Siddhar Thirumoolar

Thirumoolar had been attracted towards sage Agasthiyar and had gone to meet him, for that he traveled to the Pothigai hill, which had been the residential place of Agasthiyar. On the way to Pothigai hill, he visited many pilgrim centers.

While his journey towards Pothigai, he had seen a strange phenomena that cows were shedding tears and shouting with pain, stood around one corpse. He was a cowherd called moolan, died just before, and that had been the reason for the cow's shouting pain.

Thirumoolar, having seen the panic situation, wanted to wipe out the tears of the cattle. So, he had used his yogic power of transmigration and detached his soul from his body and transmigrated into the body of the cowherd Moolan. He had placed his own body in a protected area.

Having seen Moolan alive again, all the cows jumped with over joy and returned again for feeding. Thay had fed well and returned to home under the supervision of Moolan. This had made Thirumoolar very happy.

On having seen Moolan's wife, Thirumoolar had explained what had happened and she didn't believe it all. So he had to react the drama, what he had with Moolan at the feeding land near the river bed. On having seen that transmigration, Moolsan's wife and the people of that place realized that a great sage had been residing in moolan's body.

When Thirumoolar was in search of his own body, he didn't able to find out, since his original body had been missed. So he had to be permanently stayed in Moolan's body.

When, once Thirumoolar was on the way to his pilgrimage through skyward, he had heard deep mourning voice, came out from the earth, had seen a lot of people with withered faces.He had known for the cause by his yogic power and he wanted to change that tragic situation into a pleasant one.

So he first went to the western ghats where the holy mountain Sathuragiri had been situated amidst the four Giris (Mountains) which are the 'Brahmahgiri, Vishnugiri, Shivagiri and Vedhagiri. He entered into a cave where he usually did his penance, and left his body inactive by using his yogic power of transmigration.

He ordered his faithful disciple Gururajan, that until his return to that cave, he should protect his body from being missed or destroyed by others.

He reached that place where he heard the mourning voices, which was named as Rajendrapuri at the Pandyan kingdom. There he found the king Veerasenan dead, and his funeral rituals had been taken place. He immediately transmigrated into the king's dead body.

After having transmigrated into the corpse of Veerasenan, the body suddenly woke up and the king Veerasenan stood up, after having got his 2^nd life by Thirumoolar. The Queen and all the citizens of Rajendrapuri became very happy enough and the minster ordered the palace's doctor to be sentenced to death.

But the king Veerasenan ordered that the palace's doctor should be released, for what he told was true. So all the people became calm, but that incident had made great impact on them, that how could he (king) be come alive.

In order to clear their confusion, Thirumoolar, as in the form of the king Veerasenan, began to speak that while he was on his 'Nagar valam' (on those days, it's custom of a king to go around his country by having worn makeup, in order to test everything was O.K.), he happened to come across a beautiful garden (Nandhavanam). There he entered into it and had noted some movement, wrongly interpreted as a thief, but he only found a snake had been moving there.

While the snake was on it's move, a sharp thorn had pinched on it's body and due to the pain it had experienced, with the anger on it's peak, it had touched the flower with it's poisonous teeth, thinking that it was the cause of it's pain. So the petals of that flower had changed into poison-dipped. The king told that, without known that, he had smelled that flower and had died. Again he said that it was true that he had died and also it had been true that he came alive.

But the queen suspected that something had been happened to his husband and asked him to clarify that. Having expected that from her, the king (Thirumoolar) told about the real fact that what had happened with his husband and also told her every thing about his whereabouts of his own body.

Then the queen asked Thirumoolar that if any body could damage or could burn his body, then what would he do further. Having replied to that question, he explained her that it wouldn't be easy so far to destroy his body, since it had been treated with a unique method of immortality called 'Kaya siddhi' and again added that if any body could ready to burn his body, they would have to follow through some strict procedures that his body should be applied with the mixture of 'Vediuppu (sulphate), Kungilium (source of perfume smoke) and 'Porikaaram alias Vengharam' (Phosphor) all over and should be covered with the leaves of 'Virali' and the woods of 'Agil' and after that only, one should fire on his body, then only it should be burned into ashes.

On heard about that, the queen, in order to make Thirumoolar to sit in the palace permanently, she plotted with her loyal servants, that they should search Thirumoolar's body and should destroy it by using the method told by him already. She also had succeeded in her attempt of destroying Thirumoolar's body, when Gururajan (Disciple of Thirumoolar) was in search of Thirumoolar, for, a long time his guru didn't return to Sathuragiri.

Having known the plot of the queen, he left the palace by having declared the queen to rule over the country thereafter. The queen also begged his pardon for the sin she had done with his body and asked him that she should be always remain as 'Theergha Sumangali' (means always remain as having her husband alive). Thirumoolar had forgiven her and blessed her with what she wanted and left the palace.

Thirumoolar had left that palace and reached Sathuragiri one night. At dawn, he had taken bath in the river and when about to reach the shore, he found one man sitting like a statue on the shore. when touched, that man had leaned on the ground.

Thirumoolar, having used his yogic power, known that the man was Jambhugeshwarar, a brahmin, who had been living in the temple of Thiruvanaikaval. He also known that Jambhugeshwarar, without having the assistance of a yoga teacher, had learned pranayamam (breathing exercise) and by improper practice of that pranayamam, he had died just before.

Then there stroke an idea at the minds of Thirumoolar and he transmigrated for the 3^rd time into the body of that brahmin Jambhugeshwarar. As per the blessing he had given to the queen, that she would have been always as 'Theerka Sumangali', he took the corpse of the king veerasenan and applied some herbs so as to make it immortal (without decay) and protected the corpse into a big hole of a tree and closed the hole by his yogic power and thus he proved the promise he had given to the queen.

Since the tree had kept the king within itself, it had been blessed by Thirumoolar as 'Arasa maram' (peepal tree). In Tamil, the term 'Arasan' means 'King' and hence it has been called as 'Arasa maram'.

Then Thirumoolar, having kept the body of Jambhugeahwarar as his inhabitant, had gone to a cave and had done penance in order to make his 'hired body' as 'Kalpa thaegam' (immortal body). After having made his body (Jambhugeshwarar's) as immortal (kalpam), he had happened to meet the queen again and she knew about everything that what had happened to her husband's body. She made tribute to the 'Arasa maram' (peepal tree) and returned to her country.

Agasthiyar, in his suvadi (book) called 'Gowdiya Sagharam' had noted that Thirumoolar had written 8000 'Thirumanthiram', during his life period.