa Gunda that all the trees and
fields around had to be burnt. Then a huge elephant
arose out of the Homa Gunda. The Jains directed the
elephant to destroy the Pandya king and his kingdom.
The elephant began its journey and the jains followed it
with the Choia king’s armed forces.
The elephant’s ferocious appearance and its
march were reported to the Pandya and he immediately
prayed to Lord Somasundareswara to save him from the
impending danger. The Lord reassured him saying that
he would appear as an archer and kill the elephant and
asked the king to put on the eastern sfde of the city a
structure over which the archer could sit. The king put up
a Mantap with sixteen pillars. The Lord appeared as a
young and strong archer and ascended the Mantap and
took his seat on it. When the elephant was coming at a
distance, the archer struck it with an arrow and it fell
down dead.
The Jains witnessed the death of the elephant
and were thrown off their guard. The Pandya's forces
 P. Gopalan 46

routed the chola forces. The king was grateful to the

Lord and prayed that He should stay on the Mantap for
ever. The Lord acceded to the prayer and also granted
him several boons. The arrow released by the archer
took the form of Lord Narashima. Romesa Rishi and
Prahlatha also worshipped him (Narasimha).
The king then begot a son by name Rajasekhara
and ruled over the Pandya kingdom for long.

23. BLESSING A BRAHMIN GIRL

During the reign of Vikkrama Pandya, there was

a Brahmin by name Virupaksha who lived in Madurai. His
wife was Subha vrata. For tong, they had no offspring
and their relentless prayers and observance of various
Vritas, gave them a daughter whom they named Gowri.
When Gowri was five years old, she showed
inclination towards salvation and asked her father to
guide her for the fulfilment of her objective. He initiated
her into Parvathi mantra. Gowri was constantly reciting
the Mantra with great devotion. When she grew to
marriageable age, her father looked for a suitable
match. One day a Vaishnava Brahmachari came to
Virupaksha’s house. He was begging for alms in
fulfilment of his Brahmachari Vradha.
On seeing the Brahmachari, Virupaksha recited
the appropriate mantra and poured water into the hands
of the Brahmachari td signify the Kannikadana of Gowri
to him. The bride and'her mother were terribly surprised
at this action. He had not even made any enquiries
regarding the Brahmaghari and his antecedents. They,
 Lord Siva's Miracles 47

however, made further enquiries and found that the

bachelor was quite an eligible person except that he
followed the vaishnavaita cult. The marriage was
celebrated and the bride was sent with the bridegroom.
The bridegroom's parents, being vaishnavaites,
did not like the match and illtreated Gowri. One day they
left Gowri locked in the house to attend a marriage.
Gowri who was brought up in staunch saivaite traditions,
was unhappy as she could not see any devote of Lord
Siva around her. Then Lord Somasundareswara
assumed the form of an old saivite Brahmin and came
to her house. She welcomed him and expressed her
happiness on his visit. He said that he was hungry and
wanted food. Gowri told him that she was locked. He
asked her to touch the lock with her hand. To her
surpirse, the lock opened at her touch. She prepared rich
food and served it to him. After taking the food, the old
Brahmin changed his appearance and became a young
adult. Gowri was taken a back at the sight. Just then,
Gowri’s father-in-law and mother-in-law returned to the
house and the Lord immediately attained the form of a
child.
The mother-in-law enquired Gowri how the child
came there. She informed that Devadatha and his wife
had left the child and a sked her to look after it. The
father-in-law and mother-in-law were greatly displeased
that a saivite child should be under her protection and
drove her and the child out of the house.
Gowri did not know what to do and she prayed
to Lord Somasundareswara and Parasakthi.
 P. Gopalan 48

Immediately, the child vanished and Lord Siva and

Parvathi appeared and took her with them,She became
one with Uma Devi.

24 . PERFORMANCE OF VARIOUS

KINDS OF DANCES

Rajasekhara Pandya succeeded his father

Vikkrama Pandya to the throne. He was a great scholar
and ruled the country efficiently.
His contemporary in the chola kingdom was
Karikaal Peruvalathan. He was an ardent devotee of the
Lord of Jambukeswara near Thiruchirapalli. Once a poet
of the chola kingdom came to Madurai and told
Rajasekara Pandya that the chola king knew all the sixty
four arts while he (Pandya) knew one less as he
did not know Bhratha sastra pertaining to dances
(Bharatha-natya). Rajasekara felt humiliated. He
therefore, secured the services of persons well versesd
in bharatha sastra and learnt it. While he practised the
dances prescribed in the sastra, he felt exhausted. This
made him believe that the Lord who was in an eternal
dance posture ought to feel very inconvenient indeed.
This belief made him pray to the Lord to ease the
burden of the one leg (left) oh which he was
standing. Accordingly the Lord shifted the burden to his
right leg. Thus it could be seen that the Lord supports
Himself on his right leg in Madurai while every where
else it is the left leg that bears his weight.
 25. BROUGHT TO LIGHT THE TRUTH
ABOUT THE KILLING
OF BRAAHMIN WOMAN

Rajasekhara Pandya was succeeded to the

throne by his son Kulothunga. Kulothunga had several
wives and several sons. The eldest son known as
Anantha Guna was a great warrior. During Kulothunga’s
reign, a Brahmin from Thiruppathur. his wife and child
were proceeding to Madurai through a jungle tract. He
left his wife and child under a banyan tree and wept
In search of water to quench their thirst. The woman
lay down in the shade of the tree. An arrow which
had long been struck at a branch of the tree fell down
on account of the wind and pierced the woman’s
stomach. She died immediately, just then, a hunter
with a bow and an arrow arrived there and took
rest under the same tree.
The Brahmin returned with water and found his
wife dead. He noticed the hunter under the tree and
suspected that he was responsible for the woman’s
death and hence charged him for murder and took
him to the king’s court in Madurai. The Brahmin
pointed out the king that there was no protection in his
kingdom.
The king felt sad that in his reign innocent
woman should have died a violent death and enquired of
the Brahmin for details. The latter told the king that the
hunter had killed his wife during his absence for a short
 P. Gopalan 50

time while he was on a mission to fetch water. The

hunter pleaded innocence and denied any knowledge
about the death of the woman. The hunter was
subjected to a lot of pressure, he reiterated his earlier
versions only. The king became thoughtful and
considered why the hunter should have killed the
woman at all. He, therefore, asked his ministers to
further examine the question and help him to arrive
at a just decision. The ministers said that divine
guidance should be sought in this case.
The king sent the Brahmin promising to give his
decision later. He then went to Lord Somasundareswara
and prayed for guidance. The Lord's vo'ce was then
heard asking the king and the Brahmin to go to a
wedding which ivas to take place that night in one
of the streets in Madurai. The King and the
Brahmin heard the conversation between two
messengers of Yama, the God of death. One of the
messengers expressed his perplexity as to how to
contrive to take the life of the bridgroom as ordered by
their master as the bridgroom was surrouhdeed by a
crowd of pefsons. The other replied that it should be
easy to make a cow tied near the wedding place to
break a way from its tether and horn the bridegroom just
as a Brahmin woman was done to death by the fall of
an old arrow from , the tree earlier the day. The king
and the Brahmin waited further to see whether
the bridegroom would meet his death in the
manner stated. The king and the Brahmin were now
convinced that the hunter was innocent. The king
rewarded the Brahmin and the' hunter and thanked Lord
Somasundareswara for having guided him In
t resolving this Intricate case.
26. ANNIHILATING THE EVIL MAN FOR
THE SIN OF HAVING SLEPT WITH
MOTHER AND KILLED THE FATHER

During Kulothunga’s reign, there lived a

Brahmin in Avanthi. He had a beautiful but very
undesirable wife. He begot a son through her and
the son was a vagabond. He committed all sorts of
offences including murder. He once wanted to have illicit
intercourse with his own mother and the mother also
satisfied his desire. The Brahmin became aware of
this but he kept the secret to himself. Even so, the
son killed his father despite the protests of the mother.
He then performed the funeral ceremonies of the father
and later left the place with his mother and with all the
valuables they could carry. While they were travelling
through a jungle, they encountered some robbers who
deprived them of the valuables. The robbers also took
away the mother with them.
The son was seized with Brahmahathi Dosha on
account of the murder of his father. He was greatly
afflicted thereby and every movement of his life was a
torture to him. While wandering with this affliction, he
happened to approach the city of Madurai by divine
grace.
Lord Somasundareswara and Goddess
Meenakshi were then seated near temple gopuram in
the guise of a hunter and his wife. They had some
ferocious dogs with them. The Lord showed to Goddess
Meenakshi the approach of the gross sinner (Brahmin’s
 P. Gopalan 52

son). The Lord accosted him and enquired him what his
trouble was. The Brahmin’s son narrated his story. The
Lord told him that the heinous sins committed by him
could not be easily wiped off and suggessted that he
should take aims, eat only once a day, serve the
devotees of Lord Siva, feed cows with greens
every morning before sunrise, bathe in the Lord’s
Abhisheka Theertha thrice daily and so
anga-pradakeshina (rolling on the ground) around
Lord Siva if he wanted to expiate his sins.
Goddess Meenakshi expressed her surprise
that the Lord should have given advice to such a
great sinner and the Lord replied that it was only
such gross sinners who should be looked after with great
compassion and blessed with proper guidance. The Lord
and the Goddess then disappeared.
The Brahmin’s son strictly followed the Lord’s
injuctions and in three months he attained the personality
of godly Brahmin and in due course he attained the feet
of the Lord. The king also came to know of this and he
adored Lord Somasundareswara who could help such a
great sinner to achieve emancipation of his soul.

27. EXECUTING THE SIDDHA TO SAVE

THE WIFE OF PRECEPTOR,
WHO TAUGHT ARCHERY

During the reign of Kuiothunga, there lived a

man in Madurai who came to Madurai from different
region. He was teaching swordsmanship to people. He
was jgrealty devoted to Lord Somasundareswara and had
 Lord Siva's Miracles 53

a pure mind. He had a disciple by name Siddhan.

Siddhan was capable swordsman and was proud of his
ability. He became a rival to his guru and earned more
than his guru.
He became avaricious and wanted to drive his
Guru out of Madurai so that he could add to his own
earnings. He slowly prevailed upon the persons who
were learning from his Guru to become his own
(Siddhan's) disciples. He also made overtures to his
Guru’s wife and, one day, during his Guru’s absence, he
went to the Guru’s house and dragged his wife. She was
enraged and threw him out and closed the door. She was
distressed at her helplessness and prayed to Lord
Somasundareswara for help. Lord Somasundareswara
took the form of the Guru and challenged Siddhan for a
sword fight. Siddhan agreed. A fierce fight ensued.
Finally the Lord in the form of the Guru warned Siddhan
to protect his body which had committed the great sin of
undesirable union with his Guru’s wife and had also
assaulted her. The Lord severed Siddhan’s limbs and
nead one after the other. The disciples of the successful
swordsman went to his house and told his wife about the
fight that took place. Her husband who just then returned
from the temple was surprised at what they had said
and denied his having fought with Siddhan and having
killed him.lt became plain now that the Lord had
performed this leela out of his infinite kindness.
The Guru’s wife then told them about Siddhan’s
behaviour and her prayers to the Lord for help. The
Lord’s words during the fight when he stayed Siddhan’s
bore out the words of the Guru’s wife and all were happy
and thankful to God.
 P. Gopalan 54

The king who came to know of this greatly

admired the Lord and honoured the swordsman arid hi
wife.

