The Holy Temple Of Thingalur

      In seventh century AD, Appothi Adigal, who is being revered as one of the sixty-three Nayanmars (great Saivaite Saints) lived in the town of Thingalur along with his wife, Maragatham Ammaiyaar, and four sons.  He had been an ardent devotee of Lord Siva.  Also, he had been an ardent devotee of Saint Thirunavukkarasar (one of the four greatest Saivaite Saints).

      By virtue of his sheer devotion on Saint Thirunavukkarasar, Appothi Adigal named almost everything that he owned as Thirunavukkarasu.  The school that he ran was named as ‘Thirunavukkarasu Pallichaalai’.  The water shed that he ran for offering water to the passers-by was named as ‘Thirunavukkarasu Thaneer Pandhal’.  The husbandry that he owned was named as ‘Thirunavukkarasu Ko Chaalai’.  He named all his sons as: Thirunavukkarasu – I, Thirunavukkarasu – II, Thirunavukkarasu – III.

      One-day Saint Thirunavukkarasar paid a visit to Thingalur.  It was to worship Kailaayanathar enshrined at the temple of Thingalur.  Saint Thirunavukkarasar was born as Marul Neekiyar.  The name Thirunavukkarsu was given to him by The Almighty.  Hence, he was dumbfounded to see a school, a water shed, a husbandry bearing the divine name ‘Thirunavukkarasu’.  Through the localites, he learnt the devotion of Appothi Adigal on him.  Appothi Adigal, who had never seen Saint Thirunavukkarasar, turned exuberant when he heard the news of Saint Thirunavukkarasar’s visit to his home town.  He, along with his wife, called on Saint Thirunavukkarasar.  The moment they saw him, they both bowed down to his feet and humbly requested Saint Thirunavukkarasar to have lunch that day at their house.  Saint Thirunavukkarasar accepted the cordial invitation.

      Maragatham Ammaiyaar prepared almost everything for serving Saint Thirunavukkarasar.  Just before serving the Saint, she asked her son Thirunavukkarasu – I to fetch a plantain leaf from the plantain tree that was at the backyard of their house.  Thirunavukkarasu – I, while trying to cut a leaf from the tree, was stung by a snake.  With great difficulty, he managed to hand over the leaf to his Mom.  Soon after handing over the plantain leaf to his Mom, he succumbed to the snake bite and passed away.

      Appothi Adigal and his wife were totally devastated by the death of their oldest son.  But they didn’t want to reveal it to Saint Thirunavukkarasar, as nobody would feel like enjoying a lunch in the house, where there was a bereavement.  Hence, they wrapped the dead body of their son in a big plantain leaf and kept it aside at an isolated room in their house.  They were all set to serve lunch for the Saint.  When the Saint sat for lunch, he could see everyone in the family except the oldest son.  He then enquired Appothi Adigal, where his oldest son was.  Since Appothi Adigal had extreme devotion to the Saint, he could not utter a lie.  Hence, he revealed him the truth.

      Saint Thirunavukkarasar instructed Appothi Adigal and his wife to get the dead body of their son to Kailayanathar temple, where he pleaded to the presiding Deity by singing a Thevaram hymn.  Lord Siva was moved by the plea of Saint Thirunavukkarasar and retrieved the life of Thirunavukkarasu – I.  

       There is a separate sanctum-sanctorum for Moon, one of the nine planets in Hindu Astrology, in the temple.  As per Hindu mythology, the 27 stars (considered as 27 sisters) in Hindu Astrology are the 27 wives of Moon.  Of His 27 wives, Lord Mathi/Moon (Lord Chandiran) is extremely fond of two of his wives, namely, Rohini and Kiruthigai.  Hence, more often than not, He remained in the quarters of either of the two.  He almost forgot the remaining 25 wives of His.  Those 25 wives became furious and complained about their spouse to their father.  The infuriated father-in-law cursed his son-in-law to lose all His handsomeness.  The disfigured Lord Mathi (Moon) pleaded to The Supreme Deity (Lord Siva) to forgive Him and to relieve Him from his father-in-law’s curse.  Lord Siva instructed Lord Mathi to go down to Thingalur on the Earth and observe penance so as to get relieved from the curse of His father-in-law.

      Hence, it is believed that if people, who have debilitated or weak or waning Moon in their horoscopes, offer prayers at Thingalur, they would be blessed with everything in their lives that are being signified by Moon.  In Hindu astrology, Moon is the significator of the mother and the mind.  Thingalur is easily accessible by road from Kumbakonam and Thiruvaroor.

The Holy Temple Of Thirumarugal

     On 3^rd July 2016, just a day before my husband and I completed eight years of our union in wedlock, we had been blessed enough to offer worship at the Holy temple of Mannikavannar (Rathinagireeswarar), along with our daughters and both our parents, enshrined at the village of Thirumarugal in Nagapattinam district of Tamil Nadu.  The village of Thirumarugal is named after a species of plantain tree, called Marugal, which is found inside the temple.  That particualr variety of plantain tree abounds the entire village as well.  Appar, Thiruganasambandhar and Sundarar, the three of the four great Saivaite Saints, have sung in praise of the presiding Deity in their Thevaram hymns.  It is believed that the Lord has been enshrined there for epochs together.  It was the place where Goddess Mahalakshmi, upon bathing in the temple tank and worshipping Mannikavannar, could ward off the curse that befell on Her for hurting Saint Birghu (Birghu Munivar).

