Who can explain perfectly the life full of limitless love and selfless service of deep determination of the great, adorable sage who was called "the king of the tongue" ( thirun^Avukkarachar ) by the Lord Himself who gave the holy vEdas, and who is saluted by the child prodigy thirunyAnachampan^dhar (1) as appar with great devotion.
With the flow of the river thenpeNNai the kingdom called thirumunaippAdi , situated in the central part of thamizakam, was fertile with lots of water and soil resources. Is there anymore words needed to portray the greatness of this kingdom when the sage of service thiru n^Avukkarachar and the superior slave of devotees sun^dharar (2) were born in that kingdom ! Among the prosperous towns of that kingdom, due to its spreading of the fragrance of shaivam the town called thiruvAmUr , is outstanding. In that land covered by green paddy clothing, there lived a couple of good hospitality pukazanAr and his wife mAdhiniyAr in the profession of removing the world's hunger - agriculture. That blessed couple gave birth to the wealth - a girl by name thilakavathiyAr (3). After a few years they got a son - a sun to drive away the ignorance from the hearts of people by his magic words of complete love - and named him maruNIkkiyAr (remover of illusion). He grew up with all the festivals like removing the hair of the kid done in a nice way. He started learning the arts in the right age and grew up like the growing moon without blackspots.
When thilakavathiyAr completed twelve, the colonel of the king by name kalippakaiyAr who had a lot of love for the Lord who has umA in His left part, wanted to get married to thilakavathiyAr. With the both sides accepting happily to the marriage the procedures started. At that time kalippakaiyAr had to go on the request of the king to the warfield to fight against a king of north. So he went before getting married. Meanwhile pukazanAr fell sick and reached heaven and mAdhiniyAr followed him unable to bear the shock. By the time the children thilakavathiyAr and maruNIkkaiyAr were consoled by the relatives they got the message that the valiant kalippakaiyAr became martyr in the battlefield. thilakavathiyAr felt that when her parents decided to get her married to him, then itself she had become one for him. So she did not want to live without him.
maruNikkiyAr held the feet of his sister and cried that he was still surviving after their parents' passing away only because he was able to salute her and live, if she also decided to leave him alone in the world then he would prefer to die first. That merciful soft-hearted lady made up her mind for her loving brother. She lived an austerous life away from all the lures of the world with pure love for all the lives. maruNikkiyAr trying to come out of the gloom involved himself in doing charities, set up inns, water shelters and hosted the hungered. He started thinking about the uncertainty in life and analyzed the religions. For realizing the Truth above all one should have His grace. For drinking water just thirst is not sufficient but there should be water source as well. As the Lord did not show him the truth then, he was attracted by the glitter of non-violence of Jainism while its philosophies were incomplete and impractical.
He went to a place called pAtalIpuththiram (kadalUr) which was famous for the Jain institutions. He learnt the scriptures of that religion with the real spirit and was praised for his knowledge by the Jains over there. He was given the title dharma sEnar by them. He won the Budhdhists in the debates on philosophy. The entire Jain groups were happy to have such a superior leader. During this period thilakavathiyAr stayed away from all the relations with the relation of all the lives - the Lord shiva in the holy place thiruvadhikai . She did all the services in all humbleness to the Lord who burnt three cities of impurities like a piece of straw. That woman of pure heart prayed to the God many times to rescue her younger from the ignorance and show him His grace. She was more than a mother for maruNIkkiyAr, she not only brought him up but also praying day and night for him to realize the truth in life - she became her guide and philosopher too. The Light of the Universe appeared in the dream of that sage and blessed her not to worry, He would bring maruNIkkiyAr to the right path, who was doing austerities in the previous births to reach Him, by giving the chUlai (a terrible stomach pain).
Like the mother who beats the kid not to punish but to correct the Lord gave the unbearable pain in his stomach. dharma sEnar rolled down and screamed unable to tolerate the terrible pain. No medicine was useful to mitigate it because it required a medicine called mahAdEva . Appalled by the severity of the disease the Jains who torture themselves in the name of attaining liberation, chanted all the mantras they knew and gave the water thus obtained to him. Instead of alleviating the pain it amplified. They touched throughout his body with the peacock feather. It did not stop him from screaming. Frightened and confused the Jains gave up their efforts. With raising pain and nobody to help, maruNIkkiyAr remembered his loving relation - the adorable sister. He sent a person to convey his pain to thilakavathiyAr. She though felt pity for her brother conveyed back to him out of her strong determination for seeking his permanent betterment and not just the curing of this illness that she would not come to the place of Jains.
There was the grace of God for maruNIkkiyAr to come to a decision that he would leave the company of Jains and submit himself to his sister. He left all the symbols of Jainism there itself and proceeded to thiruvadhikai. There was darkness outside in that night, but it was going to meet a bright morning. He clad himse'f in a white cloth and reached the hut of thilakavathiyAr. Like a rooted out tree he fell on her feet with the pain pricking his stomach. Praising the glory of Lord shiva she upraised him and told, "It is the grace of that matted haired Lord. Surrender yourself to Him who smashes down the painful bonds of His asylum seekers and serve Him". That sage gave him the Holy ash chanting His Holy five letters, before taking him to the abode in thiruvadhikai. Accepting humbly the Holy ash of the Lord who owns all the wealth, he thought he got the real prosperity in life.
With both the darkness inside and outside getting wiped out, in that blooming morning she took him to the temple with the service instruments for the thirupaLLIezuchchi (first worship in the temple). Prostrating to the Lord who never folds hands for worship, he got the feelings of singing that Mercy like a spring whose eye is just opened. He finally came to Him who is the king of all the medicines including for the illness of bonds and births. He sang the thEvAram " kURRAyinavARu vilakkakilIr", that should even melt a stone like heart. The God who is satisfied very easily when there is devotion immediately removed his illness. Thrilled with happiness he thanked the Lord who took him out of the ocean of suffering and darkness of ignorance. By the grace of the Lord there rose a voice, "As you sang the beautiful hymns enriched with nice words of excellent meaning, let your name be praised in the worlds as n^Avukkarachu " (the king of the tongue).
All the creatures surrounded by pAcham (Bond) are subjected to ignorance, illusion and the effects of the past deeds. There could be hardly few exceptions to this. It is the quality of the great that once they get a thread to come out of this situation they raise to the peaks of knowledge and not only that they stand like the full moon that reflects the light of the Sun - like that of the God, to the world that is in complete darkness. In one song if the God says to him that he is the king of words, what a great transformation in his mind would have achieved it. There needs no explanation of the excellence of his love and humbleness for the Lord for people who have read this peerless hymn "kURRAyinavARu". He is so great and a huge mass of devotees would be always expressing their gratitude to him for the unparalleled words of devotion he has expressed in his hymns. Great is the Lord who gave us the Holy vEdas. Great is His devotee thirun^Avukkarachar perumAn who brings Him to us once we sing his hymns with real feelings.
The king who ruled the words giving us the highly adorable hymns on the King of all arts - the Lord, saluted the God in all his humbleness exclaiming the immense grace the Lord showed on him who was in the darkness of his misdeed, by praising Him for blessing even the rAvaNan who also did misdeed. With all the devotees surrounding him filled with joy for the grace thirun^Avukkarachar got benefiting the entire world, that great sage whose heart and words were flowing with truth and love, with a nondeviating mind, undisturbed flow of words of praise and hands holding the handplow ( uzavAram to clean the abode of the Lord removing the plants that grow in disturbing fashion) involved his body and mind completely in the holy service to that Hero who stands alone after everything is reduced into Him.
While thirun^Avukkarachar perumAn was enjoying in the path of shaivam the Jain sages of pAtalIpuththiram on hearing the cure he got through the grace of God were bewildered and worried that their big following was about to go down. They were very much bothered with the fact that their victorious leading philosopher who established and brought up the principles of Jainism as against that of many other religions had renounced that path. They all met in a place and felt that if the king is also enlightened with the truth he would also become a shaivite and that would block their prosperity. Those people who were supposed to be adherent to the truth dared to lie to the king that dharma sEnar acting as if the stomach pain was not cured went to the shaiva fold and did criticism and blasphemy of Jainism.
They went to the pallava king mahEn^dhira varma . He being a follower of Jainism came immediately for their help. They kindled his anger that dharma sEnar lied and doing blasphemy of his religion. Taken the stand of non-violence but filled with lie and cruelty they asked the king to punish him severely. The king of blind faith without analyzing the facts ordered the soldiers to bring thirun^Avukkarachar without informing that he wanted to punish him. The ministers and soldiers went to thiruvadhikai and asked him to come to the king. For the true devotees Lord shiva is the Emperor, all the lives the citizens and the entire Universe is the kingdom. Why should the devotee be afraid of the mortal king ? The king of words sang an elegant hymn "n^AmArkkum kudiyallOm" to convey the king that because he had taken secure shelter under the comforting feet of the Lord who never bows down to anybody, he need not bow down to any order. He is the example one should follow. He was very very humble, saluting and servicing the Lord and His devotees, at the same time being a true believer of Almighty he was not a coward to get scared even for the order of the king. He continued his services peacefully trusting that Lord is there to take care of all the repercussions.