28. MAKING THE SNAKES SENT BY BUDDHA

SANYASINS POISONLESS

King Kulothunga was succeeded by his son

Anantha Guna Pandya. The latter was as devoted to
Lord Somasundareswara as his forefathers.
The eight thousand Jains who were propagating
Jainism were jealous of the Pandya who was a staunch
saivite and the Jains wanted to kill him. They performed
a Homa for that purpose. A demon arose out of the
sacred Homa fire and they directed it to davour the
Pandya.
The demon took the form of a huge serpent and
proceeded to Madurai. The king was appraised of the
approach of this demoniacal serpent on the western side
of Madurai. He immediately suspected it to be the
handwork of the Jains and prayed unto Lord
Somasundareswara for guidance.
With the grace of the Lord, he went to me wesi
of the Madurai city and attacked the serpent and finally
killed it, but not before the serpent had emitted its
poison in a huge quantity.- The effects of the poison
proved very detrimental (deleterious) to the entire city
and the king again approached the Lord and prayed for
guidance. The Lord then sprinkled a drop of the Amirtha
from the crescent in His Jata and this was enough to
obviate the evil effects of the poison.
 29. KILLING COWS SENT BY
SAME SANYASINS

As Ananthaguna Pandya killed the serpent, the

Jains, who had followed it, ran away. They, however,
persisted in their endeavours and decided to send a
domoniac cow to achieve their purpose. They hoped that
the saivites, being Hindus, would not harm a cow. They
performed a Homa and demoniac cow emanated from
the sacrificial fire. They directed it to Madurai.
The king learnt about the cow’s march towards
his kingdom. He and the elder citizens of Madurai again
prayed unto Lord Somasundareswara for help. The Lord
sent Nandhikeswara to tame the cow.
Nandhikeswara attacked the cow and killed it.
The place where it died is called 'pasu Malai’
(Cow Mountain) now. The king and the people of
Madurai heaved a sigh of relief. Nandhikeswara stayed in
the form a Mountain and returned to the Lord in his
sukshinta (abstract) form. The Lord was happy at what
Lord Nandhikeswara had done.
Sri Rama, son of Dasaratha, stayed for some
time on the mountain form of Nandhikeswara with his
retinue and the vanara (monkey) forces. Agastya met Sri
Rama and explained to him the greatness of Madurai.
Sri Rama, therefore, took his' bath in the Golden lotus
tank, worshipped Lord Somasundareswara and prayed
for success on his expediton to Lanka. The Lord assured
 P. Gopalan 56
should build a dam across the sea to the south-east of,
Madurai. So, Sri Rama installed a Siva Linga at
Rameswaram to get rid of Brahmahathi Dosha to
which he became subject as a result, of his having
killed Ravana. He also worshipped Lord Soma
sundareswara before he went back to Ayodhya.

30. CREATING THE ILLUSORY SOLDIERSTO

SAVE THE COMMANDER IN CHIEF OF
PANDYA ARMY

Anantha Guna Pandya was succeeded by his

son Kulabhushana on the throne. He proved to be a
just and capable ruler. The General of his army was
one Sundara Somanathan. The General was a
great devotee of Siva and considered the devotees
of Siva as Siva Himself. There was then a petty
chieftain by name Sethurayan who was proud of his
prowess and wanted to attack the Pandya kingdom.
The king, therefore, asked his general to increase
the strength of his army and provided him with
ample financial resources and technical advice for the
purpose.
The General worshipped Lord Soma
Sundareswara and offered the entire finanacial
resources, given to him by the king, for serivce to
the Lord and his devotees. He built various additonal
structure to the temple of the Lord, doled out money
to all devotees of the Siva and also fed them
sumptously. The king came to know of this.But the
General was feigning to be actively involved in
 Lord Siva's Miracles 57

took place for six months, the king, therefore, gave an

untimatum to the general to produce the newly recruited
regiment within twenty four hours.
The commander prayed unto Lord
Somasundareswara to help him in this difficult situation.
The Lord assured him that He would appear the next day
with a regiment. The next morning the General
worshipped the Lord and went to the king. The Lord
appeared at the appointed time with the regiment. The
Siva Ganas took the form of soldiers and the Lord
himself was riding a horse as the Leader. The king
inspected the regiment and was greatly pleased. The
king was specially struck by the personality of the leader
and beckoned him and gave him various presents.
Just then, a messenger came and told the king
that Sethurayan had been killed by a tiger while he was
hunting.The king, therefore, asked the armed forces to
be disbanded. Immediately, the Lord and the soldiers
disappeared from sight. The king understood at once that
it was the Lord’s Leela and told his General that the
latter was as good as Lord siva to him, as the
commander had by his great devotion to the Lord,
invoked his grace which had resulted in the performance
of the Leelavibuthi.

31. PANDYA KING GIFTED WITH A

MONEY-BAG WHICH WOULD
NEVER BECOME EMPTY

Kulabhushana Pandya was a staunch obsetver

of Vrathas like some vaara vratha to please Lord Siva.
He was proud of this and he, on accocunt of such pride,
 P. Gopalan 58
looked down upon brahmins. The Brahmins, therefore
became poor, ignored the studies of the vedas and
migrated to other places in search of livelihood. 1
The kingdom lost its prosperity. The king
became worried and prayed unto L6r§
Somasundareswara for his blessing to relieve the
kingdom from poverty. The Lord did not make arif
response as he was sore at the king's fault. Thb
king was disappointed and returned to his place
heart-broken.
The night, the Lord appeared in his dream as a
Siddha Purusha and told him that, because of his
negligence of the Brahmins, the kingdom was facing
adversity. The. Lord told him that the Vedas were very
important for the Lord and the Brahmins who studies
them were, therefore, equally important. The Lordk
therefore, enjoined the king to treat the Brahmins
equal to the Lord himslef. At the same time, the Lord
gave him en abundant treasure for eradicating poverty<
The king used, the treasure for the benefit of the
Brahmins and Vedas and beautified the temple of the
Lord and Goddess Meenakshi. The kingdom became
prosperous once again.

32. LORD SIVA DISGUISING AND

SELLING BANGLES

Once, the Lord Siva took the form of

Bikshtanamurti for the purpose of testing the chastity of
the wives of the Rishis at Taamkavanam. When the Lord
came for alms to the houses of the Rishis, the wives of
 Lord Siva's Miracles 59
the Rishis were infatuated with the Lord’s personality and
they not only gave him alms but their hearts as well. The
Lord thus made their minds unsteady and disapppeared
from their midst. The Rishis who could easily understand
things of the past, present and future, studied the frame
of their wives' minds and cursed them to be born in the
merchant community, at Madurai as they were infatuated
with the Lord of Madurai and had lost the purity of their
minds. They also said that this curse would lapse when
the Lord of Madurai touched them physically.
The wives of the Rishis accordingly were born in
the merchants families during the reign Kulabhushana
Pandya. When they were in their teens, the Lord took the
form of a vendor of bangles and came to the merchnant’s
streets.
The Rishipathnis, who were growing in the
merchants’ families, were attracted by the vendor and
they crowed around him. They were pleased to adorn
their hands with suitable bangles which would add to
their beauty. The Lord obliged them and fixed the
bangles on their wrists with his own hands. The maids
were also infatuated with the vendor as the Rishi pathnis
had been before with the Bikshatana murthi. They,
therefore, invited him to bring bangles to them again and
again. Their offer to pay for the bangles was not
immediately accepted by him, He promised to take the
payment on the next day. So saying, he abruptly
disappeared from their presence and they became aware
thereby that this was another Leela of Lord
Somasundareswara.
Those, who wore the bangles fixed to their
hands by the Lord himself, led very happy lives and in
the end attained the Lord’s feet.
 33. ASHTA SIDDHIS GRANTED
TO YAKSISI

On the moment Kailas, once the Lord was

seated beneath the Banyan tree with his consort,
Goddess Parvathi. He was giving learned discourses to
Sanaka. Rishis, Nandhikeswara, Bringi, Mahakala and
others. Just then Krithika Devis who had fed the infant,
Lord Muruga, with their milk appeared and prayed unto
the Lord to instruct them in the Ashta Siddhis.
The Lord pointed out to Parvathi Devi seated by
his side that she was the Parasakthi and Maheswari and
the eight siddhis were serving her. if they prayed, she
would grant them the Ashta Siddhis.
But the Krithika Devis failed to respect the Devi
as enjoined by the Lord. So, the Lord cursed them to
become stone slab under a banyan tree in a place called
“Pattamangai” in Siviganga area of Ramahathapuram
District. The Krithika Devis were struct with remorse and
at their request the Lord told them, that, after a thousand
years, he would go to Pattamangai from Madurai and
remove the curse and also give them the Ashta Siddhis.
The Lord pointed out to Parvathi Devi seated by
his side that she was the Parasakthi and Maheswari and
the eight siddhis were serving her. If they prayed, she
would grant them the Ashta siddhis.
Accordingly a thousand years after the Krithka
Devis had became stone slabs, the Lord of Madurai went
to Pattamangai in the form of a philospher. No sooner
did he view the stone slabs than the Krithika Devis
 Lord Siva's Miracles 61
regained their original forms and prostrated before the
Lord. The Lord touched their hands with his hands and
clearly insructed them in the eight siddhis. He also said
tha ardent devotees of his would not mind those siddhis
but the siddhis would be at their beck and call.
The Krithika Devis, by the Grace of the Lord,
constantly thought of Parvathi Devi and attained the
eight siddhis. They then reached Mount Kailas.

