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3. nandhanAr (ThirunALaippOvAr)
 Many people who become famous are known by the sobriquet they
acquire either by what they did or what they say. nandhanAr is one
such person who was known by the name ‘ThirunALaippOvAr’ which he
acquired as a result of constant chanting that he “would go
tomorrow” to Cidambaram to see the dancing Lord at Thillai.
SEkkizhAr titles the chronicle of nandhanAr as ‘ThirunALaippOvAr
purANam’. Sundarar mentions nandhanAr in his ThiruththoNDaththogai
as “semmaiyE thirunALaippOvArkkum aDiyEn” (I am a servitor to the
great Thiru-nALaip-pOvAr). Even nambiyANDAr nambi in his
ThiruththoNDar thiruvandhAdhi, refers to nandhanAr as “nALaippOvAn”.
nandhanAr was born in the village AdhanUr on the banks of the river
KoLLiDam in a “low caste”. Sundarar does not mention the caste of
nandhanAr. But nambiyANDAr nambi mentions that he was a “holy
devotee of a caste beyond the four castes”. nambiyANDAr nambi
describes the village of AdhanUr by associating it with the
greatness of nandhanAr.
(The village AdhanUr is the place where
thirunALaippOvAn, who by the grace of the Lord of venerable Thillai
lost his lowly birth status and appeared like a sage and was
worshipped by the three thousand Brahmins of Thillai, was born)
However, SEkkizhAr describes AdhanUr in all its
glory and the decrepit condition of the slum where nandhanAr lived.
SEkkizhAr devotes just 37 stanzas for the ThirunALaippOvAr purANam
but he packs a powerful and poignant story in them. He makes a
constant reference of nandhanAr’s caste all along the narrative in
order to embellish the point that nandhanAr attained godhead despite
his lowly caste. Casteism was rampant in the early and middle ages
as it is now. SEkkizhAr announces the existence of nandhanAr very
casually but in a glorious one-liner. He writes, “oppilavar
nandhanAr ena oruvar uLar AnAr” (there was one peerless person by
name nandhanAr”) amidst all the trashy slum environs. That is the
first indication that SEkkizhAr gives about nandhanAr that he is a
gem in a trash heap. That is exactly what
Subramanya Bharathi calls, “kuppaiyilE malar konjum
kurukkaththik koDi vaLarAdhO?” (Won’t a creeper that sprouts
beautiful flowers be able to bloom in the garbage dump?”)
While he belonged to the low caste he made drums
and parts of musical instruments that were used in the temples - the
very places to which he was denied entry. He also prepared kOrOsanai
– a bezoar prepared from the stomach of the (dead) cow -- which was
used in temple rituals. All the same he used to stand outside the
temples and sing, chant, or dance in praise of the Lord. Such was
his devotion to the Lord whom he was prohibited from watching in
close quarters. At one time he wanted to worship the Lord at
ThiruppungUr. But from the distance nandhanAr could not see the Lord
since a huge bull was right in front of the entrance to the temple
and agonised over that.
Gopalakrishna Bharathi in his nandhanAr sariththirak kIrththanai,
lets nandhanAr’s predicament manifest in the song
“vazhimaRaiththirukkudhE malaipOlE oru mADu paDuththirukkudhE….”
(there is a bull the size of a mountain blocking the path).
Thereupon the Lord orders the bull to move a bit which again in the
words of Gopalakrishna Bharathi turn out to be “saRRE vilagiyirum
piLLAy” (just move a bit, sonny!). Let us see what SEkkizhAr says:
(When the holy devotee wanted to sing His praise
and worship the Lord at ThiruppungUr, the Lord, who has an eye on
the forehead, ordered the bull to move slightly so that his devotee
could see Him). Legend has it that even today the bull is out of
center in the path leading to the sanctum in that temple. When the
bull moved nandhanAr was able to see the Lord in full view and
thereafter he cleaned up the environment around the temple and left
after digging a pond near the temple.
That was one mission accomplished with some
effort. There was a bigger one yet to fulfill --- a visit to Thillai
(Cidambaram) where the Lord dances in the golden hall. It was a tall
desire for the low-born nandhanAr. But he was obsessed with the
passion. He would prepare to go but then stay back with the
agonising thought that he was not “qualified” to go to Thillai. He
would console himself saying “nALai pOvEn” (“I will go tomorrow”).
He kept on postponing that visit considering his caste background.
One day he gathered enough courage to go. Upon reaching Thillai he
was overcome with the caste-complex again and kept going around the
town rather than enter it. He saw the holy fire from the sacrificial
pits where yAgA was performed. In SEkkizhAr’s words,
“ ….malgu perum iDai Odhum maDangaL nerunginavum
algum tham kulam ninaindhE anji aNaindhilar ninRAr”
(When he saw all the buildings from where the
vEdhic chants emanated he dared not approach the town considering
his low caste). Frightened by the holiness of the town he kept going
around the town day and night for several days. Gopalakrishna
Bharathi captures nandhanAr’s agony in the song, “varugalAmO ayyA
undhan arugil ninRu koNDADavum pADavum. …” (Can I come there my Lord
so that I can stand near you and rejoice and sing?) Finally he fell
asleep without entering the town. He had a dream in which the Lord
appeared and told him to first go through a fire bath and then enter
the temple precincts. SEkkizhAr says:
(The Lord told him that he should enter a holy
fire in order to get rid of the burden of his lowly birth and come
out with the chest embellished with the three-stranded sacred thread
(that typifies the Brahmins). He then appeared in the dreams of the
Thillai priests too and instructed them to raise a fire for
nandhanAr to enter the next day. He then retired to his dancing
hall).
 The next day the Brahmins went to nandhanAr and
invited him to the spot where they raised the holy fire. nandhanAr
was very happy to oblige since it was what he wanted.
When nandhanAr went into the fire pit he came out
unscathed out of the fire pit “like Brahma”. SEkkizhAr writes:
(When he passed through the fire he looked like
the Brahmin who was seated in the red lotus flower, i.e., Brahma. In
the skies the celestials sounded the drums. They cheered, lined up
the skies, and showered flowers from the heavenly trees on nandhanAr).
The Thillai Brahmins were awestruck with reverence at the
transformation of nandhanAr. With them in tow nandhanAr entered the
temple precincts to worship the Lord for which he was waiting
forever. But when he entered the dancing hall he was not to be seen
again. The Lord enslaved him and took him in His abode. That much is
known from the chronicle.
It is rather strange that while some other
nAyanmArs mentioned in PeriyapurANam attained salvation in their own
status, i.e., a potter gained salvation as a potter, a fisherman as
a fisherman, and a washerman as a washerman. Only nandhanAr had to
be transformed into a Brahmin through the fire ordeal. It is not
clear whether the prevalent chronicle at SEkkizhAr’s time indicates
whether the fire ordeal happened or was it SEkkizhAr’s concoction to
gain acceptance among his peers for the elevation of the low-caste
nandhanAr. It was a simultaneous injustice as well as redemption to
nandhanAr. As Shakespeare remarked, “Sweet are the uses of
adversity” and it held true in the case of nandhanAr. He is unique
among the nAyanmArs in being the only one to attain godhead from out
of his low-born status.
It is said a sculpture depicting nandhanAr’s fire
ordeal is found in the temple at dArAsuram (near KumbakONam) and one
depicting nandhanAr as a singer is found in the Cidambaram temple.
References:
1.
http://www.tamilnation.org/sathyam/east/puranam/pm0218.pdf
2.
http://www.shaivam.org/nanaalai.html
Sethuraman Subramanian
subramaniansethu@hotmail.com
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