Hearing the determination of the great sage the Jains who forgot their own principles asked the king to put him in the lime kiln. The kings men put him in the burning kiln added lot of fuel and sealed it. What will the terrible heat do when the Lord for whom the fire itself is an eye is blessing ?! The sage sang the shelter of Lord's feet is like the nice breeze on the bank of a beautiful pond in a spring ( "mAchil vINaiyum "). After the seventh day the king and the Jains were shocked to see the seer inside the kiln without any harm, smiling in the bliss that shaN^kara gives. Hiding their surprise the beasts who were determined to do sin told the king that because of the practices he did in the Jainism he survived this and asked the king to feed him with strong poison. Saying the poison is also a nectar for one who has taken refuge in the Immortal the sage ate the milk food containing poison. What is there to be surprised to know that the poison was powerless on him when the Lord of all creatures who stopped in His throat the huge terrific poison that came to destroy the Universe, is blessing !! Petrified, the misdeedful convinced the king that he was alive because of the ma.ntras he learnt in Jainism and if the king didn't kill him it is going to be fatal for the philosophy as well as his rule. They asked the king to tramp him under the elephants foot.
The merciless king ordered to send a fierce elephant on the devotee. The provoked elephant came like a storm destroying things on its way in all its fury. The kings men directed in on the sage who was there as the form of peace. He praised the Lord holding the sharp shUla and said "We are the slaves of the Lord of thiruvadhikai . We are not afraid of anything. Nor is there anything that could scare us." ( "chuNNaveN chan^dhanach chAn^dhum" ). The elephant circumambulated him, saluted him instead of hurting him. It turned back with an uncontrollable ire and tramped the kings men and the Jains creating chaos and frantic cries. With their strength completely smashed the Jains fell in the feet of the king and suggested, ditching their holy philosophies of non-violence, to drown the sage into the sea binding him with a rock. The king who ditched the justice and neutrality ordered so to his men. The miscreants executed the order pushing him in the deep sea with a rock binding him. The true devotee who had an unshakable faith in the Great Rescuer was determined to praise the Lord with the wonderful hymn that would nurture determination to one who sings it "choRRuNai vEdhiyan" and sang in that chaste words with overwhelming love namaH shivAya , the great Holy Five Letters of the Lord. The Holy five letters that brings up the creatures from the ocean of source of suffering, no doubt made the rock itself a boat to uphold thrirun^Avukkarachar perumAn on its head. The bond with the rock was broken as the bonds are broken for one who bows down to the Lord who has the mountain as His bow. The ocean of great peerless love floated over the what looked in comparison a small sea. The sea dhEva was blessed to hold the great sage over him. The sage who crossed the limits of what one considers impossible deeds arrived on that rock to the town of Lord thiruppAdhirippuliyUr .
He prostrated down to the crescent ornated Lord there praising It as the invisible companion of the devotees in the hymn. Out of the love to salute the Lord of thiruvadhikai vIrattam he proceeded to thiruvadhikai. On the way he saluted and sang in love the God in the towns of thirumANikkuzi and thiruththinain^agar . The entire town thiruvadhikai was in the mood of festivity to welcome the great sage who won all the sinful deeds of the ignorants and exhibited the greatness of shaivam. The sage smeared in holy ash, gold like in appearance, with the holy rudhrAksha bead ornament, mind fixed on mahEsha , eyes wet with the tears of complete love and tongue praising the Lord giving the entire world beautiful hymns on which it can stand on, entered the town. The people who saw him could not resist thinking how did the Jains dared to do the cruelties to this sage of love. Surrounded by the devotees the seer entered the abode of the Lord and cried in all humbleness, "How did I, the poor in knowledge, maligned this great Graceful Lord in the past ?!". The king by now realizing the Truth and repenting for his sins denounced the Jains and surrendered to the sage who won without wars. The king built a temple for the Lord there called guNaparavIchcharam . The sage immersed himself in the service of the Lord shiva.
The sage who won the evils by love, undertook many pilgrimages to salute, sing and serve the strange Lord shiva in His abodes. He got the blessings of the God in thiruveNNai n^allUr, thirukkOvalUr . He went to thiruth thUN^kAnai mAdam of the Lord with wide matted hair. He requested that Golden feet to put the emblems of the Lord - thrishUlam and holy bull - on his shoulders as a mark of his slavery to the God and thus side lining the comments of his earlier bad association. (" PonnAr thiruvadikku "). Accepting the prayer of his pure heart which had the Lord in an indelible marvelous fashion, the Lord made one of His soldiers to place those holy marks on him. The great and humble sage submitted himself to the Supreme and thanked from the bottom of the heart for blessing his request. While serving the Lord there, he worshiped the nearby abodes thiru araththuRai, thiru mudhukunRam . Praying the other abodes and proceeding towards the east he prostrated to the Lord in thiru n^ivAkkarai .
Yearning to see the thiruth thillai (chithambaram) where the Lord magnificently dances by which movements the entire world functions, the mount of knowledge thirun^Avukkarachar arrived there. He reached there crossing the fertile fields flowing with water that appeared like the fields melted at the marvelous lovely form of that seer. The devotees of that coveted town came to salute the sage. With them he entered the town where the harmony of reciting vEdas heightens the thinking and the service of the slaves of God is superior as they try to do them in the ideal way - flawless. Saluting the seven stage western tower of the temple, with the thrust to pray the dancing Lord going up he entered to see the kanaka sabhai and the God was dancing in his heart. Hands were up on the head folded; Eyes showering tears of joy; The blessed body kept prostrating; The hairs in the body stood up in the height of emotions; The love and interest crossed the limits on seeing the feet that are synonymous with beauty that were not found by even brahma and vishNu. The spring of his wonderful words came out with nectar as he sang many hymns on Him there. Doing the service of cleaning the temple with deep love, he went and worshiped the Lord at thiruvEtkaLam, thiruk kazippAlai .
Thinking of the mind stealing Dancing God of thiruth thillai he came back singing "How can I, the slave, forget the dancing marvel even for the smallest denomination of time ?!". While he was doing determined service to the Lord there, he came to hear the gem like hymns of thirunyAnachampan^dhar (1) through the devotees. He wanted to salute the great small child who had the milk of the mother of the world and sang pointing to the God, "He is my Lord" in the budding age. Immediately he started off from there saluting the Lord of thiruth thillai. He worshiped the God in thirun^AraiyUr and arrived at the abode where the Lord came in a boat at the time of a deluge - chIrkAzi . On hearing that the old respectable sage, the king of God, thirun^Avukkarachar was coming with the bunch of devotees the son of God, thirunyAnachampan^dhar with a huge interest to prostrate him came forward. The sage fell down on the prodigy's feet with unfalling love, the immense kid prostrated to him back in all obedience and called with great respect, "apparE" (Oh! father!) to which the sage responded, "I, thy slave". The God had shown the greatest boon on the devotees who were present there to worship the two greatest unparalleled saints.
The two wonderable saints who are like the two eyes of shaivam arrived in the abode of the eight armed Lord. Subduing to the tower of the Lord in chIrkAzi they went in to worship the Wonder with woman to His side. The prodigy requested appar perumAn to sing a song on the Lord. With deep devotion he sang on the Lord. They stayed with growing love for each other for many days in that town. appar wanted to pray the God in various places on the banks of river kAvEri . The great kid accompanied him to thiruk kOalakkA and returned with great love and respect for him.
appar continued his travel to worship the lovely places of the Lord thirukkaruppaRiyalUr, thiruppunkUr, thirun^IdUr, thirukkuRukkai, thirun^inRiyUr, thirun^anippaLLI, thiruchchemponpaLLI, mayilAduthuRai, thiruththuruththi, thiruvELvikkudi, thiruedhirkoLpAdi, thirukkOdikA, thiruvAvaduthiuRai, thiruvidaimarudhUr, thirun^AgEchchuram, pazaiyARai. In thiruchchaththimuRRam he prayed to the Lord to grace by placing His holy feet on his head before the dreadful death can approach. The Lord who won the death asked him to come to thirun^allUR . There He put His vEdas praised feet that resides in the minds of the devotees on the head of the great sage to his ecstasy. He sang, "The Lord of thirun^allUr placed His holy foot which is wet with the honey that drips from the blooming selected good flowers that dhEvAs offered, on my head". ( n^inain^dhurukum adiyArai ). He was happy like the poor who got the indiminishing wealth and did the services to sha.nkara . He saluted thirukkarukAvUr, thiruvAvUr, thiruppAlai and was worshiping the Lord of thirun^allUr all the times.
Receiving the blessings of the Lord he went to serve the luminant Lord at the town thirup pazanam who dances in the dark forests. Worshiping the wonderful temples of the Thunder Haired around thiruppazanam he reached thiN^gaLUr . He heard and saw the superb services of the devotee who is superior among who chant vEdas, called appUdhi adikaLAr (2). He was doing all the services in an adorable fashion in the name of thirun^Avukkarachar. appar went to his house and humbly told that he was the person who was rescued by the mercy of the God from the ignorance of Jainism. appUdhi adikaLar was shocked with joy to see the sage he salutes. He pleaded to the seer to accept the feast at his place. He appeared like a person who got the greatest boon when the sage accepted it. His family prepared the most delicious food and fine arrangements for the feast. When everything was ready appUdhi adikaLAr asked his son who had the name of the sage himself to get banana leaf for serving the food. The fate that was waiting as a snake in the garden bit the boy. But the young great boy who was in no way less in devotion to the Lord and devotees rushed back to his mother to give the leaves. The couple of unthinkable dedication hid their loving son's body and proceeded to host the feast. Coming to know all the things that happened appar was appalled by their sacrifice. He prayed to the Source of everything and got the child back to life out of Its grace. He made appUdhi adikaLAr happy by having food at his place who was feeling bad for delaying the seer's feast. appar praised the his greatness in the hymn he sang as they went to thiruppazanam.
