2
Kanampulla Nayanar
Velur on the Sothern bank of Vellaru River…
There
are quite a few villages around Velur. One of the villages is Chattiyur
populated by Vanikars whose main occupation is trading in commodities.
One
day…
As
a young man is preparing his cart for a journey in great hurry outside his
house, the voice of an old woman beckons him from inside.
Patti (pleading)
Manikkam! Why
don’t you have a morsel of food before you start on your trip?
Manikkam
No! Patti… Only if
I start now, I can reach Velur by day break!
Unless I occupy a place in the weekly market, I cannot do business over
there. If I fail to garner a place, I
will have to wait for the next week to sell the goods. If I sell the goods in
the market, I will get a good price. If
I were to sell it outside the market, I may have to give a huge discount!
Anyway, give me some food in a pack which I can eat on my way.
He loads his cart
with sacks of goods.
Patti
The strong aroma
of black pepper is not agreeable to me. So, you better come in and pick up the
packed food yourself!
Manikkam after
loading the cart goes inside. Patti has kept his packed food ready.
Manikkam
What have you
packed for me?
Patti
Cooked rice and
some fried Sundaikai! Powder the
Sundaikai and mix it with rice and eat.
Manikkam
Why
don’t you mix it here itself and make it ready to eat?
Patti
If
I mix it now, it might become hard to consume. You can powder the Sundaikai
just before eating and mix it with rice and may add just enough water to make
it smooth.
He picks up the packed food half heartedly and
rushes outside.
Patti (blessing him)
Let
the grace of Easan be always with you!
******
Manikkam
is driving his double-bullock cart and reaches the forest area. Afraid that he
might fall asleep if he eats the food, he continues his journey without food.
To keep himself awake, he starts singing. The
moonlight clearly shows the beaten cart track and the journey continues
without a hitch. When he realises that he can reach Velur in a couple of hours
and much before day break, he stops the cart and feeds the bullocks after
unleashing them. He also opens his pack. He finds the fried Sundaikai and
remembers that he has to powder them and mix the powder with the cooked rice.
Looking around he finds a stone to crush the Sundaikai.
Manikkam
How
can I powder it on the bare earth? It will become mixed with sand. I must find
a bigger stone to place the Sundaikai and then I can pound it with this stone.
Looking
around, he finds a slightly hard patch nearby. As he clears the sand, he finds
a fairly big black stone half buried in the earth. Placing a Sundaikai on the buried stone, he
gently pounds it with the stone he has found earlier to crush it. The Sundaikai
does not get crushed. Cursing his Patti for not giving him powdered Sundaikai,
he smashes it with great force. The Sundaikai scatters here and there but blood
starts oozing from the buried stone. Alarmed and scared on seeing the blood, he
gets up quickly. Suddenly a voice is heard.
The Voice
Adiyavare!
My head is broken and bleeding as you smashed it with a stone with a
great force. To stop further bleeding, take some black pepper from your sack
and grind it and apply it as a paste. The bleeding will stop!
Manikkam (terrified)
I
have no black pepper with me. What I got is only black gram.
Greatly
terrified, he leaves things as it is and not even bothering to eat his food, he
quickly prepares the cart and starts off to the weekly market in great
haste. On the way ….Still rattled by the
events and the voice…
Manikkam (to himself)
If
I strike a stone against a stone, only a sound will come! How can blood spurt
out? On top of it, it started talking also! How does it know that I am carting
black pepper? May be it is some ghost!
Scared
out of his wits, he beats the bullocks and drives the cart at great speed.
After reaching the market and seeing other traders, he regains some composure.
He reaches his usual place and occupies it. He unloads the sacks and arranges
them for selling. He opens one of the sacks and to his surprise it contains
black gram and not black pepper he loaded at home. Alarmed he opens the other
sacks and to his dismay all of them contain only black gram which costs almost
next to nothing compared to black pepper he has loaded!