34. THROWING OPEN THE DOOR OF THE

TEMPLE FOR CHOLA KING

In Kancheepuram, there was a Chola king by

name Kaduvettia Cholan (Chola who destroyed forest).
It was he who bM the city of Kancheepuram destroying
forests in the area. He was an ardent Sivabhaktha who
believed that Lord siva was the only supreme power. He
was constantly thinking of the various Leelas performed
by the Lord of Madurai and was yearning to visit Madurai
and worship the Lord and Goddess Meenakshi.
The Lord of Madurai appeared in Chola's dream
and told him to go to Madurai incognito and alone. He
accordingly proceeded to Madurai walking the entire
distance to Madurai and found the river Vaigai in High
floods. He was therefore depressed. The Lord of Madurai
assumed the form of the same Siddha Purusha as
assured in his dream and caused the floods to subside.
The Siddha Purusha then led the Chola King into the city
through the fort gates, although they were locked and
helped to worship the Lord and Goddess. The king
prayed to the Lord and Goddess fervently in thankfulness
 P. Gopalan 62
r the darshan given to him. The Siddha purusha again
d the Chola King back to the Vaigai and after
ossing it, the Siddha Purusha applied sacred ash
the king’s forehead and blessed him with a safe
urney back to his place. The Siddha Purusha then
turned to the city and made the Vrishabha mark
ter obliterating the fish markon the fort door.
All this happened during the night and at dawn
e fort guards noticed the Vrishabha mark on the
rt door. They were perplexed and verified the doors
i the other three sides of the fort. The original
th marks on them were found intact. They reported
is to the king who was also perplexed. That night,
e Lord appeared in the king’s dream and told him
hat4 had happened. The king was struck with the
ud’s kindness and grace which always gave place
preference in the case of his devotees.

35. LORD SIVA SUPPLYING WATER

TO THE PANDYAN ARMY

King Kulabhushana Pandya was succeeded to

e throne by his son Rajendra Pandya.
During his reign, Kaduvettia Chola of
incheepuram wanted to worship Lord Soma
mdareswara, Lord of Madurai, in public and for this
ason extended his hand of friendship to the
tndya king. Rajendra Pandya also reciprocated
is sentiment and it Was settled that the Chola’s
uighter should be given in marriage to the
mdya King.
 Lord Siva's Miracles 63
But Rajasimhan, the younger brother of
Rajendra Pandya, wanted to marry the Chola’s daughter
and he went to Kancheepuram without his brother’s
knowledge for this purpose. The Chola also welcomed
him and gave his daughter in marriage to him.
The Chola then invaded Madurai with the
support of his son-in-law in order to make the latter as
the king of the Pandya kingdom. The enemy forces
were camping a little distance away from Madurai. The
Pandya king went to the temple and complained to the
Lord about the perfidy and treachery of his own brother
and the Chola king. The Lord asked him to begin the
battle the next day and told him that the victory would
be his.
A fierce battle then ensued between the small
army of the Pandya and the huge army of the Chola.
By midday, by the grace of the Lord, the sun was so
scroching that all water courses became dry. The armed
forces, the elephants, horses etc., could not bear the
agonsing thirst with which they were afflicted.
Just then, the Lord appeared in the form of a
human being and opened a drinking water stall for the
benefit of the Pandyan army. That army was quite
refreshed as the thirst of the soldiers was quenched. It
attacked the enemy with redoubled vigour. The enemy's
army, which was languishing under the stress of the
abominable thirst, ran away. The Chola and Rajasimhan
were taken prisoners.
Rajendra Pandya took the captives to the Lord
and prayed for guidance as to how to deal with them.
The Lord asked him to deal with them according to
Dharma. Thereupon, the king sent the Chola King away
 P. Gopalan fy
with a few elephants and other presents and separatee
his brother Rajasimhan from the royal family and made
him live an inglorious life.

36. CONVERTING BASE METALS

INTO GOLD ETC.,

There is a sacred place called “Poovanam” ii

the Pandya Kingdom. The shrine of Lord Siva there is s<
famous that Devas like Indira and Surya used to worship
the Lord there. In that temple, there was a Devadasl
(a dancer who had dedicated herself to the service c
the Lord) by name Ponnanaiyal. She was not only
beautiful woman and an accomplished dancer but also
great and true devotee of the Lord. She spent her entii
day in the service of the Lord and in feeding fat
devotees.
She desired to make the idol of the Lord in got
she obtained a wax impression of the metal image of tt
Lord. But she could proceed no further as she had r
money, for her entire earnings had been always spent
the work of the Lord and in feeding Lord’s devotees. St
fervently prayed to the Lord to help her to fulfil h
desire.
One day the Lord assumed the form of a Siddl
Purusha and visited her house. But, without partaking
the food served by her to all devotess, he sat aloof in
pensive mood. When he was Invited to take fdod, I
enquired her why she looked thin and famished. SI
told him of her desire and why it was not fulfilled. I
men told her that her desire would be fulfilled and aski
 Lord Siva's Miracles 65.
r to bring all the brass and lead vessels in her house,
hen she brought all such vessels, he sprinkled the
cred ash on them and told her that they would
come gold if she put them in fire that night. She
quested him to stay back that night in her house and
mplete the process. But the Siddha Purusha
mediately disappeared after identifying himself
Siddha from Madurai.
She was now convinced that it was the Lord of
ndurai who had come to her in the form of a Siddha,
le acted as instructed, and the vessels became gold.
le gold image was then made according to her desire.

37. VANQUISHING THE CHOLA KING

Rajendra Pandya was succeeded by his son

ijesa Pandya, Raja Gambera Pandya succeeded
ijesa Pandya, Vangya Deepa succeeded Raja
imbera, Purandgrajit succeeded Purandarajit and
jndaresa Padha'sekhara succeeded Pandivangya
ithaka.
Sundaresa Padhasekhara Pandya was an ardent
ivotee of the Lord of Madurai. He slashed his army
idget and spent more in renovating the temple of Lord
)masundareswara. He extended the temple. He bought
>stly ornaments for the Lord and goddess Meenakshi.
The contemporary Chola King, Aayiram Parikk
Sevakan, encouraged by the small size of the
indyan army, invaded Madurai with a big army, The
indya prayed unto Lord Somasundareswara and the
>rd assured him that he would himself fight and
num x/intnn/ fnr the PanHva
 P. Gopalan
The Pandya then marched his army to tl
battle field and though it was a tiny one when compart
to the Chola army, by the grace of the Lord, it appear
to be as huge as an Q&epn to the eyes of the Che
armed forces_
The Lord took 1he form of a cavalry officer at
was seen in the forefront of the Pandyan army. Ti
Chola King charged him but throwing a spear at him, tl
Lord made the Chola ftm away. The Lord alt
disappeared from sight immediately. The Pandya kii
chased the fleeing chola and the latter turning ba
saw that the cavalry offioer was not in the fidl
Heartened by this, he returned to the battle w\
ailhis might, Nowit was the Pandya’s turn to run and ti
chola’s to chase. In their mad rush, both fell into
deep pit and Chola king died while the Pandya, by ti
lM>0egtabd> omne out of it alive.

38. A SUDRA 'GWEN A VESSEL FILLED

WITH GINGILLY SEEDS

There was a Veiiaia by name Adiyaruku Naih

in Madurai:'’His wife was Dharma Seelai and they we
both charitably disposed. His net income from farmin
after the payment of the tax, was wholly utilised to fee
the devotees of the Lord.
Lord Somasundareswara, in order to show \
the world the mettle of Adiyaruku Naiian, cause
his farm income to decrease. Still, the farmer raise
loans and went on feeding the devotees, In du
course, he could not even raise loans. As he and h,
 Lord Siva's Miracles 67

wife would not touch food until they had fed the
devotees, they both starved as they could not feed
the devotees for want of resources.
He and his wife, therefore, prayed unto the Lord
asking him to show a- creditor who would lend money
and vowed that other-wise they would not touch food
until they had fed the devotees. The Lord told him that
by his grace the farmer would find in his house a granary
full of first quality rice and that he would find it
inexhaustive also. The farmer used the rice for feeding
the devotees and in due course he and his wife attained
the feet of the Lord.

39. A VAISYA BOY GIVEN VICTORY

IN A SUIT

There was a merchant in Madurai by name

Dhanapathi. He was fabulously rich, he had a beautiful
and dutiful wife by name Suseela. They had no offspring
and so Dhanapathi adopted his sister’s son and the
couple brought up the boy with great care and affection.
However, ill feelings between him and his sister arose
frequently. Once the sister wounded his feelings by
saying that he had a cursed life and he was denied a son
and she had to go to his rescue by giving her son in
adoption to him. Dhanapathi, therefore, decided to enter
Vanaprashtha Ashrama and do penance so that atleast
in future births he. might not have such a cursed life. He
accordingly left ail property to his adopted son and sent
away with his wife to do penance.
After he left, his Dhayadhies (paternal cousins
etc,) unlawfully deprived the adopted son of all his
 P. Gopalan 68
properties. The adopted son’s mother, who had no
other support, prayed to the Lord for succour, The Lord
appeared in her dream as a Brahmin and advised
her to complain to the king’s Dharma sabha against
the usurpers.
Next day, she went to the usurpers and asked
them in the king’s name to appear before the
Dharma sabha for settlement of the dispute. They,
however, threatened her. She therefore, approached
the Dharma sabha and complained. The Sabha
secured the presence of the defendents. The Lord
then appeared in the form, of Dhanapaihi
becoming the perpetrator of injustice with
impunity by the Dhayadhies. He embraced his sister
and the adopted son and lamented them by saying,
that the property was earned in the lawful manner
and such property would not be lost but would
come back to them. He addressed the sabha and
asked for justice. The sabha after enquiring into the
matter decided that the Dhayadhie had not a case.
Then the Dhayadhies entered upon a new
plea that the person present in the sabha was not the
real Dhanpathi. The Lord immediately to prove his
bonafides, mentioned several incidents in the family life
of the Dhayadhies, details of their properties etc. The
sabha was impressed with the statements and concluded
that he was tird real Dhanapathi. The Dhayadhies went
away crest fallen. We Sabha atranged for the return of
the properties to the adopted sbn. Then the Lord
suddenly disappeared from the sabha’s presence. All
those present and the king also thereby came to know
that It Was the Lord who had appeared as Dhanapathi in
the sabha.
 40. REDEEMER OF THE PANDYA KING