He prayed the Lord in the places near thiruchchORRuththuRai , continued the services at thirup pazanam. He came to the southern bank of river kAvEri to prostrate to the Lord of thirun^allUr. While serving the God there he wanted to worship thiruvArUr the abode of thyAgEsha . He went to thiruvArUr worshiping the Lord including in the places pazaiyARai, thiruvalanychuzi, thirukkudamUkku, thirun^AlUr, thenthiruchchERai, thirukkudavAyil, thirun^aRaiyUr, pAlUr, thenthiruvAnychiyam, peruvELUr . With the roar of the devotees to welcome the sage who floated on the sea winning the sabotage of some Jains, he arrived there. He entered thinking him as a servant of those servants of God. He saluted the dhEvAchiriyan and went to worship the Lord in the anthill - the altar of the temple. With the tears of joy showering from the sacred eyes he saluted the Lord and sang His fame. He stayed in dhEvAchiriyan with adiyArs cleaning the surroundings of the temple praising It always. He sang the service of n^amin^an^dhi adikaL (3) and saluted the thiru araneRi . He worshiped the God in thiruvalivalam, kIzvELUr, kanRAppUr and returned back to thiruvArUr. He worshiped the thiruvAdhirai festival (4) when the Lord comes in procession blessing the dEvas, sages and one who salutes. He stayed there for many days unable to part the Lord of thiruvArUr.
The king of God, thirun^Avukkarachar keeping the holy feet of the Lord of thiruvArUr wanted to worship the God at pUmpukalUr . At the same time at the muruga n^AyanAr (1) monastery, the young prodigy thirunyAnychampan^dhar (2) was there after worshiping many abodes of the Lord. He along with the devotees came to receive appar. With the huge number of sacred hearted devotees the meeting was like the meeting of two oceans. When asked about the festivities in thiruvArUr appar sang "muththu vidhAnam" that described the magnificent thiruvAdhirai(3) festival. Attracted to worship the God of thiruvArUr, thirunyAnachampan^dhar told appar perumAn that he would salute thiruvArUr and come back to stay with him. appar praised the Lord sweeter than honey residing at pUmpukalUr with melting heart and stayed there serving Him. He worshiped thiruchcheN^kAttaN^kudi, thirun^aLLARu, ayavan^dhi, thirumarukal and returned back to thiruppukalUr. Meanwhile thirunyAnachampan^dhar returned after praising the Lord of thiruvArUr. Then two more great devotees chiRuththoNdar (4), n^Ilanakkar(5) also joined them. Nothing can be said other than great for such an assembly of great devotees. When great people meet they talk only great, they at the monastery of muruga n^AyanAr talked about the Great Lord on the great white kailAsham .
Later appar left pUmpukalUr along with thirunyAnachampan^dhar to sing the other abodes of God leaving other devotees. They saluted the Supreme at thiru ambar and proceeded to thirukkadavUr vIrattam the place where the Lord kicked the death to death for the devotee. At the kuN^kiliyak kalaya n^AyanAr (6) monastery they accepted the food along with other devotees. They worshiped thiruk kadavUr mayAnam, thiruvAkkUr and reached at thiru vIzi mizalai . With emerging emotions of extreme love they prostrated to the Premier Lord of thiruvIzimizalai and sang beautiful poetry. After some time due to the failure of monsoon and drought in river kAvEri there was not enough food resulting in a famine. While the people were suffering due to the famine the Lord with deer and axe appeared in the dreams of the two saints and told them that though they were beyond getting suffered due to famine, for the benefit of the devotees who salute them, the Lord would give a solution. From the next day they were getting a coin each on the eastern and western dais of the temple by the grace of God. Those selfless service minded devotees used that golden coin to feed the entire public whoever salutes the hunger removing Lord shiva. Those true devotees did not stop at elevating themselves but made efforts with sincere motive to alleviate the pain of all others by the grace of God. While shiva Itself is the form of love how can the dedicated devotees who never stray away from Him overlook the pains of others ? The sage of flawless, faithful service got flawless golden coins from that flawless Mercy. Thus they both killed the killing famine there. When the planetary motion became normal and the rain showered making the people rejoice bringing the awesome famine to an end, the two devotees thought of worshiping the other abodes of the Blue-throated.
Praying the Lord of thiruvAnychiyam they arrived at thirumaRaikkAdu . Circumambulating the temple the king of God and son of God arrived in front of the altar of the God. The historic big door through which once upon a time the great vEdas went and worshiped the Heart of vEdas, was sealed by the vEdas after the worship. The two saints saw all the devotees using a sideway door to enter the temple and worship. The saint of chIrkAzi requested appar perumAn to sing to open the door so that they can enter the temple through the door facing the abode. On his words thirun^Avukkarachar sang a padhikam starting "paNNInEru moziyAL". Probably the Lord was so involved in his wonderful praise that the door did not open even after the tenth hymn ! Then he sang "irakkam onRillIr" (You have no mercy) upon which the Lord immediately opened that giant door. Amidst the roaring devotees upon this marvel they went in. Worshiped the Warrior on earth chariot with wholeness of devotion. After coming out appar asked thirunyAnachampan^dhar to sing to close the door. As soon as he started to sing the door closed itself. Exclaiming the grace of God he completed the padhikam . Then on that famous door was used by the local people everyday for worship. Later in the mutt wondering the simplicity of champan^dhar's hymn upon which the door closed immediately, the humble most appar perumAn was afraid that he did not understand the grace of the Lord. With this thoughts he slept in a corner.
In the dream of that sincere servant the Supreme appeared to say, "Will be there in vAymUr, come along". Surprised the sage got up and left the thirumaRaikkAdu. The Source as guide led him. The Lord showed a beautiful temple and got obscured in the temple. appar followed Him but could not catch Him. By this time champan^dhar also hearing about this came there. Worried if he against the idea of God opened the door, he was yearning to see the Lord. Then the Lord showed His graceful form unexplorable by even brahma and vishNu to champan^dhar and to appar perumAn also making him sing that God. Then they went to thiruvAymUr to pray to the Lord with perennial love. Praising the Lord of thiruvAymUr to their satisfaction to the world's satisfaction to the Lord's satisfaction and keeping His holy feet in the mind they returned back to the vEdas praising thirumaRaikkAdu. Then some messengers for champan^dhar from the pANdiya minister kulachchiRai n^AyanAr (7) sent in presence of the queen maN^gaiyarkkarachiyAr (8) came. To the prodigy who enquired about the well-being of those two marvelous devotees, they replied they were happy praising the feet of champan^dhar who came to establish the greatness of shaivam and told that the bad deeds of Jains go beyond the limits of tolerance in their kingdom. Determined to enlighten the king and the people of shaivam champan^dhar raised to go to the pANdiya kingdom. The sage of superior affection, appar did not wanted to allow him as he was anxious about the tortures those merciless people would do to the child champan^dhar. But the saint of chIrkAzi was determined to exhibit the supremacy of shaivam and decided not to do anything else before that. When appar wanted to go and prove the greatness of the grace of shiva and the love for Him himself instead of young champan^dhar, champan^dhar was strong that he would go himself. With appar perumAn unable to hold him back champn^dhar proceeded to pANdiya kindom.
After worshiping thirumaRaikkAdu appar perumAn wanted to worship the Lord of thiruvIzimizalai again. He went there saluting the shrine in n^AgappattiNam . From thiruvIzimizalai he went to thiruvAvadu thuRai sang the grace of God and proceeded to pazaiyARai . There the Jains obscured the very old abode of the Lord and claimed the place to be theirs. The humble but cannot be humbled, the courteous but not coward, fighting for the justice but not adopting violence as the default way, the soft but determined sage sat in fast next to the shrine saying he would not leave till he gets to worship the Omnipresent Almighty taken abode there. The caring Lord appeared in the dream of the king and instructed him the location where the Jains have hid the abode. Awakened in surprise the king rushed with his courtmen to the site following the marks told by the Lord and removed all the barricades raised by the Jains saluting the sage. The king made a nice altar with tower. Then the victorious valiant sage worshiped the God who can not be obscured the transience.
He traveled on the banks of the river kAvEri worshiping the Lord in the abodes on both the banks. He saluted thiruvAnaikkA, thiruveRumbiyUr, thiruchchirAppaLLi, kaRkudi, thirupparAyththuRai and other abodes doing his great service with the hand plow and proceeded towards thiruppainynyIli . The journey was tiring making him thirsty, hungry and fatiguous - the three major recurring physical deficiencies to quench which the human strives hard. The sage holding the feet of the Absolute with non falling spirit went ahead on his way of determination to thiruppainynyIli. Can the Mercy on the mountains which responded even to the cry of the piglets, bear the trouble Its truthful slave was undergoing ? It appeared in the form of an ash smeared chanter of vEdas on his way with food waiting for the devotee to arrive. He told him to have the food He has, drink the chill water from the pond nearby and come out of fatigue. appar ate the food the Lord who gave the nectar to the dEvas gave and felt quite pleasant. The Lord in some other form asked him where he was going to. To the saint who said he was going to thiruppainynIli He - the company of whom the great sages desire to cross the ocean of disturbances said He too is going there and accompanied him. As they reached thiruppainynIli the Lord disappeared. The sage stricken with wonder and admiration fell on the feet of the Lord of thiruppainynyIli to praise the immense grace He showed for him.