       Way back in 7^th Century AD, seven-year-old Saint Thirugnanasambandhar had been staying at the temple of Thirumarugal for a while.  On a night, during his stay, he came across a young woman, who was sitting crest-fallen beside the dead body of her fiancé.  Upon enquiry, Saint Thirugnanasambandhar came to know that she and her dead fiancé hailed from the city of Madurai.  She was born into a Chettiar family.  Her parents had seven daughters and she was the last amongst the seven.  Her dead fiancé was none other than her maternal uncle.  Initially, her father agreed to get her eldest sister married to her maternal uncle.  But later, her greedy father got her eldest sister married to some other rich business man.  Then, he agreed to get his another daughter married to him but again dodged him in the same manner.  Ultimately, through false promises, her father got all six of her elder sisters married to other rich business men.  She didn’t want her maternal uncle to be cheated by her father any more.  Hence, she decided to elope with her maternal uncle.

      Since the woman and her dead fiancé didn’t have any proper place to stay, they decided to take shelter that night at the dormitory of the temple of Thirumarugal.  They were all set to get married the following day.  But, unfortunately, her fiancé lost his life owing to snake bite.  Saint Thiruganasambandhar upon hearing the story of the woman, was moved by her plight.  He was convinced that though eloping was an act of sheer disobedience to the parents, that woman had a justifiable reason to elope with her fiancé.  Hence, he pleaded to Lord Shiva by singing a Thevaram hymn, to retrieve the life of her fiancé.  Lord Shiva, who was moved by the plea of Saint Thiruganasambandhar, retrieved the life of the man.  Upon retrieving the life of the man, the Lord said to Saint Thiruganasambandhar, that the seven-year-old Saint had become the father of the man, as he was the one who gave him re-birth by pleading to the Lord.  He offered him the Divine Instruction of presiding over the marriage of the man and the woman the following day at the temple of Thirumarugal by keeping the temple’s principal tree, named Vanni, as the witness.

      The temple has statues of that man and the woman and even today their wedding day is being celebrated every year in the temple as, “Chettipillai Chettipenn Thirumanam”.  Also, offering prayers to the Lord of the temple is believed to ward off the evils and/or curses that cause delay in getting married.  It is referred to in Tamil as the holy place for obliteraring the obstacles for getting married. 

       Lord Saturn, who is also enshrined in that temple, was worshipped by Gorakka Sitthar.  Lord Saturn is believed to be enshrined there in the most tranquil form of His.  Thirumarugal is easily accessible by road from Thiruvaaroor, Kumbakonam and Nagapattinam.  Lord Bhairavar at Thirumarugal is believed to be enshrined in the form of 'Ruru Bhairavar', which is one of His eight forms.

       Saint Thirunavukkarasar in his Thevaram hymn on the presiding Deity has remarked that by hailing and bowing down to the feet of Marugalan (Manikkavannar), we could enhance penance, we could eradicate ignorance, we could reform our wavering mind, we could drink the nectar of supreme happiness!

பெருகலாம் தவம் பேதைமை தீரலாம்
திருகலாகிய சிந்தை திருத்தலாம்
பருகலாம் பரமாயதோர் ஆனந்தம்
மருகலானடி வாழ்த்தி வணங்கிடவே!
                                                          - திருநாவுக்கரசர்

Mu. Varadharasanar's, 'Kurattai Oli' in Spanish Language

La fecha: El 13 de Septiembre 2016

El Ruido Del Ronquido

 

     Era un erudito del idioma Tamil, se llama, Sr. M. Varadharasanar, quien escribió una historia en Tamil, mi lengua materna.   El titulo de la historia en Tamil es, "Kurattai Oli".  La he traducido como, “El ruido del ronquido”.  La ha sido traducido en muchos idiomas de India y en algunos idiomas extranjeros.

     Uno de mis sueños es traduciendo, por al menos, un mensaje desde Tamil a Español.  Aquí, traduciendo la historia del erudite Sr. M. Varadharasanar:

     En el edificio donde yo vivía con mi esposa en mi apartamento, vivieron dos familias más.  La familia rica vivió a la derecha y la familia pobre vivió a la izquierda.  Eran dos miembros en la familia rica – el hombre y su esposa.  Eran ocho miembros en la familia pobre – el cabezo de la familia, su esposa, su mamá vieja, sus cinco hijos.  Tambíen, vivió una perra con la familia pobre.  

     Un día la mujer de la familia pobre dio a luz a su sexto bebé.  Despues de algunos días, tambíen, la perra dio a luz a cinco cachorros.  Una mañana la perra salió afuera pero no se regresó a la casa hasta la noche.  Los habian sido extrañado  sus mamá los cachorros y estuvieron haciendo mucho ruido.  Los no pudieron soportar el hambre.  

     La mujer de la familia rica no podia soportar el ruido de los perritos.   Le pidió a mi esposa para ir decir a la mujer pobre que tirar los cachorros desde la casa.  Mi esposa dijo a la mujer pobre la misma.  La mujer pobre pidió a mi esposa para soportar con los cachorros hasta la mañana siguiente, ya que fue fuertemente lloviendo afuera.

     El ruido fue aumentando.  Despues de alguno tiempo, podia sentir que el ruido se reduce lentamente.  Me dio curiosidad saber la razón.  Por la ventana, podia ver que la mujer pobre tenia una taza pequeña en su mano izquierda y tenia un pequeño trozo de algodón en su mano derecha.  Ella dejó caer el trozo de algodón en el liquido en la taza y le apretó el liquido en la boca del cachorro.  Despues podia ver que la mujer apretó la leche de su pechuga en la taza pequeña y continuó el mismo hasta todos los cachorros detener el ruido.   Exactamente eso momento, podia oir el ruido del ranquido desde el apartamento de la mujer rica.