FROM THE SIN OF BRAHMAHATYA

Sundaresa Padha Sekhara Pandya was

succeeded by his son Varaguna Pandya to the throne.
Varaguna Pandya was an ardent devotee of Lord Siva.
The qualities of his head and heart were renowened.
Once he went to the forest on a hunting expedition. On
his return at sunset, his horse unwittingly set its foot on a
Brahmin who was sleeping and the Brahmin died
instantaneously. But the king was not aware of this. The
relatives of the dead Brahmin brought the corpse to the
king and told him of what had really happened. The king
was remorseful and recompensed them amply. Even so,
he became subject to Brahmahathi Dosha.
He tried his best to get rid of the Dosha and
observed various Vrathas, Dharmas, Homas etc. But he
was not relieved of it. He, therefore, prostrated before
Lord Somasundareswara and prayed for the eradication
of the Dosha. The Lord told him that soon the Chola king
would invade Madurai and would be defeated by the
Pandya king who would then chase the fleeing Chola
and reach Thiruvidaimaruthur. (known as Madya Arjuna
Kshetra). In that place, the Lord would eradicate the
Brahmahathi.
The events happened as stated by the Lord.
When Varagunapandya reached Thiruvidaimaruthur, he
bathed in the Cauvery and went to the temple to worship
the Lord. As he entered the eastern gate of the temple,
 P. Gopalan 70
the Brahmahathi, which was dogging his footsteps till
then, left him. The king had darshan of Lord Siva in the
Linga form inside the temple and expressd his gratitude
for the eradication of the Dosha. The Lord said that
Brahmahathi was staying in the eastern gate and asked
him not to return by that gate. The king constructed the
Western Gopuram of the temple and made several
donations to the temple. On his return to Madurai, he
continued worshipping Lord Siva as usual. On a
Mahasivarathri night, while he was worshipping the Lord,
he expressed his desire to see Sivaloka. The Lord ms
pleased dnd immediately made Sivaloka appear there
apd asked Nandhikeswara to show Sivaloka to the king.
‘ McSrdfngly; Nandhikeswara took the king round and
shewed Sivaloka to the King.
By the grace of Lord, the king was able to see
the grandeur of the Sivaloka, the places where Brahma
and Vishnu, the Rudras, and devotees of Lord Siva were
respectively ensconced. Nandhikeswara then showed to
him Lord Siva in all Hid glory, surrounded by Brahma,
Vishnu, the eight Dik Patakas, the Vedas, Sivaganas,
Siddhds and others. Then, suddenly the Sivaloka
disappeared4 from the king’s sight and he saw the
irfadilrai city there as usual.
the Bishts to whom Agastya was describing
Leela asked Agastya why the Lord of Madurai decided
to eradicate the Brahmahathi Dosha of the king at
Thiruvidaimuruthur instead of Madurai. Agastya replied
that the Lord Siva wished that the citizens of Madurai
should not commit sins at all and hence the Lord made
the expiation of the king's sin take place in
Thiruvidaimaruthnr
41. CARRYING FIRE WOOD TO SAVE THE
DEVOTEE NAMED BANABHADRA

During the reign of Varaguna Pandya,

Yemanathan, a musician of great repute and an expert
in playing the stringed instrument called "Yaazh” came
to Madurai from the north. He played the instrument in
the king’s court. Consequently, Yemanathan became
arrogant and proud. The king who did not like this, asked
another court musician called Banabhadra whether he
could challange Yemanathan and excel him. He humbly
proposed to do so and a date was fixed for the contest.
That day, Banabhadra, the court musician heard the
di$cipie$ of Yemanathan sing and, judging by the
standards displayed by them, became worried if he could
beat their master. Being a pious man and devotee of
Lord Siva, he prayed unto Lord Somasundareswara for
success in the contest.
That day. Lord Somasundareswara took the
form of an old and emaciated seller of firewood
dressed in rags and wearing wornout shoes. He had
hung oyer his shoulders the "Yaazh" instrument put in
an old cover. He arrived at the door of Yemanathan that
evening. Keeping the load of firewood on his head, he
played his instrument, on the outer yard of Yemanathan’s
house. Yemanathan was struck with the excellence of
the music played and made engujres about him. The
Lord told him that he wanted to be a pupil of Banabhadra
in music but the latter had rejected him as being too old
and ineligible. Hence he had to seek other means of
livelihood and became a seller of firewood. Yemanathan
 P, Gopalan 71
wanted the Lord to play the tune once again and the Lord
sang the tune to the accompaniment of the instrument.
Yemanathan was completely enchanted with the music
and he forgot himself in ecstasy. Just then the Lord
disapppeared With the “Yaazh” and the bundle of
firewood.
When Yemanathan regained his self, he
realised that, if they player of such divine music had
been rejected by Banabhadra, the standard of
Banabhadra’s own music would be so high that it would
be foolish on his part to enter ihto a contest with
Banabhadra. So, the same night, he and his pupils ran
away from Madurai.
The Lord appeared in Banabhadra’s dream
that night and apprised him of what had been done by
the Lord to protect his interests. Banabhadra woke up
early morning and worshipped the Lord in the
terhple and prayed to be forgiven for having caused to
the tbrd such trouble. Then he went to the king.
Meanwhile, the king’s messengers who had gone to
fetch Yemanathan, reported that he had fled.
Banabhadra also narrated what the Lord had
done for him. The king honoured Banabhadra suitably
and told him that as he had been sincere in his devotion
to the Lord, he should stay singing only in praise of the
Lord. He relieved him of frfs duties as court singer

42. WRITING A LETTER TO THE CHERM

KING ON BEHALF OF BANABHADRA

Banabhadra used to sing before the Lord m Mm

temple thrice daily. He gave up ail other activities. Hence
he became poor. The Lord took pity on him and secretly
 Lord Siva’s Miracles 73

transfered cash, gold, and other valuables from the

king’s treasury to Banabhadra’s house. Banabhadra used
them partly for his sustenance and doled out the rest
to his relatives and others.
After sometime, the Lord stopped transferring
such valublables from the king’s treasury and
Banabhadra again became poor. One day the Lord
appeared in his dream and said that he had decided to
do so lest the king should put the guards of the treasury
to trouble. However, in order to help Banabhadra, the
Lord said, he would give a note to the Chera king, who
was also an ardent devotee of the Lord, and a
command to give enough wealth to Banabhadra.
banabhadra took that valuable note with him to the
Chera king. Enroute, he stayed in a water stall in
Thiruvanjikkalam, a famous Saivite kshetra. That night,
the Lord of Madurai appeared in the dream of the Chera
king and asked him to give sufficient riches to
Banabhadra. The king searched for Banabhadra and
located him in the water stall. The king immediately went
with his regal retinue to the waterstall and prostrated
before Banabhadra. he then received the divine note car¬
ried by Banabhadra and placed it on a golden pedestal
on the elephant’s back Banabhadra also climbed on to
the elephant's back. The king followed him. The king
greatly honoured the musician and laid the entire
contents of his treasury at Banabhadra’s disposal. But
the latter accepted riches required for his sustenanace
and then returned to Madurai. The king followed him for
a considerable distance with great respect and then took
leave of him.
 Lord Siva's Miracles 75
Lord Somasundereswara regularly in the temple. The
king’s concubine suggested to him that a rival musician
should be engaged to sing and Banabhadra’s wife
should be humiliated.
Accordingly the king got a singer from ceylop
and asked her if she would accept a challenge from the
singer from Ceylon. She readily agreed.
Next day, the two musicians arrived for the
contest. The Ceylon musician at the outset asked
Banabhadra’s wife some questions about the science of
music. Banabhadra’s wife refused to indulge in such
discussions and proposed the condition that the person
defeated in the contest should become the servant of the
winner.
The contest took place and the audience which
was inclined to consider Banabhadra’s wife to be the
winner noticed that the king was inclined the other way
and changed their view in accordance with that of the
king. The king said that the result of the contest could
not be judged on the basis of a single sitting and asked
the contestants to continue the contest the next day also.
Banabhadra’s wife became aware of the leanings of the
king and ivas worried. She prayed unto Lord
Somasundareswara and the Lord assured her that He
would help her to become the winner in the adjourned
session of the contest.
During the next day’s contest things happened
as on the earlier day. Banabhadra’s wife told the king
that, because he showed unfair leaning to the rival, the
audience also followed him and that it would be but fair if
__P. Gopalan
sundareswara. Even if one person boldly announced^
winner in the presence of the Lord, that verdict shootit
accepted. The king agreed.
The audience and the king reached the Lord
sanctum. Lord Somasundareswara also took the form <
an expert musician and joined the audience. The kini
after hearing both the musicians, though inclined t
favour the Ceylon musician, pronounced Banabhadra'
wife the winner due to the grace of the Lord wh
changed the king’s mind. The king also ordered the
Banabhadra’s wife should be placed on the shoulders c
the defeated musician, the Lord who was in the audienc
Jmjdfy^eppiauded the king’s verdict and instant/
disappeared from the scene. The king realised that i
wps the^ Lord’s Leeia once again and trembled at tht
thoi0rtbf: the unfair part he had played earlier in regan
to the congest. He made suitable presents to both tht
contestants and also presented various ornaments U
adorn metbrd’s image in the temple.

45. ASSUMED THE FORM OF SOW AND

SAVED THE OFFSPRINGS

Goddess Meenakshi asked the Lord how he

decided to become a she-pig to feed the young piQs- He
replied that as the Lord of all the Universe, He never
viewed the various animate beings differently. Everything
equal to hmk Henpe it was necessary that He should
tender such help to the piglings. As they were fed by
Him, they pad attained enormous strength and wisdom
and they were going to become the Pandya king’s
ministers and iSfefr Sh/k Ganas.
 Lord Siva's Miracles 77
The Lord appeared in the Pandya’s dream and
asked him to appoint the twelve young men with pig’s
faces found in Panri Malai as his ministers. The Lord
also said that they were wise and learned and fit to be
ministers. The king did accordingly and also arranged for
their marriage with the daughters of earlier ministers.
The ministers were able to run the
administration wisely and according to the wishes of the
king. They were able to win over enemies by their suave
manners and genial conversations according to the
principles of Dharma. Tax collection was effected. In
short, the kingdom experienced great prosperity during
their regime.
In due course, they passed away and became
Siva Ganas living in Siva Loka.

46. SMALL PIGS MADE AS MINISTERS

To the south of the river Vaigai in Madurai, there

is a place called Guruvirundha Thurai where
Bruhaspathi, the Devaguru, observed penanace to get
the favour of Lord Siva and got the blessings of the Lord.
The Lord also assumed the name of Gurunathan and
established himself there.
Sukalan, a vellala, and Sukalai,his wife, lived in
that place. They had twelve sons. After the death of the
parents, the children were brought up properly and they
joined a gang of hunters. One day, when Lord
Bruhaspathi was meditating in the forest, the twelve sons
of the Vellala threw mud and stones and disturbed
Bruhaspathi’s meditation. Bruhaspathi cursed them to be
 P. Gopalan 78
born as pigs and, lose their parents also. On their
anxious enquiry, he said that the curse would lapse when
Lord Siva would feed them. The twelve hunters
accordingly were born as pigs.
Rajaraja Pandya went on a hunting expedition.
In the expedition the parent pigs died leaving the twelve
young pigs. The place where the pigs died is now called
“Panri Malai” and many yogis used to live in the
mountain. Agastya, who was narrating these Leelas to
the Rishis, told them that the king pig, father of the
twelve pigs, was formerly a Vindyadhara, that he was
cursed by Pulastya Rishi to become a pig as he hindered
the Rishi’s Tapas and that, when the curse lapsed on his
being killed by the Pandya king, the place of his death
would become sacred and yogis would reside there.
The young pigs, having lost their parents, were
unfed. They were too young to help themselves.The
Lord Somasundareswara and Parvafhi Devi who were
then going in thier celestial vimana above the forest,
noticed the young pigs, and, out of compassion, the Lord
became a she-pig and suckled the young ones. The
young pigs were then transformed into human beings
with their faces alone continuing to be pig’s faces.