He traveled towards north to reach thiruvaNNAmalai to rejoice in the worship of the Lord making even the life better than liberation itself ! He proceeded to the pallava kingdom then. He first prostrated to the Lord of thiruvOththUr . As he was coming towards the city kAnychi , the entire city ornated itself to receive the sage who traversed the ulterior disturbances victoriously with the grace of the yOganatha . Saluting the ocean of saluting devotees he went to worship the Lord who dissolved in the devotion of the mother of the Universe at thirukkachchi Ekampam and poured the holy water of his tears of love. Worshiping often at the place where an immense love was shown to the world Ekampam he worshiped the Lord in thiruk kachchi mayAnam, thiruk kachchi mERRaLi, thirumARpERu and many other abodes in kanychi a city famous for its innumerous shrines. He continued to north to serve in the abodes thirukkazukunRam, thiruvAnmiyUr, mayilAppUr to salute and stay at thiruvoRRIyUr for some time. He further worshiped the shrines thiruppAchUr, thiru AlaN^kAdu, thiruk kArikarai . He went ahead to salute the golden haired Lord's abode thirukkALaththi where He showed the greatness of simple love of the hunter devotee kaNNappa n^AyanAr (1).
Yearning to see the beautiful and holy most abode of the Lord kailAsham he continued his journey towards north. He worshiped the thirupparuppadham (shri shailam) , traveled then in karnataka, maharashtra, madhya pradhesh and arrived finally in vAraNAsi . He saluted the Lord having ga.nga in His matted hair taken abode on the banks of ga.nga in vAraNAsi with whole hearted devotion. Leaving back the other pilgrims there he continued his pilgrimage to mount kailAsh. He proceeded to the Himalayan forests where even dEvas would be afraid to go alone. In those days when there was no proper means of transport for traveling such a long distance - thousands of kilometers - can be considered to be an achievement. He traveled in the rough and tough surfaces of the mountains without anybody's help without any vehicle to carry him. All he had was only two things. One was devotion and the other was determination. Those two for him were not in small amounts but were as giant as the mountain he was climbing. Walking day and night his lotus like feet were worn out, but his eagerness to worship the Lord with His consort on the mount was not. With his hands he leapt forward to continue his journey. With the wrists broken after some time he with an undiminishing love he crept forward with his body. The bones in chest broken, with the flesh coming out, he was not able to do that even. Even at that situation his determination was not reduced even by the size of a bead. He rolled ahead in his journey towards Him. The entire body was torn and was not able to roll even. Still he tried to push his body forward and move. Immense is his determination ! If one says it as strong as a rock it may exaggerate the strength of the rock.
Blessing the world to have some more of the honey like hymns of appar the Lord came in the form of a sage and asked appar why he was toiling like that. When appar told that he wanted to worship the Lord on kailAsh He told it is not so easy a task and asked him to return back. But appar perumAn was firm that he would not return without seeing the Lord at kailAsham. The Strength of the devotees looking at the strong dedication of the devotee disappeared in the horizon and raised the voice, "Oh great king of words! Raise ! Have a dip in this pond and see us in the form we are at kailAsham raising from the pond in thiruvaiyARu .". With all the wounds vanished he rose with a luminant body to salute the Almighty with the grace of that Grace. With the hands folded on the head keeping the order of the Lord on his head he entered the pond. To the surprise of the entire world, by the grace that can not be measured by anybody he appeared in one of the ponds in thiruvaiyARu . He saw everything in thiruvaiyARu reflecting the principle of shiva and shakthi. He came praising them in front of the shrine of the Lord in thiruvaiyARu. The temple appeared as the mount kailAsh with the praise of vishNu, brahma, indra and other dEvas, and the sets of different people like devAs, daemons, sages, ga.ndharvas present, the dancing women of Heaven like ramba, Urvasi performing, all the rivers including ga.nga worshiping, the great servant n^aN^dhi dEvar guarding the abode, saw on the mount of silver with the creeper of emerald, the shining beautiful ruby hill like on the Holy Bull with the Goddess of the mountain the Generous Great God. Saluted Him, sang unable to find words, danced in ecstasy, with the hair standing throughout the body he cried. Who can tell the state of that highly dedicated sage when he saw the Lord! He got the reward for his determination. He was in that bliss for quite a long time. Then the Lord changed the scene to make everything look normal in their usual way. Consoling himself that it was God's grace appar sang the scene unseen by others in beautiful hymn "mAdhar piRaik kaNNIyAnai" . He explains admirably the unparalleled kailAsha scene he saw. He stayed in thiruvaiyARu serving, saluting and singing the Lord different kinds of songs thiruththANdakam, thirukkuRun^thokai, thirun^Erichai, thiruviruththam .
Worshiping the wide matted haired Lord of thiruvaiyARU appar traveled to the abodes near that wonderful town. He saluted the Lord in thirun^eyththAnam, thirumazapAdi and reached in thirup pUn^thuruththi . Praising the Truth smeared in white ash with a pearl like body coming on the white bull, the sage who never forgot to do service to the Lord was very much willing to stay in that place always worshiping the Three-eyed Wonder. With His grace he founded a magnificent monastery there to sing the Lord who sang the holy vEdas and serve that Lord who enjoys in the Self. He recited a lots of hymns on the Lord staying there. While he was in thirup pUn^thuruththi, the child in appearance but magnificent in actions who established the path of shaivam in southern pANdiya kingdom, straightening up the back of the king and his justice - thirunyAna champan^dhar (1) came there. Hearing that the king of God is in thirup pUn^thuruththi he rushed there to meet the sage he revered so much that he did not want to call him even appa (father) but gave even much more respect by calling him appar .
Hearing that the young victorious saint was coming, old sage of matured love with an increasing eagerness to salute the prodigy mingled without anybody's notice in the huge crowd that was assembled to welcome the young saint. The great men are more and more humble. The sage who would be admired always for his service and devotion, appreciating whose devotion the Lord showed even the kailAsham at thiruvaiyARu humbly went and carried the pearl pallack (palanquin, litter) of thirunyAnachampan^dhar feeling that as a boon. When the pallack reached thiruppUn^thuruththi thirunyAnachampan^dhar enquired where the great sage appar perumAn was. To that the modest marvelous sage replied, "Thy slave got the great boon of carrying thy feet and am here." Appalled to see this thirunyAnachampan^dhar jumped out hurriedly from the pallack to prostrate to the great sage and asked with shivering words why did that revered great sage did that. The sage saluted him in all love and said how else he could serve the great thirunyAnachampan^dhar. The entire ocean of crowd roared to see the meeting of those two huge oceans of devotion.
Those two beacons of flourishment of shaivam went to worship the flawless Father of the Universe at thirup pUn^thuruththi. The king of words eagerly heard from the devotees came along the splendid deeds of resurrection of pANdiya kingdom in shaivam by the prodigy. Hearing the affection of the queen maN^gaiyarkkarachiyAr and the devotion of kulachchiRaiyAr , he wanted to go for pilgrimage in that thamiz kingdom. Hearing about the pretty most abodes of the Lord in thoNdai kingdom from the king of words the prodigy left to worship them. Soon appar perumAn went to pANdiya kingdom first to thirup puththUr . Then he went to the abode of the Eldest the great famous thiru AlavAy (madhurai) . With folded hands and converging mind he enjoyed the bliss that the honey like Lord offers. He was worshiped by the three wonderful devotees who served for the flourishment of shaivam in pANdiya kingdom the king n^inRa chIr n^edumARa n^AyanAr (2), the queen maN^gaiyarkkarachiyAr (3), the prime minister kulachchiraiyAr (4). He praised the Lord in thiruppUvaNam and went to salute the Lord who blessed the famous king of ayOdhya, the avatAr of mahA vishNu shri rAmachan^dhra at rAmEshwaram . He prostrated the shrines at thirun^elvEli, thiruk kAnappEr and many other abodes of Lord shiva.
After worshiping the abodes in pANdiya kingdom he came back to the chOza kingdom to the town called pUmpukalUr . Serving the Supreme there with melting heart everyday he sang a lots of his famous thiruth thANdakam s and many other songs. The God who grants the sea of grace wanted to show to the entire world the undisturbable mentally blissful state of the sage. He made gold and gems to appear along with the sand and stone in the temple premises. Considering them as valuable as the rolling stones on the path when doing the cleaning service in the abode he through them along with normal stones with his hand plow into the pond. He was too rich - he had the great wealth shiva who is the Lord of everything with him - to treat gems superior to pebbles. To that sage who had won one major distraction of desire for wealth the beautiful girls of the Heaven on whose beauty even the valiants who could face any number of perils fail. They used to dance, sing, pour flowers on him and did all the tricks to infatuate him. But the thirun^Avukkarachar perumAn was minding the service to God only with the mind never off tracking from the unparalleled parallel feet of the Blissgiving Beauty singing, "What do I require from you ? Am the slave of the Lord of thiruvArUr. Don't strain yourselves". Unable to distract the immense devotee inseparably involved in the God, they saluted him and returned back. If the blessings of the Lord who burnt the lust is there even the unfailing arrows of the cupid will fail.
