Tirunallar Saniswaran Temple (Dharbaranyeswarar Temple), Karaikal – Literary Mention

Tirunallar Saniswaran Temple (Dharbaranyeswarar Temple), Karaikal – Literary Mention

Sambandar, the 7th century Nayanmar and Tamil Saivite poet has revered the deity with four hymns, in one of which he refers to a contest with Jains, and his victory. Appar and Sundarar, the other Nayanmars have glorified the temple with their hymns. Arunagirinathar, a 15th-century poet and staunch devotee of Lord Muruga has composed hymns on the deity and this temple is attributed to Murugan worship as well. This is the 169^th Devaram Padal Petra Shiva Sthalam on the south side of river Cauvery and 52^nd Sthalam in Chozha Nadu.  Tirugnanasambandar sung the hymns ‘Bogamarntha poonmulayal’ in the analvatham and the same was called as Pachai Thirupathigam.

The Story of the Pachai Padigam (In the Tamil language, Pachai = evergreen, Padigam = decadal verse). This hymn is written in praise of Lord Dharbaranyeswarar. It is unique glory of the Tirunallar temple that it possesses the Pachai Padigam which occupies a pride of place in the history of the Hindu Saivite Tamil hymn literature. This Padigam extols the virtues of the Lord and begins with the opening line Bhogamartha Poon Mulayal a pecan to the consort of Lord Dharbaranyeswarar. And it is said to have stood and ordeal of fire and the event leading to it is of absorbing interest and is narrated below.

It took place in the 7th century A.D, in Madurai, the capital of the Pandya Kingdom, during the reign of the celebrated Koon Pandya, also called Ninraseer Nedumaran. Ninra-seer-Nedumaran converted to Jainism. During this time, Jainism was spreading its influence in South India. Soon, all but his queen Mangaiyarkarasi and his minister Kulacchirai Nayanar - both staunch Saivites (worshippers of Lord Shiva) had embraced Jainism, forsaking the old religion. This caused immense agony to the queen and the minister who were anxious to reclaim both king and kingdom back into the fold of the traditional religion (Saivism).

To these two grief-stricken individuals came news of the camping of boy saint Thirugnana Sambandar at Vedaranyam. Having heard of the miracles performed by this young Saivite saint in Thanjavur district, they sent an urgent invitation to him to visit Madurai and extricate the king and his subjects from the clutches of Jainism. The arrival of the Saivite saint irked the Jains, who are said to have then set fire to his holy dwelling.

But by his yogic powers, Sambandar had the heat transferred to the king, who consequently suffered in agony. Upon the Queen's request, the young saint then sang the Padigam 'Mandiramavadu Neeru' and sprinkled a few grains of holy ash on the right side of the king's body to alleviate the pain. In contest, the Jains in turn chanted the Aruga Mantra (Jain Mantra) and stroked the left side of the king's person with peacock feathers, but it only aggravated the pain.

In response to entreaties by the king and his ministers, Sambandar applied a few more grains of the sacred ash to the king's left side also. The poor Pandian monarch, who only a little while ago was the very picture of suffering, misery and distress, now smiled gaily and was free of his burns. But the Jains challenged the Saivites further, asking that the Mantras of both religions be written on palm leaves and consigned to flames to see which one survived the ordeal of fire (thereby showing superiority over the other).

The Jains first placed their palm leaf onto the fire but it was soon consumed by the flames. Saint Thirugnana Sambandar placed on the flames one leaf containing the forty-ninth Padigam of the Thevaram hymn which was sung at the shrine of Lord Dharbaranyeswarar at Thirunallar. The leaf remained untouched by the flames and maintained its evergreen freshness, reestablishing Saivism as the true religion in Pandian capital. Hence the glory of the Thirunallar temple. Hence the appellation "Pachai Padigam" was being applied to it.