47. INSTRUCTING A KHANJARITA BIRD

Rajaraja Pandya was succeeded by his son

Suguna Pandya to the throne. During his reign, a man
who has done many good things in his life was born as a
small sparrow on account of some small sin committed
 Lord Siva's Miracles 79

The sparrow was frequently attacked by the

crows and other birds and It was put to immense
trouble. It, therefore, flew into the forest and was
concealing itself on a big tree in full bloom.
One day, an ardent devotee of Lord Siva was
telling some others underneath the tree in question that
all living creatures would achieve all their noble
aspirations in Madurai city by bathing in the Golden
Lotus Tank and by worshipping Lord Somasundareswara
who would shower benefits both in present life and in
the life-to be unlike the Lords of other places, who would
confer benefits only in the life to be. The sparrow heard
this and decided to go to Madurai and attain salvation.
After going to Madurai, it bathed in the
Golden Lotus Tank daily and worshipped Lord
Somasundareswara. After three days, Goddess
Meenakshi asked the Lord about this sparrow. The Lord
told her its history and taking kind notice of the sparrow,
instructed it in Mrityunjaya Mantra which had helped
Markandeya to become immortal.
The sparrow thanked the Lord and said that, as
it was a weak bird, other birds troubled it. The Lord made
it a strong bird. The sparrow also prayed that this boon
should apply to all of its species and the Lord granted
this request also. The sparrow then deligently chanted
the Mantra taught to it and in due course attained the
Lord’s feet.
 48. A SARARI BIRD GRANTED
WITH SALVATION

In the southern part of the Pandya Kingdom,

there was a town. There was a beautiful tank in it. It was
full of lotus flowers. A crane lived on the banks of the
tank. It eked out its livelihood taking fish from the tank.
\
Due to drought, the tank went dry once. The
crane, therefore, wandered in search of food and found a
big tank called Sandya Matam in a forest A great
devotee < of Lord Siva was living near by and he was
known as ‘Satyan’. There were also several other
Tapasvins in the forest. All of them used to bathe in the
tank. The crane saw that, while they bathed, the fish in
the tank often went in and out of the Jata (twisted hair)
of the Tapasvins. The crane felt that the fish were
extremely lucky to be able to come into physical contact
with such noble souls and decided that it should not eat
fish in that tank.
After taking their bath and completing their
ablutions, the Tapasvins used to gather and discourse on
the sacredness of Madurai and the Golden Lotus Tank
therein and the efficacy of the worship of Lord
Somasundareswara which paved the way4 for the
emancipation of the soul. The crane took its cue from
these discourses and flew to Madurai, bathed in the
Golden Lotus Tank and worshipped the Lord.
After fifteen days, the crane which was hungry
was tempted to eat the- fish in the sacred tank but
immediately, on account of the Lord’s grace gave up the
idea considering it to be a sin to take fish in the tank.
The Lord then appeared before it and asked what it
 Lord Siva's Miracles 81
wanted. The crane prayed that it should give up its life
and join the Sivaloka and that fish should not breed in
the Golden Lotus Tank lest other crane of its species
should have the temptation to eat them and thus commit
a heinous sin._ The Lord granted both the boons.
Consequently, the crane was taken to Sivaloka in a
celestial Vimana and the Golden Lotus Tank became
bereft of fish.

49. BOUNDARIES OF MADHURAPURA

SHOWN BY SERPENT

After Suguna Pandya, Twenty two generations

passed and the king of the Twenty third generation was
Kirthi Bhooshana Pandya.
During his reign the Deluge occured and the
entire world was obliterated except the temples of Lord
Somasundareswara and Goddess Meenakshi, the
Golden Lotus Tank, Brishaba Mountain, Elephant
mountain, Naga Mountain, Cow mountain and Pig
mountain. Then the world emerged again by the grace of
Lord Siva and the ruling dynasties of Chera. Chola, and
Pandyas also came into being again. Vangya Sekhara
was the Pandya king after the deluge. He formed a small
city around the Lord's temple. But owing to the great
prosperity that prevailed then, the population increased
greatly and the city had to be extended considerably to
accomodate all the people. The king, therefore, prayed
to the Lord to show him the old, boundary of the ancient
city which remained undisclosed. The Lord took the form
of a Siddha Purusha and appeared before the king. The
Siddha Purusha wore a number of snakes on his body as
 P. Gopalan

ornaments. The Siddha ordered the snake on his wrist

indicate the boundary of the city. The cobra prayed ui
Lord Somasundareswaran (Siddha) that the city
named after it and the Siddha said it would be done.
The cobra then enclosed as area with its body
show the declination of the boundary of the city and th
again wound itself around the Siddha's wrist. The Sida
Purusha disappeared from the scene and entered i
temple of the Lord. The king had the fort wails erect
along the boundary indicated by the snake. The c
therefore, came to be called ALAVOYNAGAR and I
fort ‘ALA VOY MADHIL ’ (snake city and snake fort).

50 . WAGING BATTLE WITH ARROW^ r

ENGRAVED WITH ‘S UNDARESAN*

Once Vikrama Chola invaded the Pane

kingdom which was ruled by Vangya Sekhara Pand\
The Chola forces forcibly removed many heads of cati
broke the banks of many tanks and plundered i
merchandise brought to Madurai. The Pahdyan army w
too small compared to the Chola army which was ai
reinforced by the armies of several other chieftains
the north, the Pandya king therfore, prayed unto Lc
Somasundareswara to help him overcome the difficul
The Lord asked the king to meet the enemy in the bat
field and assured him that he would join him at t,
^>$c^ddt6 time and earn him his victory. The king w,
haj$0f(fWhen he returned from the temple, he Wi
inkkhiid that the enemy forced had approached tl
Vrishaba mountain near the citv. The battle beaan ai
 Lord Siva's Miracles 83
soon the large forces of the Chola-overpowered those of
the Pandya and the latter fled in disorder. The Chola
king blew his trumpet to indicate his victory.
The Lord then appeared in the guise of a warrior
and led the Pandyan forces back to the battle field. The
Lord's arrow on which the name “Sundaresan” was
engraved caused untold destruction to the enemy’s
forces. The Chola king was surprised how a single arrow
could cause such havoc. He saw the engraving on the
arrow and concluded that Lord Somasundareswara
would have helped the Pandya.He, therefore, retired with
the remnants of his army from the battle field.
But the allies stopped him and they all returned
to the battle field. Their efforts were in vain, for, by the
grace of the Lord, their arrows were all destroyed by the
Lord and the Lord’s own arrows slaughtered the enemy’s
forces. The allies of»the Chola king also died in the
encounter. The Chola king, therefore, fled with the
remants of his forces. The Lord then disappeared from
the scene. The Pandya out of immense gratitude to the
Lord made various endowments to the Lord’s temple in
which were included a bow and arrow of gold and gems
with the engraving “Sundaresan”.

51. DRAVIDIAN SCHOLARS GIVEN

THE SANGHAM PLANK

During the reign of Vangya Sekhara Pandya,

Brahma performed ten Aswameda yagnas in the
DASASWAMEDHAGHAT on the banks of the Ganges in
Varanasi, on the completion of the yagna, Brahma with
 P. Gopalan 8*
his wives Saraswathi, Savithri and Gayatri went to the
Ganges for bath. Saraswathi lagged behind the other a
bit as she was absorbed in the song of a celestial maid
who was soaring in the sky above. Brahma and the other
two had completed their bath before Saraswathi arrived,
Saraswathi grew angry at this and chided Brahma.
Brahma pointed out that the fault was hers and fot
having committed the sin of indulging in such
unrighteous anger, he cursed Her to have several births
on the earth as a human being. Saraswathi was shocked.
Brahma now paused a bit and added in explanation ot
his curse that the Forty eight letters from “Akaram” to
“Hakaram” (First to the forty eight letters of the Sanskrit
alphabet) would become forty eight pcets and Lord
Somasundareswara of Madurai would also become the
forty ninth poet and pervade the minds of the forty eight
poets thereby giving them perfect knowledge and thus
develop poesy in Tamil.
The forty eight poets were accordingly born and
they had fuii knowledge of the various languages and
chose the Tamil langugae as the vehicle for expressing
their ideas in .verse form. They were ardent devotees of
Lord Siva and frequently toured various parts of the
country to establish their scholarship. They finally
reached Madurai. Lord Somasundareswara in the guise
of a poet welcomed them and took them to the temple
and made them worship the Lord. Then he disappeared
from their presence. The poets realised that it was the
Lord who had been with them all the while and sang
many poems in his praise.
Then they went to the, Pandya king. The king
was struck with thier great scholarly attainments,
gave them various presents and constructed a
 Lord Siva's Miracles 85
“Sanga Mantap” to the north west of the temple of the
Lord to house the poets. The original poets of Madurai
and those of other regions were thereby sad at this de¬
velopment but they were not able to score over the forty
eight Sanga poets in any contests of literary skill.
The Sanga poets then prayed to Lord
Somasundareswara to give them a ‘‘Sanga plank” which
would indicate the relative merits of two or more
contesting poets as such contests were frequently
occuring. The Lord appeared in the guise of poet with a
plank a cubic square in dimensions and informed them
that it would so extend itself as to give accomodation to
really meritorious poets at the rate of one cubit in length
for each poet. The plank would thus be an infallible
judge of the merits of a poet. The poets accepted the
plank with gratitude and installed it in the Sanga Mantap.
They offered puja to the divine plank and then the poets
took their seats on it. As each of them ascended it, it
grew length by a cubit to accomodate him. Thus it
accomodated all of them.
Lord Somasundara now appeared before them
in the guise of a poet and asked 48 poets to show to him
those poems which had baffled their understanding and
easily explained them to the poets and cleared all their
doubts. The poets were grateful and asked him to take
his seat on the piank along with them. The Lord did so
and become the forty ninth poet and the most important
of them all.
 52. WRITING A VERSE FOR A BRABMM
AT THE INSTANCE OF
THE PANDYA KING