That form of devotion, the king of words was staying in that coveted blissful state enjoying His grace for some time. Then he sat under the perennially blissful feet of the Attributeless in the form of the knowledge of the bliss of Lord shiva singing "puNNiyA ! unnadikkE pOdhukinrEn" (Oh Good deed ! am going to your feet) with the shower of flowers that Heavenly people did and with the praise of many sages on the day of chadhayam in the month of chiththirai. His fame is beyond the reach of covering. Great is the God, marvelous was this sage, superior was his service, kindling are his hymns. Let the unthinkably devotional, determined, flawless service of thirun^Avukkarachu n^AyanAr stay in the mind.
Sarvam Sri SeetaRamachandraparabramha aarpanamastu
When thilakavathiyAr completed twelve, the colonel of the king by name kalippakaiyAr who had a lot of love for the Lord who has umA in His left part, wanted to get married to thilakavathiyAr. With the both sides accepting happily to the marriage the procedures started. At that time kalippakaiyAr had to go on the request of the king to the warfield to fight against a king of north. So he went before getting married. Meanwhile pukazanAr fell sick and reached heaven and mAdhiniyAr followed him unable to bear the shock. By the time the children thilakavathiyAr and maruNIkkaiyAr were consoled by the relatives they got the message that the valiant kalippakaiyAr became martyr in the battlefield. thilakavathiyAr felt that when her parents decided to get her married to him, then itself she had become one for him. So she did not want to live without him.
maruNikkiyAr held the feet of his sister and cried that he was still surviving after their parents' passing away only because he was able to salute her and live, if she also decided to leave him alone in the world then he would prefer to die first. That merciful soft-hearted lady made up her mind for her loving brother. She lived an austerous life away from all the lures of the world with pure love for all the lives. maruNikkiyAr trying to come out of the gloom involved himself in doing charities, set up inns, water shelters and hosted the hungered. He started thinking about the uncertainty in life and analyzed the religions. For realizing the Truth above all one should have His grace. For drinking water just thirst is not sufficient but there should be water source as well. As the Lord did not show him the truth then, he was attracted by the glitter of non-violence of Jainism while its philosophies were incomplete and impractical.
He went to a place called pAtalIpuththiram (kadalUr) which was famous for the Jain institutions. He learnt the scriptures of that religion with the real spirit and was praised for his knowledge by the Jains over there. He was given the title dharma sEnar by them. He won the Budhdhists in the debates on philosophy. The entire Jain groups were happy to have such a superior leader. During this period thilakavathiyAr stayed away from all the relations with the relation of all the lives - the Lord shiva in the holy place thiruvadhikai . She did all the services in all humbleness to the Lord who burnt three cities of impurities like a piece of straw. That woman of pure heart prayed to the God many times to rescue her younger from the ignorance and show him His grace. She was more than a mother for maruNIkkiyAr, she not only brought him up but also praying day and night for him to realize the truth in life - she became her guide and philosopher too. The Light of the Universe appeared in the dream of that sage and blessed her not to worry, He would bring maruNIkkiyAr to the right path, who was doing austerities in the previous births to reach Him, by giving the chUlai (a terrible stomach pain).
Like the mother who beats the kid not to punish but to correct the Lord gave the unbearable pain in his stomach. dharma sEnar rolled down and screamed unable to tolerate the terrible pain. No medicine was useful to mitigate it because it required a medicine called mahAdEva . Appalled by the severity of the disease the Jains who torture themselves in the name of attaining liberation, chanted all the mantras they knew and gave the water thus obtained to him. Instead of alleviating the pain it amplified. They touched throughout his body with the peacock feather. It did not stop him from screaming. Frightened and confused the Jains gave up their efforts. With raising pain and nobody to help, maruNIkkiyAr remembered his loving relation - the adorable sister. He sent a person to convey his pain to thilakavathiyAr. She though felt pity for her brother conveyed back to him out of her strong determination for seeking his permanent betterment and not just the curing of this illness that she would not come to the place of Jains.
There was the grace of God for maruNIkkiyAr to come to a decision that he would leave the company of Jains and submit himself to his sister. He left all the symbols of Jainism there itself and proceeded to thiruvadhikai. There was darkness outside in that night, but it was going to meet a bright morning. He clad himse'f in a white cloth and reached the hut of thilakavathiyAr. Like a rooted out tree he fell on her feet with the pain pricking his stomach. Praising the glory of Lord shiva she upraised him and told, "It is the grace of that matted haired Lord. Surrender yourself to Him who smashes down the painful bonds of His asylum seekers and serve Him". That sage gave him the Holy ash chanting His Holy five letters, before taking him to the abode in thiruvadhikai. Accepting humbly the Holy ash of the Lord who owns all the wealth, he thought he got the real prosperity in life.
With both the darkness inside and outside getting wiped out, in that blooming morning she took him to the temple with the service instruments for the thirupaLLIezuchchi (first worship in the temple). Prostrating to the Lord who never folds hands for worship, he got the feelings of singing that Mercy like a spring whose eye is just opened. He finally came to Him who is the king of all the medicines including for the illness of bonds and births. He sang the thEvAram " kURRAyinavARu vilakkakilIr", that should even melt a stone like heart. The God who is satisfied very easily when there is devotion immediately removed his illness. Thrilled with happiness he thanked the Lord who took him out of the ocean of suffering and darkness of ignorance. By the grace of the Lord there rose a voice, "As you sang the beautiful hymns enriched with nice words of excellent meaning, let your name be praised in the worlds as n^Avukkarachu " (the king of the tongue).
All the creatures surrounded by pAcham (Bond) are subjected to ignorance, illusion and the effects of the past deeds. There could be hardly few exceptions to this. It is the quality of the great that once they get a thread to come out of this situation they raise to the peaks of knowledge and not only that they stand like the full moon that reflects the light of the Sun - like that of the God, to the world that is in complete darkness. In one song if the God says to him that he is the king of words, what a great transformation in his mind would have achieved it. There needs no explanation of the excellence of his love and humbleness for the Lord for people who have read this peerless hymn "kURRAyinavARu". He is so great and a huge mass of devotees would be always expressing their gratitude to him for the unparalleled words of devotion he has expressed in his hymns. Great is the Lord who gave us the Holy vEdas. Great is His devotee thirun^Avukkarachar perumAn who brings Him to us once we sing his hymns with real feelings.
The king who ruled the words giving us the highly adorable hymns on the King of all arts - the Lord, saluted the God in all his humbleness exclaiming the immense grace the Lord showed on him who was in the darkness of his misdeed, by praising Him for blessing even the rAvaNan who also did misdeed. With all the devotees surrounding him filled with joy for the grace thirun^Avukkarachar got benefiting the entire world, that great sage whose heart and words were flowing with truth and love, with a nondeviating mind, undisturbed flow of words of praise and hands holding the handplow ( uzavAram to clean the abode of the Lord removing the plants that grow in disturbing fashion) involved his body and mind completely in the holy service to that Hero who stands alone after everything is reduced into Him.
While thirun^Avukkarachar perumAn was enjoying in the path of shaivam the Jain sages of pAtalIpuththiram on hearing the cure he got through the grace of God were bewildered and worried that their big following was about to go down. They were very much bothered with the fact that their victorious leading philosopher who established and brought up the principles of Jainism as against that of many other religions had renounced that path. They all met in a place and felt that if the king is also enlightened with the truth he would also become a shaivite and that would block their prosperity. Those people who were supposed to be adherent to the truth dared to lie to the king that dharma sEnar acting as if the stomach pain was not cured went to the shaiva fold and did criticism and blasphemy of Jainism.
They went to the pallava king mahEn^dhira varma . He being a follower of Jainism came immediately for their help. They kindled his anger that dharma sEnar lied and doing blasphemy of his religion. Taken the stand of non-violence but filled with lie and cruelty they asked the king to punish him severely. The king of blind faith without analyzing the facts ordered the soldiers to bring thirun^Avukkarachar without informing that he wanted to punish him. The ministers and soldiers went to thiruvadhikai and asked him to come to the king. For the true devotees Lord shiva is the Emperor, all the lives the citizens and the entire Universe is the kingdom. Why should the devotee be afraid of the mortal king ? The king of words sang an elegant hymn "n^AmArkkum kudiyallOm" to convey the king that because he had taken secure shelter under the comforting feet of the Lord who never bows down to anybody, he need not bow down to any order. He is the example one should follow. He was very very humble, saluting and servicing the Lord and His devotees, at the same time being a true believer of Almighty he was not a coward to get scared even for the order of the king. He continued his services peacefully trusting that Lord is there to take care of all the repercussions.
Hearing the determination of the great sage the Jains who forgot their own principles asked the king to put him in the lime kiln. The kings men put him in the burning kiln added lot of fuel and sealed it. What will the terrible heat do when the Lord for whom the fire itself is an eye is blessing ?! The sage sang the shelter of Lord's feet is like the nice breeze on the bank of a beautiful pond in a spring ( "mAchil vINaiyum "). After the seventh day the king and the Jains were shocked to see the seer inside the kiln without any harm, smiling in the bliss that shaN^kara gives. Hiding their surprise the beasts who were determined to do sin told the king that because of the practices he did in the Jainism he survived this and asked the king to feed him with strong poison. Saying the poison is also a nectar for one who has taken refuge in the Immortal the sage ate the milk food containing poison. What is there to be surprised to know that the poison was powerless on him when the Lord of all creatures who stopped in His throat the huge terrific poison that came to destroy the Universe, is blessing !! Petrified, the misdeedful convinced the king that he was alive because of the ma.ntras he learnt in Jainism and if the king didn't kill him it is going to be fatal for the philosophy as well as his rule. They asked the king to tramp him under the elephants foot.
