The Story of Nandanar- Thirunaalai Povaar Nayanar- Nayanar for whom Nandhi stepped aside

OM NAMAH SHIVAYA

                                 image courtesy: Google images

Nandanar, also known as Thirunalaippovaar, was a Nayanar saint and is eighteenth in the list of 63 Nayanars. Like the other Nayanars, he was a great devotee of the Lord Shiva.

Nayanmars - An Introduction

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List of all Nayanmars

Nandanar’s  exact date is not known, but he probably lived in the seventh or eighth century. The story of Nandanar and his devotion appears in the Periya Puranam of Sekkilar [12th century], which is the Tamil account of the sixty-three Nayanmar [Shaivite] saints. Nandanar’s story was made famous by Gopala Krishna Bharati in his Nandanar-Charitra. In the nineteenth century this was sung in every village in Tamil Nadu.  Gopalakrishna’s version, which added a few details to that of Sekkizhar, is given below.

Nandanar was born in village Adhanur in Thanjavur district in Tamil Nadu in a low caste (Dalit) family.  He worked as a bonded labourer for a land owner of the Vedhiyar caste. Since their caste was engaged in making drums using animal skin (called Parai in Tamil), this caste is also referred to as Parayar. Apart from  these Nandanar also made string intstruments  like Veena and Yaazh and skin covering for instruments like Berigai. From very early age, Nandanar was a great devotee of Lord Shiva, though his people worshipped village Gods like Karuppan, Chamundi etc. 

As an untouchable,  Nandanar was not permitted to enter the village temple, but yearned to visit it. He used to play the yazh (an instrument) and sing devotional songs from some distance away.  He desired to go to the temple in Tiruppungur to worship the deity Shivaloganathaswami  and one day managed to reach there. Nandanar stood outside the temple and wanted to have a glimpse of Lord Shiva. The idol of the big bull Nandi which normally is in front of Lord Shiva, in Shiva temples was not allowing him to have the glimpse of the almighty. On Shiva’s command, the Nandi moved a few feet to the right, so that Nandanar could view the lingam. Nandanar was estatic. In Thiruppungur, he heard about the great Natraja temple in Chidhambaram and about the cosmic dance of Lord Shiva.

                                 image courtesy: google images 

Returning to his village, filled with great joy,  Nandanar was determined to go to Thillai (Chidambaram). Every day he would say, ‘I will go tomorrow’, and thus he earned the name Thiru Nalai Povaar, ‘The divine one who will go tomorrow’, and is still known by that name.  Finally he approached his Vedhiyar landlord for permission, who told him to worship the gods of his own caste. Nandanar did not give up. Once again he asked the landlord, who said he would permit him if he had finished ploughing in 40 velis of land (250 acres) in one day, which was an impossible task. Nandhanar was heartbroken and started to pray in desperation to the Lord.

The next day, Nandanar went out to the fields to plough the land which was a humongous task, but to his surprise the whole field was ploughed and ready for sowing seeds. The Landlord was shocked and amazed and realised that Nandanar was not a simple devotee of Lord Shiva.

Nayanmars - An Introduction

Stories of all Nayanmars

List of all Nayanmars

By the grace of Shiva this was done, so Nandanar was extremely excited and set off for Chidambaram. But after reaching Chidambaram, he could see the smoke of the fire rituals being done in every home. On hearing these rituals and Vedas sung everywhere, Nandanar felt that he should not even go into the town as he would make the place ‘unholy’. So he went around the town numerous times, felt very sad and finally slept outside the town. He had a wonderful dream in which Lord Shiva ordered him to walk through fire. Lord Shiva wanted to show the world that Nandanar was like pure gold which comes out more shining when put through fire.

                                  image courtesy: Google images

Meanwhile Lord appeared in temple priests' (dikshitars) dream and ordered them to create a sacrificial fire at a place outside the town. The surprised priests went to the place and created a sacrificial fire and Nandanar understood that this was the fire the Lord Shiva had asked him to walk through. Nandanar walked through the fire uttering Lord Shiva’s name. Everyone was surprised to see that he came out with glowing figure with the sacred ash smeared on his body and he appeared like a divine being, with a divine aura glowing around him.

On witnessing this miraculous act, the priest took Nandanar inside the temple. Nandanar with great devotion uttering Lord Shiva’s name, entered the garba griha and just vanished into thin air. Shri Nandanar, the great devotee of Lord Shiva, amalgamated with almighty.

                                                        Nandanar image courtesy: Google images

He has been praised by Ramalinga Swami, Mahatma Gandhi, Swami Sivananda, and several others, and is perhaps the most well-known of the Nayanars. In 1910 Swami Sahajananda established the Nandanar School and Nandanar Matha  at Chidambaram in his memory.

Nayanmars - An Introduction

Stories of all Nayanmars

List of all Nayanmars

OM NAMAH SHIVAYA

THIRUCHITRAMBALAM

Birbal Visits Iran

Emperor Akbar had an important courtier called Birbal. Birbal was very popular for his matchless wisdom and high sense of humour. It interested the king of Iran. “I want to meet this guy Birbal and test his intelligence. Invite him.” He ordered.

