Religion and Spiritualism-Nandanar, ThirupaNazwar and Narayan

Nandanar, ThirupaNazwar and Narayan​

Nandanar a devotee of Lord Siva was born at Adhanur near Thirupungur in pulaiyar (Harijan) caste. He was working in the fields owned by a rich brahmin mirasdar. He also used to make musical instruments made of animal skin.

His caste people used to worship Karuppannasami, the village deity, but due to his poorva janma vasana Nandanar was a staunch devotee of Lord Siva. He was very pious and like his caste people he did not eat meat or drink toddy.

One day he went to the Siva temple at Thirupungur, but he dared not enter the temple. He just stood in front of the entrance and tried to have a glimpse of Lord Siva, but the huge Nandhi in front of the temple was hiding the Siva Linga. But he prayed to the Lord with deep devotion and pleaded with him to give him darshan.

Lo! The unbelievable thing had happened! Lord bade Nandhi to move aside so that his devotee could have his darshan. Nandanar’s joy knew no bounds and he had his favourite deity’s darshan.

Nandanar also heard about Chidambaram Nataraja temple and he longed to go and have darshan. He had to take his master’s permission and had to take leave.

He went to him and said, “Sami! I want to go to Chidambaram and I want a few days leave.”

His master asked, “What for you want to go to Chidambaram?”

Nandanar said, “I want to have darshan of Lord Nataraja.”

His master clapped his hands and laughed loudly and then said, “You! A low caste animal want to have darshan of Nataraja? Do you think you will be allowed to enter the temple?”

Nandanar said, “At least if I could set my foot on the sacred city of Chidambaram, I feel I will be liberated from this cycle of birth and death. Kindly allow me to go.”

His master said, “There is lot of work in the field. The crops are ready for harvesting. Now I won’t allow you to go.”

His master was always stopping him giving some false excuse and used to say that he would allow him to go the next day.

Hence Nandanar used to tell every day ‘naaLaikkuppoven.” “நாளைக்குப் போவேன்” Thus he was known as ‘ThirunaaLai povaar.” (திருநாளைப் போவார்)

At last one day his master gave him leave and he went to Chidambaram. But as before he was hesitating to enter the temple and the dikdhidars who saw him at the entrance of the temple spoke to him harshly and told him to go away from there.

Nandanar was very much disheartened and he cried and begged the Lord that at least once He should give him His darshan. That night Lord Siva appeared in his dream and said, “I am very much pleased with your devotion and you could have my darshan tomorrow.”

That night Lord Siva appeared in the dream of the dikshidhars also and told them to bring Nandanar to the temple after he took bath in the temple tank.. The next morning they went and told him the Lord’s wish. They told him to take bath in the sacred temple tank. As soon as he took bath his appearance totally changed. He was wearing jatamudi and a sacred thread and he looked like a sage. The dikshidhars were surprised to see his new look and they took him in side the temple.

Nandanar entered the sanctum sanctorum and for a few minutes he was having darshan of the Lord and then he prostrated and merged with the Lord. The dikshidars were all struck with wonder and could not believe their eyes.

Nandanar is accredited as one of the 63 Nayanmars. This proves caste is no bar to attain the at most benevolence of the Lord.

Thirupanazwar was a staunch devotee of Lord Vishnu. He was also born in low caste. He was a staunch devotee of Lord Ranganatha. He used to stand on the other side of the river Kaveri facing Lord Ranganatha’s temple and play the string instrument and sing along with it in deep devotion forgetting himself and his environment.

One day Loka Saranga who used to take water from the river Kaveri for the Lord’s thirumanjanam saw him standing and singing obstructing the path.

He called out to him and said, “Get out of the path. I want to fetch water for the Lord.”

Panan was in a reverie and he could not hear him.

Then Loka Saranga clapped his hands and shouted at him.

Then also Panan didn’t hear him.

Loka Saranga got angry and he picked up a stone and threw it at him. The stone struck Panan at his forehead and blood started oozing out.

Panan suddenly came to his senses and opened his eyes and saw Loka Saranga standing. He asked his pardon and moved away.