The merciless king ordered to send a fierce elephant on the devotee. The provoked elephant came like a storm destroying things on its way in all its fury. The kings men directed in on the sage who was there as the form of peace. He praised the Lord holding the sharp shUla and said "We are the slaves of the Lord of thiruvadhikai . We are not afraid of anything. Nor is there anything that could scare us." ( "chuNNaveN chan^dhanach chAn^dhum" ). The elephant circumambulated him, saluted him instead of hurting him. It turned back with an uncontrollable ire and tramped the kings men and the Jains creating chaos and frantic cries. With their strength completely smashed the Jains fell in the feet of the king and suggested, ditching their holy philosophies of non-violence, to drown the sage into the sea binding him with a rock. The king who ditched the justice and neutrality ordered so to his men. The miscreants executed the order pushing him in the deep sea with a rock binding him. The true devotee who had an unshakable faith in the Great Rescuer was determined to praise the Lord with the wonderful hymn that would nurture determination to one who sings it "choRRuNai vEdhiyan" and sang in that chaste words with overwhelming love namaH shivAya , the great Holy Five Letters of the Lord. The Holy five letters that brings up the creatures from the ocean of source of suffering, no doubt made the rock itself a boat to uphold thrirun^Avukkarachar perumAn on its head. The bond with the rock was broken as the bonds are broken for one who bows down to the Lord who has the mountain as His bow. The ocean of great peerless love floated over the what looked in comparison a small sea. The sea dhEva was blessed to hold the great sage over him. The sage who crossed the limits of what one considers impossible deeds arrived on that rock to the town of Lord thiruppAdhirippuliyUr .
He prostrated down to the crescent ornated Lord there praising It as the invisible companion of the devotees in the hymn. Out of the love to salute the Lord of thiruvadhikai vIrattam he proceeded to thiruvadhikai. On the way he saluted and sang in love the God in the towns of thirumANikkuzi and thiruththinain^agar . The entire town thiruvadhikai was in the mood of festivity to welcome the great sage who won all the sinful deeds of the ignorants and exhibited the greatness of shaivam. The sage smeared in holy ash, gold like in appearance, with the holy rudhrAksha bead ornament, mind fixed on mahEsha , eyes wet with the tears of complete love and tongue praising the Lord giving the entire world beautiful hymns on which it can stand on, entered the town. The people who saw him could not resist thinking how did the Jains dared to do the cruelties to this sage of love. Surrounded by the devotees the seer entered the abode of the Lord and cried in all humbleness, "How did I, the poor in knowledge, maligned this great Graceful Lord in the past ?!". The king by now realizing the Truth and repenting for his sins denounced the Jains and surrendered to the sage who won without wars. The king built a temple for the Lord there called guNaparavIchcharam . The sage immersed himself in the service of the Lord shiva.
The sage who won the evils by love, undertook many pilgrimages to salute, sing and serve the strange Lord shiva in His abodes. He got the blessings of the God in thiruveNNai n^allUr, thirukkOvalUr . He went to thiruth thUN^kAnai mAdam of the Lord with wide matted hair. He requested that Golden feet to put the emblems of the Lord - thrishUlam and holy bull - on his shoulders as a mark of his slavery to the God and thus side lining the comments of his earlier bad association. (" PonnAr thiruvadikku "). Accepting the prayer of his pure heart which had the Lord in an indelible marvelous fashion, the Lord made one of His soldiers to place those holy marks on him. The great and humble sage submitted himself to the Supreme and thanked from the bottom of the heart for blessing his request. While serving the Lord there, he worshiped the nearby abodes thiru araththuRai, thiru mudhukunRam . Praying the other abodes and proceeding towards the east he prostrated to the Lord in thiru n^ivAkkarai .
Yearning to see the thiruth thillai (chithambaram) where the Lord magnificently dances by which movements the entire world functions, the mount of knowledge thirun^Avukkarachar arrived there. He reached there crossing the fertile fields flowing with water that appeared like the fields melted at the marvelous lovely form of that seer. The devotees of that coveted town came to salute the sage. With them he entered the town where the harmony of reciting vEdas heightens the thinking and the service of the slaves of God is superior as they try to do them in the ideal way - flawless. Saluting the seven stage western tower of the temple, with the thrust to pray the dancing Lord going up he entered to see the kanaka sabhai and the God was dancing in his heart. Hands were up on the head folded; Eyes showering tears of joy; The blessed body kept prostrating; The hairs in the body stood up in the height of emotions; The love and interest crossed the limits on seeing the feet that are synonymous with beauty that were not found by even brahma and vishNu. The spring of his wonderful words came out with nectar as he sang many hymns on Him there. Doing the service of cleaning the temple with deep love, he went and worshiped the Lord at thiruvEtkaLam, thiruk kazippAlai .
Thinking of the mind stealing Dancing God of thiruth thillai he came back singing "How can I, the slave, forget the dancing marvel even for the smallest denomination of time ?!". While he was doing determined service to the Lord there, he came to hear the gem like hymns of thirunyAnachampan^dhar (1) through the devotees. He wanted to salute the great small child who had the milk of the mother of the world and sang pointing to the God, "He is my Lord" in the budding age. Immediately he started off from there saluting the Lord of thiruth thillai. He worshiped the God in thirun^AraiyUr and arrived at the abode where the Lord came in a boat at the time of a deluge - chIrkAzi . On hearing that the old respectable sage, the king of God, thirun^Avukkarachar was coming with the bunch of devotees the son of God, thirunyAnachampan^dhar with a huge interest to prostrate him came forward. The sage fell down on the prodigy's feet with unfalling love, the immense kid prostrated to him back in all obedience and called with great respect, "apparE" (Oh! father!) to which the sage responded, "I, thy slave". The God had shown the greatest boon on the devotees who were present there to worship the two greatest unparalleled saints.
The two wonderable saints who are like the two eyes of shaivam arrived in the abode of the eight armed Lord. Subduing to the tower of the Lord in chIrkAzi they went in to worship the Wonder with woman to His side. The prodigy requested appar perumAn to sing a song on the Lord. With deep devotion he sang on the Lord. They stayed with growing love for each other for many days in that town. appar wanted to pray the God in various places on the banks of river kAvEri . The great kid accompanied him to thiruk kOalakkA and returned with great love and respect for him.
appar continued his travel to worship the lovely places of the Lord thirukkaruppaRiyalUr, thiruppunkUr, thirun^IdUr, thirukkuRukkai, thirun^inRiyUr, thirun^anippaLLI, thiruchchemponpaLLI, mayilAduthuRai, thiruththuruththi, thiruvELvikkudi, thiruedhirkoLpAdi, thirukkOdikA, thiruvAvaduthiuRai, thiruvidaimarudhUr, thirun^AgEchchuram, pazaiyARai. In thiruchchaththimuRRam he prayed to the Lord to grace by placing His holy feet on his head before the dreadful death can approach. The Lord who won the death asked him to come to thirun^allUR . There He put His vEdas praised feet that resides in the minds of the devotees on the head of the great sage to his ecstasy. He sang, "The Lord of thirun^allUr placed His holy foot which is wet with the honey that drips from the blooming selected good flowers that dhEvAs offered, on my head". ( n^inain^dhurukum adiyArai ). He was happy like the poor who got the indiminishing wealth and did the services to sha.nkara . He saluted thirukkarukAvUr, thiruvAvUr, thiruppAlai and was worshiping the Lord of thirun^allUr all the times.
Receiving the blessings of the Lord he went to serve the luminant Lord at the town thirup pazanam who dances in the dark forests. Worshiping the wonderful temples of the Thunder Haired around thiruppazanam he reached thiN^gaLUr . He heard and saw the superb services of the devotee who is superior among who chant vEdas, called appUdhi adikaLAr (2). He was doing all the services in an adorable fashion in the name of thirun^Avukkarachar. appar went to his house and humbly told that he was the person who was rescued by the mercy of the God from the ignorance of Jainism. appUdhi adikaLar was shocked with joy to see the sage he salutes. He pleaded to the seer to accept the feast at his place. He appeared like a person who got the greatest boon when the sage accepted it. His family prepared the most delicious food and fine arrangements for the feast. When everything was ready appUdhi adikaLAr asked his son who had the name of the sage himself to get banana leaf for serving the food. The fate that was waiting as a snake in the garden bit the boy. But the young great boy who was in no way less in devotion to the Lord and devotees rushed back to his mother to give the leaves. The couple of unthinkable dedication hid their loving son's body and proceeded to host the feast. Coming to know all the things that happened appar was appalled by their sacrifice. He prayed to the Source of everything and got the child back to life out of Its grace. He made appUdhi adikaLAr happy by having food at his place who was feeling bad for delaying the seer's feast. appar praised the his greatness in the hymn he sang as they went to thiruppazanam.
