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.