Vangya Sekhara Pandya was succeeded to the

throne by his son Vangya Choodamani. He was an
ardent devotee of Lord Somasundareswara and raised
several gardens, one of them being full of the Shenbaga
flowers. They had great perfume and smell, and were
used for adorning the Lord. The king supervised their
maintenance personally and took particular pleasure in
having darshan of the Lord after bedecking His form with
Shenbaga flowers and garlands. The king therefore,
came to be called Shenbaga Pandya and the
Lord Shenbaga Sundara.
During the spring, the king Shenbaga Pandya
and his queen were stayinga in an artificial Mantap in a
beautiful park enjoying the cool breeze and smell
of the choicest flowers in the park. Then, he
experienced a different but far superior smell about him.
He found out that the smell emenated from the tuft of the
Queen’s hair. He tvas perplexed if the smell was natural
to the hair or artificial. He wanted to ascertain the truth.
The king, therefore, announced that he would
present a thousand gold pieces to the poet who could
compose the best poem which would clear his doubt.
The poets took up the challenge but were unable to
fathom the king’s mind and locate the subject of his
thoughts.
 Lord Siva's Miracles 87
Dharmi, a young Brahmachari of the Aadhi
Saiva sect, prayed unto Lord Somasundareswara to win
the prize so that he might get a suitable bride and
thereby become eligible to perform puja unto the Lord.
His specific prayer was that the Lord, should be pleased
to compose a poem for him on the subject dominating
the king’s mind and enable him to win the prize, thereby
to celebrate his marriage, the Lord obliged him having a
poem for him.
Dharmi produced the poem to the court of the
poets, they approved of it and extolled its excellence to
the king. The king was fully satisfied with it and ordered
that the gold be presented to Dharmi. When Dharmi went
to the sanga Mantap to collect the prize Nakkeerar, a
Sanga poet, stalled the prize on the ground that the
poem was faulty,
Dharmi complained to Lord Somasundareswara
and lamented the fact that an ordinary poet should find
fault with the poem composed by the Lord Himself.
The Lord then appeared at the Sanga Mantap in
the guise of a poet and enquired who found fault with his
poem. Nakkeerar owned it himself. He said that it was
structurally and grammatically alright, but there was a
flaw in the concept. The concept, in short, was that the
hair of certain types of women had natural scent.
Nakkeerar denied this. The Lord asked Nakkeerar
whether the hair of Goddess Gnaanaprasoonambika of
Kaalahasthi whom the poet Nakkeerar worshipped did
not have a natural scent. Nakkeerar denied this also.
Then the Lord slightly opened His third eye (in the
forehead) and Nakkeerar stiU maintained that the Lord’s
poem was faulty. He used strong language and stated
_P.Gopalan 88
that, even if the Lord should have eyes ait over His body,
and burnt him, the fault was a fault. Unable to bear the
fiery look of the Lord, he sank into the Golden Lotus
Tank (the third eye of Lord Siva being Agni) The Lord
then disappeared from the scene.

S3. RESUSCITATION OF NAKKEERAR

As Nakkeerar was the greatest of all the Sangi

poets, the other poets were very much troubled by what
had happened to him. At the same time, they realised
that Nakkeerar’s attitude was impertinent and therefore,
they did not know what to do. Finally, they approached
the Lord in the hope that He would forgive him even as
He forgave Ravana though the latter had given much
greater offence to the Lord in that he audaciously
attempted <to dislocate Mount Kailas, the Lord’s abode.
They prayed to the Lord to forgive Nakkeerar.
The Lord apppeared with Goddess Meenakshi
on the bank of the Golden Lotus Tank and with his grace
revived Nakkeerar. Nakkkeerar to atone for his fault,
composed a hundred stanzas eulogising Mount Kailas
and kalahasthi in alternate stanzas to denote that
kalahasthi was equal to kailas. As orginally he had
refused to concede that the hair of the Goddess of
Kalahasthi woUkf have a natural scent, he had given
such importance to kalahasthi in the stanzas. The Lord
was pleased and lifted Nakkeerar up with his own hands
out of the tank. Nakkeerar then also composed several
Stanzas praising the Lord for His magnanimity in
Condoning even heinous offences in several cases during
the past. The Lord then allowed Nakkeerar to continue
 Lord Siva's Miracles 89
as a Sanga poet and disappeared from the scene.
Nakkeerar and the other poets then allowed Dharmi to
collect the prize.

54. NAKKEERAR BEING TAUGHT

SUTRAS (APHORISMS)

Nakkeerar, thereafter, realised that, while

Manmatha was burnt to ashes when the Lord
Siva looked at him with his third eye, he himself was
saved by the Golden Lotus Tank into which he sank
when the Lord opened His third eye. He, therefore, used
to bathe in the tank thrice a day and then worshipped the
Lord. The Lord was pleased with the devotion of
Nakkeerar and desired to teach him the intricacies of
grammar and was considering whom to depute for
accomplishing the task.
Goddess Meenakshi reminded the Lord that
Agastya was once taught the grammar of the Tamil
language by the Lord and that the could be deputed to
instruct Nakkeera. Once, when all the Devas and Rishis
had gathered in Mount kailas, the equilibrium of the world
was disturbed and the Devas suggested to the Lord that
if a person like the Lord himself could be stationed in the
Southwest direction, the world would regain its
equilibrium. The Lord at once said that Agastya and his
wife Lobamudra alone could be considered to be like
himself and Goddess Parvathi and therefore, asked
Agastya to go with his wife to the south-west. Agastya
requested the Lord to teach him Tamil since the
language of the place to which he had been deputed
was the same. The Lord accordingly taught him the
 P. Gopalan 90
entire grammar of that language. The Lord recollected all
these and concurred with the suggestion of Goddess
Meenakshi. >
Agastya became instantly aware of the Lord’s
intention and he and his wife arrived at Madurai. Then
Nakkeerar also came to worship the Lord, the Lord
pointed Nakkeerar to Agastya and asked the latter to
give instruction to Nakkeerar in Tamil grammar. Agastya
accomplished the task and the Lord blessed him.
Goddess Meenakshi desired to know why the
Lord, instead of instructing Nakkeerar directly, utilised
the services of Agastya for the purpose and the Lord
said that, as Nakkeerar had once adamantly refused to
agree with him (the Lord), it was proper that the
instruction came from a third person. Nakkeerar, with the
full knowledge of grammar obtained from Agastya,
reexamined all his previous compositions, and realised
the grammatical faults in them and repented for his
uninformed tussle with the Lord. Thereafter, the ardour
of his devotion to the Lord increased. .■
He, in his turn, instructed the other poets in thfa
grammar of Tamil language.

55. MADE A COMPARATIVE STUDY

OF THESES

Each of the forty eight Sanga poets composed

various poetical works and in their evaluation,
differed among themselves. Hence they approached tiditi
Somasundareswara and prayed that their difference tip
settled. The Lord appeared before them as a poet add
told them that a merchant of Madurai by ba/ji#
 Lord Siva's Miracles 91
Dhanapathi had a dump son who was an Avataar of Lord
Subramanya and He would give decision upon the best
composition. The Lord also set their doubts at rest
saying that the dump son of Dhanapathi would clearly
indicate by physical gestures such as nodding of the
hea.' and expressing joy when he saw the best
composition.
The merchant’s son was brought to the Sanga
Mantap and the various compositions of the poets were
shown to him. He expressed great joy only when he
heard the compositions of Nakkeerar, Kapilar and
Paranar. This set at rest the controversy among the
poets and the compositions of the three poets approved
by the dump judge became famous and obtained wide
circulation.

56. IDAIKKATTU PULAVAR’S COMPLAINT

AGAINST THE KING

After ihe death of Senbaga Pandya, fourteen

kings successively ruled the kingdom. The fifteenth was
Kulesa Pandya. He was himself a great scholar and
hence the Sanga plank offered accommodation to him.
Once a poet known as Idaikkattu pulavar, a friend of poet
Kapilar, produced before the king Kulesa a composition
of his for approval. Though the work was excellent on all
counts, the king, out of jealousy, did not pass it
through the sages. The Poet therefore, went to Lord
Somasundareswara and complained. Then he went
towards the north. The Lord, in order to teach the
Pandya a lesson, left the temple with Goddess
Meenakshi and took his abode in another temple to the
 P. Gopalan 92

south of the Vaigai river bank. The Linga form in the

Madurai temple also vanished. The Sanga poets also
shifted their residence to a place nearer to the hew
temple.
The devotees who went to the temple for
worship found the Linga missing and told the Pandya
king about it. The king was struck with grief hearing this
and did not know what to do. Just then, the king got
information about the new temple that had arisen over
night on the South bank of the Vaigai and the presence
of Lord Somasundareswara and Goddess Meenakshi and
the Sanga poets there. The king proceeded to that
temple, prayed to the Lord expressing his profound
regret at what had happened. The Lord announced that,
as the king had failed to give his approbation to the
composition of Idaikkattu pulavar, He came to the new
temple. Henceforth it' should be called North
Thiruvaalavoi. The king again begged the pardon of the
Lord and the Lord and Goddess Meenakshi once again
entered the temple at Madurai.
The king then made various presents to the
Idaikkattu pulavar and also apologised to the Sanga
poets for his arrogant behaviour.

57. LORD SIVA BECOMING

A FISHER MAN

Once, Lord Somasundareswara was explaining

td Goddess Meenakshi the secret of the Vedas. The
Goddess, who was listening to the Lord, however,
seemed to be beset with some anxiety and engrossed
otherwise. It was, therefore, apparent that she was
 Lord Siva's Miracles 93
listening only nonchalantly. The Lord noticed this and
said that as she was not paying full attention to the
important things discoursed by him, she should be born
in the fisherman’s community. The Goddess lamented
this and the Lord asssured Her that she would be born
to the king of Fishermen and that He (The Lord) would in
due course come to wed her.
Ganapthi and Subramanya, the sons of the Lord
were greatly perturbed by this and they in their frenzy
considered the books of the vedas to be the cause of the
trouble and threw the offending books into the sea. The
Lord took Nandhikeswara to task for having allowed
Vinayaka and Subramanya to go to him without knowing
his convenience and cursed him to become a shark in
the sea. Any curse on Ganapathi would recoil on Him
(The Lord) and hence the Lord did not impose any curse
on Ganapathi. Subramanya was cursed to become the
dumb son of a merchant.
There was a place called Paakam on the
Eastern seashore of Pandya kingdom. It- was inhabited
by fishermen and their king was a great devotee of Lord
Siva. He had no children. One day, when he went to the
sea for fishing, he found a girl child lying under a tree on
the seashore and crying. He picked it up with great joy
and handed it over to his wife saying that it was the gift
of the Lord. His wife brought up the child very
affectionately and adorned it with various jewels. The
child grew to be a girl and was always meditating on Lord
Siva. Nandhikeswara became a shark in the sea as
ordained by the Lord and frequently caused a lot of
havoc to the Fishermen's boats sailing in the sea. The
king of the fishermen took considerable pains to catch
 P. Gopalan 94
the shark but in vain. He, therefore, announced that he
would give his daughter in marriage to any person who
would catch the shark.
Lord Somasundareswara appeared in the guise
of a young fisherman before the king of fishermen who
was struck with the personality and bearing of the young
new comer. To the king’s enquiry, He replied that He was
a fisherman from Madurai and that He could net any big
fish or shark. The king apprised Him of the prize offered
for netting the shark infesting the area. The newcomer
went to the sea and in no time netted the shark. The king
and all his men were astonished at the feat. He happily
gave the newcomer his daughter in marriage and
celebrated the wedding immediately. The bride and
bridegroom immediately appeared as Siva and Parvathi
on their Vrishaba Mount and the shark also appeared as
Nandhikeswara. The king of the fishermen prayed unto
the God extolling Him for the great kindness shown to a
very ordinary and illiterate man like him. The Lord told
him that as he had been yearning to get a child for long*
He was pleased to send Parvathi as his daughter and itj
due course He came to wed her. The Lord also blessed;
the king to have all prosperity and at the end of his lifeJo-
become a denizen of Sivaloka. The Lord, Parvathi and
Nandhikeswara then entered the Uttarakosamangai
Kshetra in Ramanathapuram District. Then the Lord;
instructed Parvathi about the secret of the import of-the,
Vedas and she eagerly and earnestly listened to*$t§&
discourse. The discourse was also heard by thousand
Sivayogis and devotees. Then the Lord and Paw0f§,
entered the Madurai temple as Lord Somasundareswara
and goddess Meenakshi.
 58. INSTRUCTING VAADHAVUR ADIGAL

