Thiruvathavur - the birth place of the fierce devotee of lord Shiva's - Manickavasagar - part 6

As per the direction of lord Shiva, Manickavasagar, after having finished the upraise of the banks of the river Vaigai, got retired from the prime minister's post of the king of Madurai, Arimarthanapandian and got ready for his pilgrimage to various Shiva isthalas.

First he went to the temple of lord Sundareshwarar of Madurai and got the blessing of the 'Almighty'. Then he left for Thiruperumthurai where he sang Thirusathagam in praise of lord Shiva.

Salvation to the fierce devotees~ *Divine blessing to His prime disciple... Manickavasagar !

Lord Shiva appeared before...

Lord Shiva appeared before the fierce devotees ,who were in the number of nine hundred and ninety nine and also before Manickavasagar. Lord Shiva told towards them that one day in the near future, there would raise a Agni (fire) in that fountain and all the nine hundred and ninety nine disciples should enter into that holy fire by one by one through which they could attain His holy feet.

But lord Shiva orderedManickavasagar that he should go to various Shiva isthalas and should worship Him. While done so, He ordered Manickavasagar that he should sing the heart stealing hymns of Thiruvasagam and at last he should come to Thillai (now as Chithambaram). Then lord Shiva disappeared.

As told by the lord Shiva, one day there had been an 'agni' of gate way to salvation, raised on that fountain and the nine hundred and ninety nine disciples entered into the agni by one by one except our Manickavasagar.

Manickavasagar had been remembering that auspicious day when he had met lord Shiva as in the form of 'Guru' under the shadow of the 'Kuruntha tree', he melted in the spiritual fire and at once he sang the heart melting 'Thiruvasagam'.

That moment, when he had met the guru, he remembered that he sang the songs of Athisayapathu, which had been the cause of his inclusion in the group of that nine hundred and ninety nine fierce disciples of lord Shiva.

After that, when they all entered into that 'agni' in the fountain, having the feeling of solitude with him, he sang Aasaipathu.The songs of Sethilapathu and the Punarchipathu were the outlet of his spiritual enthusiasm towards lord Shiva.

His Thiruvaarthai had been the exposure of his joy as the outlet of songs when he had seen lord Shiva on the vagana of Nandhi, the holy bull.

Having worshiped lord Annamalaiyar (lord Shiva), he left for Kanchipuram and Thirukalukundram and had sung the song 'Pitu nerpada' (in Thirupathigam). Finally, as per the direction of lord Shiva, he reached 'Thillai', now called as Chithambaram.

There he saw the cosmic dance of lord Shiva and praised Him with the songs of 'Kandapathu' and 'Thiruvunthiyaar' etc. Then he had been sheltering in a beautiful park at Thillai and waited for the call of lord Shiva. From here, Manickavasagar had done a miracle which had been the key factor for the lot of people to change their religion into 'Saivam' (following lord Shiva).

Once there a Saivaite devotee who had left for Srilanka for experiencing the wealth of that country. He always had the habit of having told the Shiva mantra of 'Thiruchitrambalam Thunai'. This word might have troubled the Buddhist who had been there in Srilanka.

The priest, in turn reported that issue to the king of Eelam (now as Srilanka) and the king who had been following the Buddhism, had invited that sivaite devotee to his court. Having entered the court, the sivaite devotee said 'Thiruchitrambalam' again.

On heard that word, both the king and the Buddhist priest had asked him that why he had told like that? and again asked him that what could have been obtained by having said like that?

The sivaite devotee explained that all the things in the world including a single cell living being had danced within their atom to which the cause of the movement had been given by an 'Almighty' who had been none other than lord Shiva and He who had been the cosmic dancer of the Galaxy, dancing at the five 'ambalams' (places), here in the universe.

Again he told both the king and the Buddhist priest that if one time, any one told 'Thiruchitrambalam', it would be as equal to twentyone thousand and six hundred times of being told the Shiva mantra of 'Na Ma Si Va ya'.

On Being heard that statement of the Thillai saivaite, the Buddhist preist became very angry enough to speak that there would be no god other than Buddha and also he added that he would goto Thillai and and would make the 'Ponnambalam' (lord Shiva's comic dance named as here) to be a place of 'Bhuddha mud'.

so with the Buddhist priest, the king of Srilanka with his dumb daughter also accompanied to Thillai, in order to know the result of the tug of war between the Buddhist and the saivaite.

The Buddhist came to Thillai and stayed at the temple, which had been considered as a issue by the protesters. But he put forth his demand of proving his religion would be the superior to all and he wanted to prove it in front of the king and the people of 'Thillai'.