Akbar, handing over the royal invitation to Birbal, said, “My friend, the king of Iran has invited you to test your intelligence. Let your voyage fetch yet another claim to your name and fame.” Back at home, with his mind busy, Birbal packed for the voyage.

Meanwhile, the king of Iran decided to play a prank. HE made five of his minister’s dress like him in royal costumes.

The moment Birbal reached Iran, he was ushered to the court where six kings were seated. ‘This is it, A test for me to find the right king.” Birbal thought.

Birbal looked at them carefully, then stepping in front of one of them, he bowed, saying, “Salutations my King…”

“Wow, great, “beamed the real king. “But how did you find out!” he asked,

“From your body language” chuckled Birbal. “Though wearing royal costumes, the others sat still with their hands on the armrest, but only you sat tapping your chin.”

“Excellent, praised the king, No wonder you are known as the most intelligent of all.”

Pleased with Birbal, the king rewarded him as he said, “Birbal, I wish I had a genius like you in my kingdom. I want you to stay with us for a few days…” Birbal thanked the king, feeling happy that he added pride to his motherland.

The End.

Tenali Raman and the Brinjal Curry

The great king, Shri KrishnaDevaraya was ruling Vijayanagaram. He had eight intelligent advisors in his court, one among them was Tenali Raman  who was very clever and witty. The king was fond of brinjals, so he had  some special kind of brinjal plants in his garden.  The brinjal was very rare kind and curry made out of it was very tasty which was loved by the emperor.  As it was a rare kind, the garden was guarded and no one was allowed to go to the garden without the emperor’s permission.

Once the emperor had arranged dinner for his advisors and the brinjal curry was served.  Tenali Rama had enjoyed the brinjal curry very much and went home.  But he was unable to forget the taste.  He told his wife about the taste of curry.  Tenali Rama’s wife also liked brinjal curry, she asked Tenali Rama to bring few brinjals so that she can prepare a curry. But Tenali Rama knew that the emperor was taking extreme care about the brinjal plants and it was not easy to get them from his garden. And, the emperor will punish such thief if caught stealing a brinjal.

But Tenali’s wife pleaded him to bring a brinjal from the garden without telling anybody.  Tenali Rama had no choice other than stealing a brinjal from the emperor’s garden. One night he went to the garden, jumped the wall and plucked few brinjals from the garden.  By the god’s grace, no one had seen him.  His wife cooked the brinjals and the curry was very tasty. Like all the mothers, she too loved her son very much and wanted to serve a brinjal curry him. But Tenali Rama asked her not to do such thing because if their son reveals to anybody that he had a rare brinjal curry, then they may get caught and get punished for stealing a brinjal from the garden.

But his wife did not agree.  She wanted to serve the curry to her son.  She was unable to eat the curry alone without serving her little kid who was sleeping after doing his homework on the roof of their house.  She asked Tenali Rama to find a way so that their son can also taste the brinjal curry.  Tenali Rama also loved his son, so he thought of an idea and with a lot of hesitation went on to the roof to wake up his child with a bucket of water and poured the water on the child. When the child woke up he said “It is raining.  Let’s go inside the house and have a dinner”.  After going inside the room he changed the clothes of his son and gave him the rice and brinjal curry for the dinner. Tenali Rama told his wife loudly that “it was raining outside, and let the boy sleep in the room”.

And the next day, the emperor came to know that few brinjals were missing in his garden.  The Gardener who kept the count of each vegetable and flower found that the three brinjals were missing. It became a challenging issue for the emperor and took it very seriously.  He declared a reward for the person who can catch the thief.  Chief advisor suspected that only Tenali Rama was capable of doing such things. And they told the emperor about it.  The emperor sent his courtiers and asked Tenali Rama to come immediately. Once Tenali Rama came he asked him about the missing brinjals. Then Tenali Rama told, “I was not aware of the missing brinjals”.  Then the chief advisor told “Tenali Rama was lying. Let’s enquire his son”.

The king sent his courtiers to bring Tenali Rama’s son. Once his son came, He was asked what vegetable he had in the dinner last night. The child replied, “The brinjal curry and it was very tasty”.  Then the advisor told Tenali Rama that he needs to accept his crime.  But Tenali Rama said his son had slept very early and he might be saying something which he got in his dream.

So the emperor asked the little kid that “can you please explain clearly what you had done yesterday after coming from the school?”

Tenali Rama’s son replied that “yesterday after coming from the school, I played for some time and after that, I went on to the roof, did my homework, and slept on the roof.  But when the rain started, my father came and woke me up.  By that time my dress was fully wet, and then we went inside, had the dinner and slept again”.

The chief advisor was shocked because there was no rain at all yesterday. And the atmosphere was fully dry. So they thought the kid had a dream and freed Tenali Rama without any punishment.  However, later Tenali Raman told the truth to the emperor and was pardoned by the emperor for his clever witty idea.

The End

The Four Wives

There was a rich merchant who had 4 wives. He loved the 4^th wife the most and adorned her with rich robes and treated her to delicacies. He took great care of her and gave her nothing but the best. HE also loved the 3^rd wife very much. He’s very proud of her and always wanted to show off her to his friends. However, the merchant is always in great fear that she might run away with some other men.