There was a place called Thiruvaadhavur on the

bank of the river Vaigai. It was quite prosperous and the
people were learned and cultured. In that place
Thiruvaadhavurar was born in a Brahmin family which
traditionally provided ministers to the king.
Thiruvaadhavurar was quite smart in his studies and he
soon became an accomplished young man. The Pandya
king Arimardhana, heard about his attainments and
appointed him as his minister. On being appointed a
minister, he made a special study of the literature on
statecraft and he became a shrewd diplomat. He was,
therefore, the chief confidant to the king. Through his
efforts, peaceful relations prevailed between the Pandya
and the neighbouring rulers.
But, though ensconced in the highest position in
the kingdom he had no mundane desires. His mind
always dwelt on the philosophical plane. His study of the
various religions in vogue made it clear to him that
salvation of the human soul could be achieved only with
the help of preceptor. He was an ardent devotee to Lord
Siva and constantly prayed to Him for the arrival of a
precetor to lift him up from the bonds of mundane life.
The king’s cavalry forces required the
replacement of a large number of horses which had
become old and ill. The king entrusted the task of
purchasing the horses to Vaadhavuraar and gave him
sufficient funds for the purpose. Before leaving for the
sea coast for the purchase of horses, he worshipped
 P. Gopalan 96
Lord Somasundareswara and prayed that he should
ordain that the money with him should be utilised for the
benefit of the devotees of the Lord.
When he reached Thirupperundurai, he took his
bath in the tempie. There he found underneath a tree a
learned preceptor and a large number of His disciples.
They were none other than Lord Siva and those whose
souls had already been emancipated by Lord siva.
Vaadhavurar bowed to the Preceptor and the latter
taught him the Panchakshara Mahamantra. As the
preceptor was Lord Siva Himself, Vaadhavurar
immediately felt a transformation and completely forgot
himself and his errand. He praised the Lord from the
bottom of his heart. The Lord was pleased and called
him Maanikkavaachakar (One who spoke words equal to
gems). Maanikkavaachakar became one among the
disciples and was listening intently to the discussions
held. Those discussions were concerned with the union
of the human soul with that of the Lord. The Lord after
sometime told Maanikkavaachakar that he should be in
the world for some more time in order to accomplish
certain tasks and then He disappeared with His disciples.
Maanikkavaachakar was struck with indescrbable grief at
his being left behind.
He then sent back his attendants and assistants
to Madurai with instructions to inform the Pandya king
that the horses would arrive in a few monts time. They
told the Pandya king accordingly and the king was wait¬
ing for the arrival of horses.
Maanikkavaachakar spent all the money he had
brought on improvements of temple and on feeding the
devotees.
 Lord Siva's. Miracles 97
The time specified by Maanikkavachakar had
expired, but the horses did not come. So the king sent a
messenger to Maanikkavachakar with a note enquiring
the reasons for the delay. Maanikkavaachakar did not
know what to do. He prayed unto the Lord indicating his
predicament. The Lord told him to send a reply to the
king stating that the horses would come. The same night
the Lord appeared in Maanikkavaachakar’s dream in the
form of the preceptor known to Maanikavaachakar and
asked him to return to Madurai immediately. The Lord
said He would follow with the required horses.
Maanikkavaachakar returned to Madurai and personally
reported to the king that the horses were following and
would arrive soon. He also went to the temple and
prayed unto Lord Somasundareswara. The Lord
reassured him that He was bringing the best horses.
Maanikkavachakar’s relatives took him to task for what
he had done and told him that his actions would only
result in difficulties for all of them if the horses did not
arrive. Maanikkavaachakar however, said nothing to
them as he had, on account of his great good fortune in
having had' Lord Siva Himself as his Preceptor, divested
his mind of all mundane things and was only waiting for
deliverance from the world.

59. SOLD MAGIC HORSES TO THE

PANDYAN KING

The horses didn’t arrive and the king was en¬

raged. He ordered that Maanikkavaachakar should be
chastised and the money entrusted to him should be got
back. A heavy stone ivas placed on his head and his feet
_ __P. Gopalan 98
were sqeezed with some contraptions. During the night,
he was jailed and chained, Maanickkavaachakar bore all
those troubles without a murmur and was constantly
praying unto the Lord,
The Lord ordered Nandhikeswara and other
members of the Sivaganas to transform jackals into
horses and to transform themselves into horse riders and
drive them to the king. He also would ride a horse and be
in the group. Accordingly, a large number of horses with
riders led by the leader (the Lord), who was riding a
horse at the head of the party, arrived at Madurai.
Maanikkavaachakar informed the king of this. The latter
was very much pleased and honoured him with presents.
The king saw the horses and was greatly impressed with
their form and quality. The riders displayed the mettle of
the horses for a short while, exhibiting before the king
their various gaits. The king ascertained who the leader
of the party was and on seeing the leader, who was the
LORD HIMSELF, the king forgot the context for a
moment and instinctively rose from his seat in
obeisance. He soon checked himself and was wondering
what made him do obeisance to the rider. The leader
explained to the king that in horse trade, the main
principle was that, the moment the horses were accepted
by the purchaser, the transaction would end and there
could be no dispute between him and the seller whatever
might happen after the acceptance. The leader also
explained to the king the features and qualities of the
various types of horses, their different colours, the
various marks, good and bad, which might be found on
their bodies and their effect on the owner etc., The
horses were then accepted by the king and they were
taken to the stables. The king presented a silk apparel to
 Lord Siva's Miracles 99
the leader which HE accepted in all humility. Presents
were also given to the other riders. The Lord and the
others, who formed the party of riders, then left the
palace.

60. RIVER MADE BIGGER

That night, soon after the moon rose at

mid-night the horses became jackals. They broke their
tether and bit the old horses which were also tethered in
the same stables. Then they ran helter skelter howling
aloud. They entered the city and caused a lot of havoc
eating sheep, fowls and pet animals reared by the
citizens and entering houses and damaging property.
The stable keepers were unable to do anything
in this unusual situation. They informed the king about
the occurrence. The king was enraged on hearing what
they had told him. Maanikkavaachakar, who did not know
anything about all this, came to the king as usual. The
king informed him about the transformation of the horses
into jackals and then asked his men to chastise
Maanikkavaachakar once again. The king's men placed
big stones on his head and his two hands and made him
stand exposed to the mid-day sun with the face and eye
upturned so as to bear the brunt of the glare of the sun.
Maanikkavaachakar couldn’t do anything but pray unto
Lord Somasundareswara.
The Lord caused the river Vaigai to rise In
unprecedented floods. The flood waters entered the city
and caused considerable damange to life and property.
The citizens were frightened. The guards, who were
chastising Maanikkavaachakar, (In their anxiety to save
 P. Gopaian 100

their kith and kin and their property), went to their

houses leaving him alone. Maanikkavaachakar
immediately went to the temple and prayed unto Lord
Somasundareswara.

61. CARRIED MUD FOR PANCAKES

The king directed his ministers to take steps to

control the flood in the Vaigai. The ministers announced
that each house-holder in the city should contribute
labour for strengthening the flooded bank in a portion
marked for him. Accordingly, a large number of labourers
gathered at the flooded site with baskets, spades and
other relevant articles, work proceeded apace and was
almost finished.
One of the householders was an old woman
called Vandhi. She had no dependants. She earned her
livelihood selling cakes made of rice flour. But she was a
great devotee of Lord Somasundareswara and she never
failed to mentally offer the cakes made by her to the Lord
before the commencement of the sales. She was in
search of a labourer to be sent as her representative.
The Lord begged her to give in advance the bits of the
cakes strewn about in the container saying that HE was
hungry and tired and if He ate those bits, HE would be
resuscitated and be able to do hard work. She gave Him
the bits and the Lord ate them with relish. Then, thanking
her for it, He proceeded to the site.
But He did not do any serious work. He would
carry sand in the basket and them empty the basket to
no purpose. Now and then, He was lying down. He also
 Lord Siva's Miracles 101
them and then returned to the site. Again He was playing
pranks without doing the allotted work. The king’s
officials were checking the work done by the house
holders and noticed that except Vandhi’s portion, the
work assigned had been completed.
The officials reported the matter to the king. He
was enranged and demanded to know who was
responsible for the portion which remained incomplete.
The Lord was produced before the king. He struck him
with his golden cane and the Lords dropped a basket of
sand on the breached site and vanished. The sand
thrown by the Lord, to the surprise of ail, rose to be a big
mount and the breach was completely closed. The stroke
received by the Lord was felt by the entire Universe
including the king. The king was wonder-struck at this
and wanted to meet Vandhi. But a clestiai Vimana came
to her and took her to Siva Loka.
The Lord appeared to the king and said that
Maanikkavaachakar had spent the money entrusted to
him on the Lord and his devotee, that the king chastised
him not knowing what had been done by him and that,
therefore, He had caused the river Vaigai to rise in
floods. The Lord also said that the blessed Vandhi who
had lovingly fed Him with the cakes prepared by her was
elevated to Siva Loka. Maanikkavaachakar’s, the Lord
said, was an enlightened soul and he should, therefore,
be left to live according to his inclinations. The king was
blessed by the Lord with long life and great prosperity.
The Lord then disappeared.
The king profusely regretted to
Maanikkavaachakar for the wrongs done to him not
knowing his greatness. Maanikkavaachakar blessed the
king and said that, according to the injunctions of the
 P. Gopalan 102
Lords, he wanted to go to Chindambaram and took leave
of the king. He then went to the temple, prayed to
Lord Somasundareswara in Madurai and left for
Chidambaram. The king also prayed to Lord
Somasundareswara in the temple and profusely
apologised for his ignorance. The king then placed
Sabhanaathan on the throne.
Maanikkavaachakar then reached Chidambaram
after worshipping Lord Siva in several shrines en-route.
At Chidambaram, he sang Thiruvaachakam in praise of
the Lord and was doing penance in a forest nearby.
At that time, a group of Buddhists came to
Chidambaram and challenged Hindusim and saivite
Philosophy. The worshippers of the Lord of
Chidambaram called "the thousands of thillai”
(who had dedicated themselves to the service of the
Lord) accepted the challenge and discussions went on
for some days. The Lord then appeared in the dream of
His devotees and asked them to get Maanikkavaachakar
as their spokesman for the discussions with the
Budhists. Maanikkavaachakar then took the lead and
made the Buddhists admit their defeat.
Then the Chola king, who was a staunch Bud¬
dhist and had a dumb daughter, came to Chidambaram
and said that, whoever cured his daughter of her
dumbness would be accepted by him as the winner. The
Buddhist failed to cure her but Maanikkavaachakar
instantly cured her with Lord’s grace. The Chola became
a saivite and meted out punishment to the Buddhists as
agreed before by them at the beginning of the contest.
Maanikkavaachakar, after visiting some other
places and worshipping the Lord there, returned to
Chidambaram and entered Siva Loka.
 62. CURED THE FEVER AND HUNCH
BACK OF KOONPANDYA