Loka Saranga filled up the water and returned to the temple. When he entered the sanctum sanctorum he saw a wound on the forehead of the Lord and blood dripping out. He trembled in fear and had fainted. He was lying down near a pillar and soon he fell asleep.

Lord Ranganatha appeared in his dream and said, “Panan is also a devotee of me and his devotion is not lesser to your devotion. You have hurt him and I want you to bring him to the temple on your shoulders with all temple honours.”

The next morning Loka Saranga went to the place with other Brahmins and saw Panan standing at the usual place. Panan thought that he had come to punish him with others.

Loka Saranga stood before him with folded hands and said, “Please forgive me for pelting the stone and hurting you. The Lord Himself had ordered me to bring you to the temple on my shoulders.”


When Panan heard this he got frightened and said, “Being born in low caste how can I allow you to carry me on your shoulders? You are a Brahmin and I do not deserve this.”

Loka Saranga said, “This is the order of Lord Himself and I have to obey His order. Please allow me to carry you.”

With much hesitation Panan yielded to his request and was carried in side the sanctum sanctorum on the shoulders of Loka Saranga. He stood before the Lord and his eyes drank the beauty of the Lord without even blinking once.

Suddenly his lips started singing ‘Amalanathi Piran’ in which he described the Lord’s marvelous beauty from head to foot. Then he fell at the Lord’s feet and mingled with Him.

Thus Panan became Thirupanazwar and is accredited as one of the Sri Vaishnava Azwars.

A new age story is linked to the above two stories.

Ranganathan who was a trustee in Lakshminarayan temple was searching for a bhattachari for the temple. It is difficult to find a good bhattachari these days and he had contacted many people, but to no avail.

One morning one Youngman with kattu kudumi and with bright thiruman srichoornam displayed in his dark forehead came to his house.

He said, “Your manni at Kanchipuram told me that you are looking for a bhattachari. I want to offer myself as a candidate.”

Ranganathan asked, “Our temple follows pancharathra agamam. Are you trained in that?”

He said, “Yes, I am very well trained in that.”

Ranganathan asked, “Where did you study and from whom you obtained dhiksha?”

He said, “I studied at Tirupathi patasala and obtained pancha samskaram and dhiksha from the Thirumalai jeer.”

Ranganathan was happy to hear this and he took him to the temple and introduced him to the other temple committee members. Thus he was appointed as bhattachari.

After a year or so a neighbourhood temple bhattachari happened to see him at some other place. As he had knew him he was talking to him and came to know that he got the job at the Laksminarayan temple.

He knew that the Youngman was not a Brahmin but was an adopted son of a Brahmin. He could not resist the temptation of revealing the secret to the temple committee. When the committee came to know about this they started questioning Ranganathan who appointed him.

Ranganathan told them that he was not aware of it and that all along he was performing all pujas at the temple as for the tradition and was well versed with divya prabandam and ashtotharams of all deities at the temple. Hence there was not even an iota of suspicion about his credibility. He was doing the alankaram to Deities with mesmerizing beauty that drew lot of devotees to the temple.

Further Thirupanazwar, Thirumangai Azwar, and Thirukachi Nambikal and many others were not born in srivaishnava caste and we all have accepted them as azwars and acharyas. Hence this Youngman Narayan also could be accepted and so far Lord Laksminarayan had accepted his puja. If He wished he could have thrown him out by some means.

When the members heard all the valid points made by Ranganathan, they wholeheartedly approved Narayan to continue. Narayan married a girl from agraharam and is bestowed with a child and continuing his service to Lord Lakshminarayan.

 

Dear Vidya,
Thank you for dropping in and opening the account of fb with your sweet appreciating words.
Lord has no discrimination of caste, creed or colour, rich or poor, beast or human and He only give credence to true devotion.
Love,
PS

 

Dear Sreemathi,
Thanks for sharing about the muslim devotees having belief in our temples. Of course there is only one God and only we humans had given Him different names according to the religion we are following.
Love,
PS

 

Dear Sriniketan,
Thank you for your being here and for your fb.
Love,
PS