This news had spread like forest-fire among the people. They all gathered together and discussed that they should arrange the wise men of the saivaite in order to argue against the Biddhist. But all the people failed in their test and that would worry the 'Thillai borne anthanars' (proficiency in vedas) and they appealed with request to the lord Shiva to solve that problem.

That night, in the dream of those 'Thillai anthanars', lord Shiva appeared and told them that at the outskirt of the Thillai, His fierce disciple Manickavasagar had been there and added that they should inform this problem to him and he would be ready for that spiritual argument. Lord Shiva also informed that issue in the dream of Manickavasagar's.

When the Thillai anthanars approached him for the argument with the Buddhist, manickavasagar accepted it at once. In the temple mantapam, the king, the Srilankan king, the Buddhist head preist and his followers had been gathering all around.

The Argument began, the Buddhist explained about the 'Agamas' (principles) of Buddhism, in turn Manickavasagar showed the profound knowledge in the 'Saivaite sithaantha', that Manickavasagar accepted all the religions as the same, except their route to their destination, which had not been accepted by the Buddhist, since he quoted only the Buddhism had been always superior to all.

They continued their argument that had been easily handled by Manickavasagar and his proficiency overpowered the Buddhist's explanation over their religion.They stunned that what to say against the truth behind the saying of Manickavasagar.

Having been defeated by the arguments of Manickavasagar's, they (Bhuddhists) turned their topic as useless word battle and had mocked at the 'Sivaite's signs' of Thriuneer (holy white powder) and Ruthratcha seeds.

Having not tolerated the misbehavior of the Buddhists, Manickavasagar prayed the goddess of knowledge Sri Saraswathi Devi, and She had left out from the tongues of the Buddhists and hence they all lost their speech and been remained silent.

Having seen that scene of tragic incident, the king of Srilanka, couldn't able to speak, fell down on the ground and requested Manickavasagar to make her dumb daughter (by birth) to speak. Manickavasagar had been very kind enough to call that dumb girl by his side and told her that she would tell the answers to the questions, which were asked by the Buddhist at the time of their word battle.

what a surprise! That dumb girl began to speak, not only but also had answered all the 20 questions, what the Buddhist had previously asked to Manickavasagar.That dumb girl (not now) had answered very deeply, which were registered by Manickavasagar at his mind and had been repeated in his 'Thiruchalal' pathigam (sequence of hymns).

Having seen his daughter spoke, the king of Srilanka overwhelmed and both of them wore 'Thiruneer' on their fore head and whole body. They became holy saivaites there after. The Buddhist and his dumb followers had remained silent before Manickavasagar by accepting their defeat and they also wore the holy 'Thiruneer' and changed to saivam thereafter. By the grace- look upon them by Manickavasagar,they also began to speak again.

The people of Thillai also got surprised over that miracle and asked Manickavasagar to stay within the city. But Manickavasagar, having denied that request, because of the disturbance to be made to his meditation, and had stayed at the beautiful garden which had been at the outskirt of Thillai.

There he had done his best work of 'Thirupadaiyatchi' and 'Thirupadaiyeluchi' of Thirupathigam.

Thus days had been rolling on, and one day there came one 'Anthaner' to the residing place of Nanickavasagar and told him that he had been from the pandiyan kingdom (Madurai) in order to write all the songs of 'Thiruvasagam' that all had been sung orally by Manickavasagar.

For that Manickavasagar had repeated to the man that whether he could able to follow him in writing when he had sung those songs again. For that, that man agreed to do so. Manickavasagar began to sing the songs and that man wrote them all on the palm-leaves.

Having written all the songs on the palm leaves, that man disappeared from the scene. Manickavasagar became astonished that the man who had come there was none other than lord Shiva.

The very next day, the Thillai anthanars found palm leaves written with beautiful songs in the foot steps of the shrine of lord Shiva and they didn't understand the meaning of the songs. They decided to know the meaning of those songs from Manickavasagar and they approached him for that.

Having found this holy play of lord Shiva, Manickavasagar accompanied with those anthanars rushed to the Sanctum Sanctorium of lord Shiva and told the anthanars that the meaning of the palm leaves had been simply to mingle with the 'Almighty'.

That time a flood light had been appeared in the Sanctum of lord Shiva, into which Manickavasagar had entered and had disappeared. The anthanars and all the gatherings in the temple were shedding tears of joy and praised Manickavasagar with the chantings of 'Om Nama Shivaya' , 'Om Nama Shivaya'.

At the age of thirty two (32), Manickavasagar had mingled with lord Shiva at Thillai, which is now called as Chithambaram. So with this the life history of Manickavasagar has come to an end.

Om Nama Shivaya ! Om Nama Shivaya !! Om Nama Shivaya !!!