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5. MangaiyarkkarasiyAr and isaignAniyAr
 Mangaiyarkkarasi, whose given name
was mAni, was the daughter of a sOzha king given in marriage to the
PANDiya king neDumARan. The king was influenced by Jain monks and
accordingly Jainism was the official religion in the kingdom.
However, mangaiyarkkarasi and the chief minister, kulacciRaiyAr,
were ardent devotees of Lord Shiva. They were, however, helpless in
getting the king back to Saivism. They sought the help of the child
saint ThirugnAnasambandhar who agreed to go to Madurai to set
matters right. The queen knew the Jain monks would do anything to
oppose and defeat the purpose of Sambandhar’s visit to the kingdom
and if that were to be the case she was prepared to sacrifice her
own life. As expected the Jain monks set fire to the place where
Sambandhar and his associates were staying. With the help of the
Lord that disaster was averted and the fire was transferred to the
king’s stomach to cause him pain.
 The Jain monks could not cure the king’s malady.
Sambandhar came around and applied the sacred ash on the king
singing “mandhiramAvadhu nIRu” (the mantra is the sacred ash). Lo
and behold, the king was cured of the intense stomach pain. Later on
the child saint and the Jain monks entered into arguments on the
superiority of their respective religions and the child saint won
them all, including the challenge wherein the Jain monks asked that
the palmyra leaf manuscripts of both religions be thrown into the
river vaigai and that whichever stays against the current would be
the winner. The king then got convinced of the greatness of Saivism
and embraced it. While Sambandhar was the hero of the episode of
conversion of the king back to Saivism, the queen
mangaiyarkkarasiyAr, with the help of the chief minister, pledged
her heart and soul in the mammoth effort. Hence she deserves a
“place in the sun”.
Sundarar mentions mangaiyarkkarasiyAr in his
ThiruththoNDaththogai thus: “varivaLaiyAL mAnikkum ….. aDiyEn” (I am
a servitor to bangle-adorned mAni). nambiyANDAr nambi too eulogizes
mangaiyarkkarasi that “she caused ruin to the Jains in the South”
and that the South is indebted to her for her efforts to reestablish
Saivism. Here is what he says about the PANDiya queen:
(Unable to bear the distress of the Southerner (PANDiya
king), who had a burning pain in his stomach, the queen mAni, who
wears fragrant flowers in her tresses, informed and sent for the
mine of Thamizh gems, ThirugnAnasambandhar, and thereby caused the
ruination of the Jains in the South).
SEkkizhAr covers mangaiyarkkarasi in just 3
stanzas. Let us read what he says about the PANDiya queen in this
comprehensive eulogy:
(Our goddess, mAni, a scion of the noble sOzha
king, who wears bangles on her forearms, is a unique queen among
women. She is like the dame on the lotus (Lakshmi). She erased the
shame that befell the dynasty of the southern king (PANDiyan) as a
result of his becoming a convert to Jainism. With the grace of the
Prince from SaNbai (Sambandhar) she got rid of the distress that
gripped the Thamizh country thus enabling the propagation of the
clan which wears the sacred ash (the Saivites). The feet of those
who praise her are worthy of our admiration and worship.)
It was ThirugnAnasambandhar of sIrkAzhi (also
known variously as SaNbai, pugali, etc.,) who gave the honorific
“mangaiyarkkarasi” to the PANDiya queen mAni. Upon arriving at
Madurai he describes the temple city where Lord Shiva rules with His
consort dhEvi MInAkshi. He embellishes the glory of the temple
further by associating it with the PANDiya queen mangaiyarkkarasi
who is an ardent devotee of the Lord.
(The dame mAni—mangaiyarkkarasi—the daughter of
the sOzha king, wears ribbed bangles and has eyes like those of a
doe. She is the queen of the PANDiya kingdom and is like Lakshmi.
She serves and worships the Lord, who has the form of rising fire,
everyday. He, the Lord of all living beings, who has bestowed the
vEdhAs and their meaning to us, rules this city AlavAy with His
consort who has the beautiful eyes of a fish)
isaignAniyAr:
SEkkizhAr writes only one stanza about Sundarar’s mother,
isaignAniyAr. He acknowledges that she is of impeccable character
and that he cannot praise her enough just through mere words.
Without saying much he says a lot about her. Here is what he writes:
(The privileged wife of SaDaiyanAr of eternal
fame gave birth to nambi – Sundarar—who was enslaved by the Lord who
destroyed the three indestructible cities. Is it possible for me to
praise the lady, isaignAniyAr, who has an enviable ancestry, with my
meager words? No, nobody can do that!)
 Sundarar’s mother, isaignAniyAr, lived in the
town called thirunAvalUr in the thirumunaippADi country. Sundarar
does not mention that he is a slave to his mother because she was
not considered a servitor in his time. She was a good mother,
devoted to the Lord and her husband. Sundarar only mentions her in
passing in the 11th stanza (which contains his signature) of
ThiruththoNDaththogai that he is the son of isaignAniyAr and
saDaiyanAr wherein he also states “whoever takes pleasure in hearing
my servitude to the Lord will become the devotees of the Lord in
ArUr”. Sundarar mentioned only 60 aDiyArgaL in his
ThiruththoNDaththogai. Since Sundarar was enslaved by the Lord and
ordered to sing the ThiruththoNDaththogai by the Lord himself,
SEkkizhAr included him and his parents too making the total count to
63 nAyanmArs following the reckoning by nambiyANDAr nambi. After
SEkkizhAr raised the count to 63 it has stayed the same until now,
although there have been many others who deserve(d) to be included
among the servitors of the Lord.
References:
1.
http://www.shaivam.org/namangai.html
2.
http://www.shaivam.org/naichain.html
Sethuraman Subramanian
subramaniansethu@hotmail.com
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