Manikkam (to himself)
How my
untrue statement has become true! All the black pepper I have brought has
changed to black gram! I have run away in fear from there after
seeing the blood from the stone and hearing an unseen voice! That stone cannot
be an ordinary one! It must be a great
one! How big a mistake I have committed by running away from there without
trying to stop the flow of blood? I must immediately go back and seek his
pardon and try to stop the flow of blood.
He
reloads all the sacks and starts off in his cart to go back to that place.
Though he is uncertain as to how he will find that place in that big forest, he
is lucky to find his food pack he has left behind and stops there. He goes on
his knees in front of the stone where the blood is still oozing out.
Manikkam (greatly moved and begging)
Ayyane!
I was not sure! When the blood started spurting out and also a voice was heard,
I got scared that it could be some ghost or evil spirit. So I told a lie that I
did not have black pepper and only black gram and ran away without trying to
stop the flow of blood. The lie I
uttered turned to be true and all my sacks of black pepper have turned into
black gram. You please kindly pardon me and tell me as to how can I stop the blood that is oozing. I will do
so.
He
sheds copious tears wetting the sand underneath.
The Voice
Adiyavare!
What is uttered by an adiyavar will
never be untrue! It is your utterance that changed the black pepper sacks to
black gram sacks and it is not My doing! Don’t feel sad for what has happened.
Apply the sand wetted by your tears on My head and the blood flow will stop!
Adiyavar
quickly picks up the sand wetted by his tears and applies on the spot from
where the blood is oozing. The blood flow stops immediately. Adiyavar is
greatly rejoiced on seeing that the blood has clotted and there is no more
flow.
Adiyavar (happily)
Ayyane!
Who are you?
A
slight laughter is heard. Amazed by
hearing it, the adiyavar starts removing the sand around the stone from all
sides. As he proceeds further and further, a Siva Lingam emerges out of it.
Realising that Easan Himself has been talking to him, the adiyavar goes in to
raptures. He prostrates in front of the Lingam and gets up and stands in great
reverence.
A
mild laughter….
On
hearing it, the adiyavar starts removing the sand around the blood stained
stone. Slowly a Siva lingam emerges out of the earth. Realizing that Easan has
been talking to him all along, he shivers in ecstasy and prostrates in front of
the lingam. He gets up.
Adiyavar (in great reverence)
How
graceful is Your act of emerging here to bless
an insignificant me! As You have emerged on Your own uncrafted by hand,
You are none other than Thanthonreeswarar!
(Swayambhu or self manifested)
Thanthonreeswarar
Adiyavare!
The sand wetted by your tears will be the Thiruneeru for distribution to the
devotees for all times to come! Scatter this dirt over the sacks and the black
gram will turn back into black pepper!
Your name will be glorified as long as this earth remains. My blessings
are with you!
The
heavens open up with a shower of flowers!
*******
The adiyavar
becomes the first citizen of the village and amasses stupendous amount of
wealth and spends the entirely in the upkeep of the temple. He erects a large
number of fine lamps in the temple and lights them up to brighten the temple.
One day he reaches Thillai. On seeing Easan in the dancing pose in the Golden
stage, he decides to light the lamps everyday at his cost. Overtime, his entire
wealth is spent in lighting the lamps in the mantapam. Thinking that it will be a disgrace if he
begs for money for lighting of the
lamps, he earns money by cutting grass and giving it to farmers and in exchange
obtains oil for the laps. One day there
is no takers for the grass and hence there is no oil or the lamps. Bringing the dried grass to the temple in the
evening, he finds that it is insufficient to light all the lamps. To make up
the shortfall, he shears his own head to light up the next lamp. Seeing his
act, Iraivan appears along with Annai Parvati mounted on His Nandi vahanam.
Iraivan
Kanampulla Nayanare!
You were prepared to give up even your life to light the sacred lamp! You are
blessed to remain on My right side forever! Your name and fame will remain
forever. Whosever worship Me, will worship you as well!
The Sound of Onkaram reverberates as Easan
blesses the Adiyavar!
Thiruchchittrabalam
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