He also, loved his 2^nd wife. She is a very considerate person, always patient and in fact is the merchant’s confidante. Whenever the merchant faced some problems, he always turned to his 2^nd wife and she would always help him out through difficult times.

The merchant’s first wife is a very loyal partner and has made great contributions in maintaining his wealth and business as well as taking care of the household. However, the merchant did not love the first wife and although she loved him deeply, he hardly took notice of her.

One day, the merchant fell ill. Before long, he knew that he was going to die soon. He thought of his luxurious life and told himself, “Now I have 4 wives with me. But when I die, I’ll be alone. How lonely I’ll be!”

Thus, he asked the 4^th  wife, “I loved you most, endowed you with the finest clothing and showered great care over you. Now that I’m dying, will you follow me and keep me company?”

“No way!” replied the 4^th wife and she walked away without another word. The merchant felt very sad. He then asked 3^rd wife, “I have loved you so much of all my life. Now that I’m dying, will you follow me and keep me company?” “No” replied the 3^rd wife. The merchant’s heart sand and turned cold.

He then asked the 2^nd wife, “I have always turned to you for help and you have always helped me out. Now I need your help again. When I die, will you follow me and keep me company?”

“I am sorry, I can’t help you out this time” replied the 2^nd wife. “At the very most, I can only send you to your grave.” The answer came like a bolt of thunder and the merchant was devastated.

Then a voice called out, “I’ll leave with you. I’ll follow you no matter where you go.” The merchant looked up and there was his first wife. She was so skinny, almost like she suffered from malnutrition.  Greatly grieved, the merchant said, “I should have taken much better care of you while I could have!” The merchant realized  that true love has nothing to do with the looks and beauty.

The End

The Singing Hippo

Once upon a time, a hippopotamus lived in a river next to a big and solitary tree. One day, a bird came and nested in a tree. The songs and the flight of the bird caused such envy in the hippo that he couldn’t think of anything else.

Every day he would lament the fact that he had been born a hippo. This despite the many times the bird told the hippo he was so lucky to be so big and such a good swimmer. Finally, the hippo made his mind up that he would come out of the river, climb the tree, go out to perch on a branch and start singing.

However, when he tried to climb the tree it was all too clear that the hippo didn’t have wings, or claws to climb with and neither could he hop. Realizing that he would never manage it, he angrily rammed his whole weight against the tree until it came crashing to the ground. Then, triumphantly he stepped onto the leaves of the fallen tree, and began singing.

Unfortunately, hippos can’t sing either. All that came from his mouth were horrible noises, and when the other animals heard this they all gathered round to make fun of the hippo standing on the branch of a fallen tree, trying to sing like a bird.

He was so embarrassed by this that he decided to never again regret being a hippo. He also felt bad about having knocked the tree over. He used all his strength to raise the tree back up again, replant it and look after it until it had completely recovered.

The End

Akbar Misses Birbal

One morning Akbar came to court looking very dull. “O King, you look tired with puffy eyes. What’s wrong?” asked Birbal casually.

“How dare you say that I don’t look good this morning?” yelled Akbar. “You lack basic manners and I don’t want you here anymore. Get out!”

image source: google images

There was total silence as Birbal walked out never to return. A week later, Akbar felt sad for his outburst and sent his guards to fetch Birbal. Alas, he was nowhere to be found. “How do I find Birbal?” mused Akbar. Finally he came up with a smart plan.

The next day Akbar announced. “The man who can answer this riddle will be rewarded handsomely. He must walk to the palace tomorrow morning half in shade and half under the sun.” Many tried, but could not succeed.

At last an old farmer came carrying a cot, “Your highness,” he went on. “The rope in this cot provides me half shade and the gap in between allows the sun light. So I have fulfilled your conditions.”

Akbar understood that he was sent by Birbal. “I ‘ll give you the reward. But, before that show me who gave you this idea?” he asked. The farmer took Akbar to Birbal.

Akbar embraced Birbal and took him back to the palace.

The End

Birbals Choice

One day King Akbar was feeling bored, he loved to think up riddles for his courtiers to answer. ‘The only person in my court who can answer my questions is Birbal. He’s  a clever guy and I really enjoy his wisdom,’ thought Akbar.

“Birbal, I have a riddle for you,” said Akbar.

image source: google images

“If you were given a choice between justice and a bag of gold coins, what would you choose?”

“That’s simple, your majesty. I would choose the gold coins, of course,” answered Birbal.

There was a silence in the court. The courtiers were shocked at this answer.

“He chose money over justice. Can you believe it? Birbal is greedy! “ shouted the courtiers. Even to Akbar this answer was disappointed.

“What? How could you choose the gold coins, Birbal?”

“I never expected you to be greedy like the others. I thought you would choose justice over gold,” said the king finally when he had gotten over his shock.

“Your highness,” said Birbal, smiling, “I asked you what I do not have. In your kingdom, there’s justice for everyone. So, I asked you for gold! “

Delighted with this answer, Akbar gave Birbal a bag of gold coins.

The End