Manakula Vinayagar Temple, Puducherry – Legends

Manakula Vinayagar Temple, Puducherry – Legends

When French ruled Pondicherry, there lived an atheist who was a good friend of the governor of the state. The atheist behaved like a despot and quite often ill-treated the natives. The governor neither questioned his attitude nor lent his ear to the grievances of the natives. Since none dared to question him, the atheist poked his nose into the worship of Hindu idols. He had often seen the natives going to a temple, very near to the sea. He had nurtured a strong desire to throw away the idol of the temple into the sea and demolish the temple. One day the atheist went with his followers to see what the natives did in the temple.

He was taken by surprise when he entered the temple. Some people prostrated themselves before the image; some lit Camphors and broke coconuts against the stone slabs; some closed their eyes and recited mantras while some stood silently praying to the Lord. What was more surprising to the atheist was the curiously shaped image which the natives called God. The image had a big and oval face with a long trunk for a nose. It had a pot like belly and its colour was pitch black. “What the hell is the name given to the half elephant and half glutton?” the atheist enquired of his men. “They call it Pillaiyar,” replied one from his gang.

The atheist laughed and his laughter brought utter silence in the temple. Everyone shivered. “Go and lift that stone which they call God and throw it into the sea,” he commanded his gang men. The unruly gang immediately jumped into action. Helpless, the natives stood watching the evil action of the thugs. With great difficulty they lifted the image and carried it to the seashore. They boarded a catamaran with the image, while the atheist stood on the shore happily watching their movements. Soon his men returned to tell him that the stone image had been thrown into the deep sea.

Happy at heart, the atheist with his followers marched towards the temple to bully and insult the natives. But he was taken aback to see the image of Pillaiyar seated in the very same place in the temple. He saw the natives praying in silence. He knew well that the natives could not have brought in another image within that short time. But at the same time, he wondered at the sudden reappearance of the image. “How did that stone come back?” he shouted at the natives in the temple.

“We do not know. When you left this temple, we prayed with our eyes closed. And when we opened our eyes we saw him seated in the vacant place,” said a native. “Is that so? Does that stone presume to set its wits at me?” the atheist roared. He then commanded, “Carry the statue. Tie it to a bigger stone. Go a long distance into the sea and roll the stones together into the deep sea”. His order was obeyed. But when they came back to the temple they were shocked to see the Pillaiyar again. Suspecting some foul play, the atheist stared at the smiling faces of the natives. One mustered courage and said, “This Pillaiyar is a very powerful deity. No force on earth can destroy him”.

The atheist wanted to make a final attempt. He told his men to lift the image and take it to the seashore. When it was done he asked all the natives who had gathered in the temple to quit the place. He then closed the doors of the temple and locked it. Carrying the key with him, he went to the seashore, boarded a boat with his companions and the image. Under his supervision, the image was thrown into the deep sea. With great satisfaction they returned to the temple. When the atheist unlocked the doors of the temple, he was horrified to note the reappearance of the Pillaiyar.

A large crowd had already gathered there. Many laughed at the foolish action of the atheist. Sneering at the crowd, the atheist ordered his gangsters to fetch crowbars. When the weapons reached the place, he commanded, to the sorrow of the natives, “Use these crowbars against their Pillaiyar and break the idol into pieces. Let the powerful deity save himself”. The gang men began to smash the sharp edges of their crowbars against the image. But they could not make even a dent on it. They repeated their action but to their great disappointment the crowbars broke up into tiny pieces and fell.

A splinter from a broken crowbar flew whizzing towards the atheist and hit his right knee-cap. Crying in pain he fell down before the image. Later it was reported to the governor that the atheist went to the temple every morning and evening without fail to worship Pillaiyar, the powerful deity. In Tamil 'Manal' means sand and 'Kulam' means pond near the sea, earlier which was full of sand around pond. So, the people called the god as Manal Kulathu Vinayagar which translates as 'God near the pond of sand'.