He prayed the Lord in the places near thiruchchORRuththuRai , continued the services at thirup pazanam. He came to the southern bank of river kAvEri to prostrate to the Lord of thirun^allUr. While serving the God there he wanted to worship thiruvArUr the abode of thyAgEsha . He went to thiruvArUr worshiping the Lord including in the places pazaiyARai, thiruvalanychuzi, thirukkudamUkku, thirun^AlUr, thenthiruchchERai, thirukkudavAyil, thirun^aRaiyUr, pAlUr, thenthiruvAnychiyam, peruvELUr . With the roar of the devotees to welcome the sage who floated on the sea winning the sabotage of some Jains, he arrived there. He entered thinking him as a servant of those servants of God. He saluted the dhEvAchiriyan and went to worship the Lord in the anthill - the altar of the temple. With the tears of joy showering from the sacred eyes he saluted the Lord and sang His fame. He stayed in dhEvAchiriyan with adiyArs cleaning the surroundings of the temple praising It always. He sang the service of n^amin^an^dhi adikaL (3) and saluted the thiru araneRi . He worshiped the God in thiruvalivalam, kIzvELUr, kanRAppUr and returned back to thiruvArUr. He worshiped the thiruvAdhirai festival (4) when the Lord comes in procession blessing the dEvas, sages and one who salutes. He stayed there for many days unable to part the Lord of thiruvArUr.
The king of God, thirun^Avukkarachar keeping the holy feet of the Lord of thiruvArUr wanted to worship the God at pUmpukalUr . At the same time at the muruga n^AyanAr (1) monastery, the young prodigy thirunyAnychampan^dhar (2) was there after worshiping many abodes of the Lord. He along with the devotees came to receive appar. With the huge number of sacred hearted devotees the meeting was like the meeting of two oceans. When asked about the festivities in thiruvArUr appar sang "muththu vidhAnam" that described the magnificent thiruvAdhirai(3) festival. Attracted to worship the God of thiruvArUr, thirunyAnachampan^dhar told appar perumAn that he would salute thiruvArUr and come back to stay with him. appar praised the Lord sweeter than honey residing at pUmpukalUr with melting heart and stayed there serving Him. He worshiped thiruchcheN^kAttaN^kudi, thirun^aLLARu, ayavan^dhi, thirumarukal and returned back to thiruppukalUr. Meanwhile thirunyAnachampan^dhar returned after praising the Lord of thiruvArUr. Then two more great devotees chiRuththoNdar (4), n^Ilanakkar(5) also joined them. Nothing can be said other than great for such an assembly of great devotees. When great people meet they talk only great, they at the monastery of muruga n^AyanAr talked about the Great Lord on the great white kailAsham .
Later appar left pUmpukalUr along with thirunyAnachampan^dhar to sing the other abodes of God leaving other devotees. They saluted the Supreme at thiru ambar and proceeded to thirukkadavUr vIrattam the place where the Lord kicked the death to death for the devotee. At the kuN^kiliyak kalaya n^AyanAr (6) monastery they accepted the food along with other devotees. They worshiped thiruk kadavUr mayAnam, thiruvAkkUr and reached at thiru vIzi mizalai . With emerging emotions of extreme love they prostrated to the Premier Lord of thiruvIzimizalai and sang beautiful poetry. After some time due to the failure of monsoon and drought in river kAvEri there was not enough food resulting in a famine. While the people were suffering due to the famine the Lord with deer and axe appeared in the dreams of the two saints and told them that though they were beyond getting suffered due to famine, for the benefit of the devotees who salute them, the Lord would give a solution. From the next day they were getting a coin each on the eastern and western dais of the temple by the grace of God. Those selfless service minded devotees used that golden coin to feed the entire public whoever salutes the hunger removing Lord shiva. Those true devotees did not stop at elevating themselves but made efforts with sincere motive to alleviate the pain of all others by the grace of God. While shiva Itself is the form of love how can the dedicated devotees who never stray away from Him overlook the pains of others ? The sage of flawless, faithful service got flawless golden coins from that flawless Mercy. Thus they both killed the killing famine there. When the planetary motion became normal and the rain showered making the people rejoice bringing the awesome famine to an end, the two devotees thought of worshiping the other abodes of the Blue-throated.
Praying the Lord of thiruvAnychiyam they arrived at thirumaRaikkAdu . Circumambulating the temple the king of God and son of God arrived in front of the altar of the God. The historic big door through which once upon a time the great vEdas went and worshiped the Heart of vEdas, was sealed by the vEdas after the worship. The two saints saw all the devotees using a sideway door to enter the temple and worship. The saint of chIrkAzi requested appar perumAn to sing to open the door so that they can enter the temple through the door facing the abode. On his words thirun^Avukkarachar sang a padhikam starting "paNNInEru moziyAL". Probably the Lord was so involved in his wonderful praise that the door did not open even after the tenth hymn ! Then he sang "irakkam onRillIr" (You have no mercy) upon which the Lord immediately opened that giant door. Amidst the roaring devotees upon this marvel they went in. Worshiped the Warrior on earth chariot with wholeness of devotion. After coming out appar asked thirunyAnachampan^dhar to sing to close the door. As soon as he started to sing the door closed itself. Exclaiming the grace of God he completed the padhikam . Then on that famous door was used by the local people everyday for worship. Later in the mutt wondering the simplicity of champan^dhar's hymn upon which the door closed immediately, the humble most appar perumAn was afraid that he did not understand the grace of the Lord. With this thoughts he slept in a corner.
In the dream of that sincere servant the Supreme appeared to say, "Will be there in vAymUr, come along". Surprised the sage got up and left the thirumaRaikkAdu. The Source as guide led him. The Lord showed a beautiful temple and got obscured in the temple. appar followed Him but could not catch Him. By this time champan^dhar also hearing about this came there. Worried if he against the idea of God opened the door, he was yearning to see the Lord. Then the Lord showed His graceful form unexplorable by even brahma and vishNu to champan^dhar and to appar perumAn also making him sing that God. Then they went to thiruvAymUr to pray to the Lord with perennial love. Praising the Lord of thiruvAymUr to their satisfaction to the world's satisfaction to the Lord's satisfaction and keeping His holy feet in the mind they returned back to the vEdas praising thirumaRaikkAdu. Then some messengers for champan^dhar from the pANdiya minister kulachchiRai n^AyanAr (7) sent in presence of the queen maN^gaiyarkkarachiyAr (8) came. To the prodigy who enquired about the well-being of those two marvelous devotees, they replied they were happy praising the feet of champan^dhar who came to establish the greatness of shaivam and told that the bad deeds of Jains go beyond the limits of tolerance in their kingdom. Determined to enlighten the king and the people of shaivam champan^dhar raised to go to the pANdiya kingdom. The sage of superior affection, appar did not wanted to allow him as he was anxious about the tortures those merciless people would do to the child champan^dhar. But the saint of chIrkAzi was determined to exhibit the supremacy of shaivam and decided not to do anything else before that. When appar wanted to go and prove the greatness of the grace of shiva and the love for Him himself instead of young champan^dhar, champan^dhar was strong that he would go himself. With appar perumAn unable to hold him back champn^dhar proceeded to pANdiya kindom.
After worshiping thirumaRaikkAdu appar perumAn wanted to worship the Lord of thiruvIzimizalai again. He went there saluting the shrine in n^AgappattiNam . From thiruvIzimizalai he went to thiruvAvadu thuRai sang the grace of God and proceeded to pazaiyARai . There the Jains obscured the very old abode of the Lord and claimed the place to be theirs. The humble but cannot be humbled, the courteous but not coward, fighting for the justice but not adopting violence as the default way, the soft but determined sage sat in fast next to the shrine saying he would not leave till he gets to worship the Omnipresent Almighty taken abode there. The caring Lord appeared in the dream of the king and instructed him the location where the Jains have hid the abode. Awakened in surprise the king rushed with his courtmen to the site following the marks told by the Lord and removed all the barricades raised by the Jains saluting the sage. The king made a nice altar with tower. Then the victorious valiant sage worshiped the God who can not be obscured the transience.
He traveled on the banks of the river kAvEri worshiping the Lord in the abodes on both the banks. He saluted thiruvAnaikkA, thiruveRumbiyUr, thiruchchirAppaLLi, kaRkudi, thirupparAyththuRai and other abodes doing his great service with the hand plow and proceeded towards thiruppainynyIli . The journey was tiring making him thirsty, hungry and fatiguous - the three major recurring physical deficiencies to quench which the human strives hard. The sage holding the feet of the Absolute with non falling spirit went ahead on his way of determination to thiruppainynyIli. Can the Mercy on the mountains which responded even to the cry of the piglets, bear the trouble Its truthful slave was undergoing ? It appeared in the form of an ash smeared chanter of vEdas on his way with food waiting for the devotee to arrive. He told him to have the food He has, drink the chill water from the pond nearby and come out of fatigue. appar ate the food the Lord who gave the nectar to the dEvas gave and felt quite pleasant. The Lord in some other form asked him where he was going to. To the saint who said he was going to thiruppainynIli He - the company of whom the great sages desire to cross the ocean of disturbances said He too is going there and accompanied him. As they reached thiruppainynIli the Lord disappeared. The sage stricken with wonder and admiration fell on the feet of the Lord of thiruppainynyIli to praise the immense grace He showed for him.