Ten generations after Sabhanantha Pandya,

Koon Pandya ruled the Pandyan Kingdom. He defeated
the Chera and Chola kings and ruled all their kingdoms
as the supreme Lord. The Chola king gave his daughter,
Mangayarkarasi in marriage to Koon-Pandya and also
offered several presents to the bridgeroom. He also sent
Kulachiraiyar, a man of noble birth and great erudition
with him. The Pandya was impressed by the sterling
qualities of Kulachiraiyar and made him the Prime
Minister.
The king gave up his belief in Saivism unmindful
of the fact that all his ancestors had sworn by it and Lord
Somasundareswar of Madurai had come to their rescue
in difficult situations and on innumerable occassions. He
came under the influence of Jainism but the Queen and
the Prime Minister continued to follow Saivism though
they could not exhibit their leanings in public. They
prayed to Lord Somasundareswara to wean the king
away from his new faith and make him return to the old
and time-honoured one.
At that time, a Saivaite pilgrim came to Madurai
from Chidambaram to worship Lord Somasundareswara.
He told the queen and the Prime Minister that in
Sirkhazhi in Thanjavur District, a Brahmin named
Sivapadha Hrudayar had a son named Thirugnaana
Sambanthar, who, in his third year, was fed by Goddess
Parvathi with her milk, with the result that he had been
 P. Gopalan 104

endowed with the supreme knowledge. He toured round

many places singing the praise of Lord Siva. Lord Siva
also had endowed him with several unusual presents
such as a pair of golden Symbols for keeping time while
singing, a pearl bedecked palanquin, a peart canopy,
gold coins to ward off famine etc., He also performed
various miracles such as bringing life to dead men and
women.
When they heard all these, a ray of hope
dawned on the minds of the queen and the
Prime Miniser. They had sent a messenger to
Thirugnanasambandhar imploring him to visit Madurai to
drive out Jainism and revive Saivism. On receipt of the
invitation, Thirugnanasambandhar wanted to proceed to
Madurai. But his colleague, Thirunavukkarasar, who had
been a pillar of Jainism, tried to stop him on the plea that
the king there could be cruel and heartless. But
Thirugnanasambandhar brushed aside the objection
saying that Lord Siva's devotees could never be harmed
and went to Madurai along with a multitude of his
followers.
At Madurai, he worshipped Goddess Meenakshi
and Lord Somasundareswara and prayed for success in
his encounter with the leaders of the Jain cult.
He stayed in the building of one Vaageesa, an
ardent devotee of the Lord. That night, the Jain
performed an Abhichara Homa for the destruction of the
building in which Thirugnanasambandhar was staying be
means of raising a fire in it. The building was afire and
Thirugnanasambandhar directed the fire to consume the
Pandya king who had forsaken his ancestral belief and
was hobnobbing with a new sect. The Pandya was
immediately afflicted with a burning fever and his agony
____ Lord Siva's Miracles 105
was unbearable. No medicines could cure him. The
queen sent for the Prime Minister who told the king that
the young i hirugnanasambandhar, a saivite savant who
was staying in Madurai, could alone cure the illness of
the king. The king agreed out of the exigencies of the
situation though he was loth to seek the aid of a staunch
Saivite. The queen and the Prime Miniser went to the
place where Thirugnanasambandhar ivas staying and
requested him to cure the illness of the king and hereby
wean him away from Jainism. Thirugnanasambandhar
went with the queen and the Prime Minister to the king.
The Jain leaders who were already given a chance
had failed to cure the king of his illness.
Thirugnanasambandhar then tried his hand. He got some
ash from the kitchen of Lord Somasundareswara's
temple and applied it to the right side of the king's body
with a prayer song. Instantaneously the fever on the
right side subsided. The king, therefore, requested
Thirugnanasambandhar to cure his left side also and on
the application of the ash on the left the fever subsided.
The Pandya, therefore, assumed the name of
Soundra Pandya and embraced Saivism. He honoured
Thirugnanasambandhar.

63. MADE GNANASAMBANDHAR KILL THE

NAKED ONE ON THE SULA

The Ciueen and the Prime Minister then

requested Thirugnaanasambandhar to eliminate Jainism
from the country. He wanted to know the Lord's will. The
Lord announced His approval and asked him to go to the
king and in his presence challenge the Jains for a
 P. Gopalan 106

debate on the relative merits of the two religions. The

queen and Prime Minister then persuaded the king to
arrange for the meet.
The relation of the Jain mocked at their inabillity
to prevail over a Saivite child. They were,
therefore, inclined to enter into a debate with
Thirugnanasambandhar but their relatives advised them
not to do so. They recounted certain bad dreams which
they had about the Jains being executed by the king.
Notwithstanding these warnings, they took up the
challenge of Thirugnaanasambandhar and took part in
the debate.
The Jains suggested that the representative
tenets of the two sects be written on palm leaves and be
put into fire. The leaf which would remain unburnt should
be accepted as that of the winning creed. They also
suggested that this should be done outside the city so
that Lord Somasundareswara’s influence would not
prevail. The suggestions were accepted. The leaves put
by the Jains were consumed by the fire but those put by
Thirugnanasambandhar were intact.
The Jains then suggested another test. The
leaves should be put into the river Vaigai and the leaf
which went up stream would indicate the winning creed:
It was also agreed that the votaries of the defeated creed
should be executed. This test also ended in favour of
Thirugnanasambandhar. The leaders of the defeated
Jain sect were executed, except thosoe who embraced
Saivism.
The king wanted to know what had happened to
the leaves which went upstream. So, they all went up the
river and found that at the tenth mile the leaves had
 Lord Siva's Miracles 107

disappeared. Then Thirugnaanasambandhar prayed unto

the Lord and there appeared under a Bilva tree a
Swayambu (self-created) Linga. From that Linga, the
Lord appeared in the form of an old person and gave the
leaves to Thirugnaaanasambandhar. The king was
greatly impressed, and he built a temple for the Linga
and the place came to be called “Thiruvedakum
(The place where the secred leave were found).
Thirugnanasambandhar remained in Madurai for
some time and then left for Chola kingdom after
worshipping Lord siva in Various shrines in Pandya
territory enroute.

64. BROUGHT TREE, TANK, SIVALINGA ETC.,

TO MADURAI AS WITNESS

There was a rich merchant in a coastal town.

For a long time, he had no offsprings. He, therefore,
spent much on charity. Then he begot a daughter. He
had a nephew (sister’s son) in Madurai. Though he was
already married, the merchant desired to give his
daughter in marriage to his nephew as his second wife
.and told all his relatives of his desire.
The merchant and his wife died suddenly. Their
relatives performed the funeral obsequies and sent a
message to the nephew in Madurai to inform him of the
death of the merchant and his wife. They also informed
him of the intention of the merchant to give his daughter
in marriage to the nephew and asked him to come over
to the place, marry the daughter and take the properties
of the merchant. The nephew was grief-stricken on this.
He went to his uncle’s place with a few relatives of his,
 P. Gopalan 108

stayed for some time and took the daughter and

properties of the merchant saying that he would marry
her at Madurai in the presence of all his relatives.
Enroute, he reached a place called Thiruppurambayam
where he wanted to stay for the night. He took his bath
in a well near the temple, and ate his food and slept on
the ground. A poisonous snake bit him and he died. The
relatives who were accompanying him were beating their
breasts on account of the grief over his death. The
merchant’s daughter, who was young, was perplexed at
the turn of events and swooned. The r elatives consoled
her.
Thirugnanasambandar was staying in a building
nearby and he came to the spot on hearing the mourning
cries of the girl. He brought the dead man
back to life. The bereaved girl became happy.
Thirugnanasambandhar noticed that the girl,
though betrothed to her cousin, did not touch his body
either when he was lying dead or when he was brought
back to life. He told the merchant’s nephew that she was
a girl of excellent qualities and he should marry her then
and there. But the nephew pointed that it would
be difficult for him to marry the girl except in the
presence of the members of his clan who would
bear witness. Thirugnanasambandhar however,
said that the widely expressed intention of the girl’s
father was to give her in marriage to him. Further,
the tree, the well and the Linga in that spot would
also bear witness to the marriage. Therefore he adivised
that the marriage should take place immediately. After
the marriage, the party went to Madurai and
 Lord Siva's Miracles 109

In due course, he got several children through

his two wives. Once, on account of a quarrel which
arose among the children, the elder wife scoffed at
the younger and said that she was not lawfully wedded
wife. The younger wife explained the circumstances
under which her marriage took place and told her that
the tree, the well and Linga were witnesses to the
marriage. The elder wife further ridiculed the younger
wife about the inanimate objects cited as witnesses
to the marriage.
The younger wife then went to the temple,
bathed in the Golden Lotus Tank and prayed unto Lord
Somasundareswara to summon the tree, the well
and the Linga to Madurai to convince the elder wife
of the sanctity and legality of the marriage. Immediately
the three witnesses appeared in the north- eastern
part of the temple. The younger wife showed them to
the elder wife. This evoked the wonder and admiration
of the entire population of the city but the elder
wife was unhappy about it. She was looked down
upon by ail people. Her husband also said that he would
disown her but the younger wife dissuaded him from
doing so, saying that she (the elder wife) was like
a mother to her. The two wives and their childlren
lived thereafter in perfect harmony.

65. SUPPLICATION

St. Agastya thus completed the narration of the

sixty four sportly acts of Lord Somasundareswara of
Madurai and then meditated on the Lord. Then he invited
 P. Gopalan lio
all the Saints, Rlshis to visit Madurai and worship Lord
Somasundareswara. They all bathed in the Ganges and
worshipped Lord Visveswara of Varanaasi. Then they all
flew up in the sky to reach Madurai. Enroute, St. Agastya
pointed out to them the various shrines the passed by
bathed in the Golden Lotus Tank and worshipped Lord
Somasundareswara. The Lord was pleased and came
out of the Linga and blessed them. To Agastya, the Lord
said that the (Agastya) and his wife were respectively
equal to Lord Siva and Parvathi. Agastya and
other Rishis then installed a Linga each and
established a ‘Tapovanam’ nearby and worshipped Lord
Somasundareswara and Goddess Meenakshi thrice
every day.
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 Lord Siva’s Miracles 113

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 P. Gopalan 124

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