He traveled towards north to reach thiruvaNNAmalai to rejoice in the worship of the Lord making even the life better than liberation itself ! He proceeded to the pallava kingdom then. He first prostrated to the Lord of thiruvOththUr . As he was coming towards the city kAnychi , the entire city ornated itself to receive the sage who traversed the ulterior disturbances victoriously with the grace of the yOganatha . Saluting the ocean of saluting devotees he went to worship the Lord who dissolved in the devotion of the mother of the Universe at thirukkachchi Ekampam and poured the holy water of his tears of love. Worshiping often at the place where an immense love was shown to the world Ekampam he worshiped the Lord in thiruk kachchi mayAnam, thiruk kachchi mERRaLi, thirumARpERu and many other abodes in kanychi a city famous for its innumerous shrines. He continued to north to serve in the abodes thirukkazukunRam, thiruvAnmiyUr, mayilAppUr to salute and stay at thiruvoRRIyUr for some time. He further worshiped the shrines thiruppAchUr, thiru AlaN^kAdu, thiruk kArikarai . He went ahead to salute the golden haired Lord's abode thirukkALaththi where He showed the greatness of simple love of the hunter devotee kaNNappa n^AyanAr (1).
Yearning to see the beautiful and holy most abode of the Lord kailAsham he continued his journey towards north. He worshiped the thirupparuppadham (shri shailam) , traveled then in karnataka, maharashtra, madhya pradhesh and arrived finally in vAraNAsi . He saluted the Lord having ga.nga in His matted hair taken abode on the banks of ga.nga in vAraNAsi with whole hearted devotion. Leaving back the other pilgrims there he continued his pilgrimage to mount kailAsh. He proceeded to the Himalayan forests where even dEvas would be afraid to go alone. In those days when there was no proper means of transport for traveling such a long distance - thousands of kilometers - can be considered to be an achievement. He traveled in the rough and tough surfaces of the mountains without anybody's help without any vehicle to carry him. All he had was only two things. One was devotion and the other was determination. Those two for him were not in small amounts but were as giant as the mountain he was climbing. Walking day and night his lotus like feet were worn out, but his eagerness to worship the Lord with His consort on the mount was not. With his hands he leapt forward to continue his journey. With the wrists broken after some time he with an undiminishing love he crept forward with his body. The bones in chest broken, with the flesh coming out, he was not able to do that even. Even at that situation his determination was not reduced even by the size of a bead. He rolled ahead in his journey towards Him. The entire body was torn and was not able to roll even. Still he tried to push his body forward and move. Immense is his determination ! If one says it as strong as a rock it may exaggerate the strength of the rock.
Blessing the world to have some more of the honey like hymns of appar the Lord came in the form of a sage and asked appar why he was toiling like that. When appar told that he wanted to worship the Lord on kailAsh He told it is not so easy a task and asked him to return back. But appar perumAn was firm that he would not return without seeing the Lord at kailAsham. The Strength of the devotees looking at the strong dedication of the devotee disappeared in the horizon and raised the voice, "Oh great king of words! Raise ! Have a dip in this pond and see us in the form we are at kailAsham raising from the pond in thiruvaiyARu .". With all the wounds vanished he rose with a luminant body to salute the Almighty with the grace of that Grace. With the hands folded on the head keeping the order of the Lord on his head he entered the pond. To the surprise of the entire world, by the grace that can not be measured by anybody he appeared in one of the ponds in thiruvaiyARu . He saw everything in thiruvaiyARu reflecting the principle of shiva and shakthi. He came praising them in front of the shrine of the Lord in thiruvaiyARu. The temple appeared as the mount kailAsh with the praise of vishNu, brahma, indra and other dEvas, and the sets of different people like devAs, daemons, sages, ga.ndharvas present, the dancing women of Heaven like ramba, Urvasi performing, all the rivers including ga.nga worshiping, the great servant n^aN^dhi dEvar guarding the abode, saw on the mount of silver with the creeper of emerald, the shining beautiful ruby hill like on the Holy Bull with the Goddess of the mountain the Generous Great God. Saluted Him, sang unable to find words, danced in ecstasy, with the hair standing throughout the body he cried. Who can tell the state of that highly dedicated sage when he saw the Lord! He got the reward for his determination. He was in that bliss for quite a long time. Then the Lord changed the scene to make everything look normal in their usual way. Consoling himself that it was God's grace appar sang the scene unseen by others in beautiful hymn "mAdhar piRaik kaNNIyAnai" . He explains admirably the unparalleled kailAsha scene he saw. He stayed in thiruvaiyARu serving, saluting and singing the Lord different kinds of songs thiruththANdakam, thirukkuRun^thokai, thirun^Erichai, thiruviruththam .
Worshiping the wide matted haired Lord of thiruvaiyARU appar traveled to the abodes near that wonderful town. He saluted the Lord in thirun^eyththAnam, thirumazapAdi and reached in thirup pUn^thuruththi . Praising the Truth smeared in white ash with a pearl like body coming on the white bull, the sage who never forgot to do service to the Lord was very much willing to stay in that place always worshiping the Three-eyed Wonder. With His grace he founded a magnificent monastery there to sing the Lord who sang the holy vEdas and serve that Lord who enjoys in the Self. He recited a lots of hymns on the Lord staying there. While he was in thirup pUn^thuruththi, the child in appearance but magnificent in actions who established the path of shaivam in southern pANdiya kingdom, straightening up the back of the king and his justice - thirunyAna champan^dhar (1) came there. Hearing that the king of God is in thirup pUn^thuruththi he rushed there to meet the sage he revered so much that he did not want to call him even appa (father) but gave even much more respect by calling him appar .
Hearing that the young victorious saint was coming, old sage of matured love with an increasing eagerness to salute the prodigy mingled without anybody's notice in the huge crowd that was assembled to welcome the young saint. The great men are more and more humble. The sage who would be admired always for his service and devotion, appreciating whose devotion the Lord showed even the kailAsham at thiruvaiyARu humbly went and carried the pearl pallack (palanquin, litter) of thirunyAnachampan^dhar feeling that as a boon. When the pallack reached thiruppUn^thuruththi thirunyAnachampan^dhar enquired where the great sage appar perumAn was. To that the modest marvelous sage replied, "Thy slave got the great boon of carrying thy feet and am here." Appalled to see this thirunyAnachampan^dhar jumped out hurriedly from the pallack to prostrate to the great sage and asked with shivering words why did that revered great sage did that. The sage saluted him in all love and said how else he could serve the great thirunyAnachampan^dhar. The entire ocean of crowd roared to see the meeting of those two huge oceans of devotion.
Those two beacons of flourishment of shaivam went to worship the flawless Father of the Universe at thirup pUn^thuruththi. The king of words eagerly heard from the devotees came along the splendid deeds of resurrection of pANdiya kingdom in shaivam by the prodigy. Hearing the affection of the queen maN^gaiyarkkarachiyAr and the devotion of kulachchiRaiyAr , he wanted to go for pilgrimage in that thamiz kingdom. Hearing about the pretty most abodes of the Lord in thoNdai kingdom from the king of words the prodigy left to worship them. Soon appar perumAn went to pANdiya kingdom first to thirup puththUr . Then he went to the abode of the Eldest the great famous thiru AlavAy (madhurai) . With folded hands and converging mind he enjoyed the bliss that the honey like Lord offers. He was worshiped by the three wonderful devotees who served for the flourishment of shaivam in pANdiya kingdom the king n^inRa chIr n^edumARa n^AyanAr (2), the queen maN^gaiyarkkarachiyAr (3), the prime minister kulachchiraiyAr (4). He praised the Lord in thiruppUvaNam and went to salute the Lord who blessed the famous king of ayOdhya, the avatAr of mahA vishNu shri rAmachan^dhra at rAmEshwaram . He prostrated the shrines at thirun^elvEli, thiruk kAnappEr and many other abodes of Lord shiva.
After worshiping the abodes in pANdiya kingdom he came back to the chOza kingdom to the town called pUmpukalUr . Serving the Supreme there with melting heart everyday he sang a lots of his famous thiruth thANdakam s and many other songs. The God who grants the sea of grace wanted to show to the entire world the undisturbable mentally blissful state of the sage. He made gold and gems to appear along with the sand and stone in the temple premises. Considering them as valuable as the rolling stones on the path when doing the cleaning service in the abode he through them along with normal stones with his hand plow into the pond. He was too rich - he had the great wealth shiva who is the Lord of everything with him - to treat gems superior to pebbles. To that sage who had won one major distraction of desire for wealth the beautiful girls of the Heaven on whose beauty even the valiants who could face any number of perils fail. They used to dance, sing, pour flowers on him and did all the tricks to infatuate him. But the thirun^Avukkarachar perumAn was minding the service to God only with the mind never off tracking from the unparalleled parallel feet of the Blissgiving Beauty singing, "What do I require from you ? Am the slave of the Lord of thiruvArUr. Don't strain yourselves". Unable to distract the immense devotee inseparably involved in the God, they saluted him and returned back. If the blessings of the Lord who burnt the lust is there even the unfailing arrows of the cupid will fail.
That form of devotion, the king of words was staying in that coveted blissful state enjoying His grace for some time. Then he sat under the perennially blissful feet of the Attributeless in the form of the knowledge of the bliss of Lord shiva singing "puNNiyA ! unnadikkE pOdhukinrEn" (Oh Good deed ! am going to your feet) with the shower of flowers that Heavenly people did and with the praise of many sages on the day of chadhayam in the month of chiththirai. His fame is beyond the reach of covering. Great is the God, marvelous was this sage, superior was his service, kindling are his hymns. Let the unthinkably devotional, determined, flawless service of thirun^Avukkarachu n^AyanAr stay in the mind.
Sarvam Sri SeetaRamachandraparabramha aarpanamastu
