Pattinathar was a Saivaite (Devotee of Shiva) and a Spiritual leader. When people have to give away items for donation, they tend to oscillate between keeping and giving. On the contrary, here is a story of a wealthy merchant who gives up all his possessions to seek the invaluable wealth of divine grace.
Early Life
Pattinathar was born to Sivanesa Chettiar and Gnanakalai in the town of Kaveripumpattinam. His father was a trader in Tiruvidaimarudur, Thanjavur district. His birth name was Swetharanyar after an epithet of Lord Siva of Swetharanyeswarar Temple. He was also called as Thiruvenkadar by the local people. It was a custom in those days that kings be crowned by the wealthiest person in and for three generations or more, his ancestors had crowned the kings in the Chera, Chola, Pandya and the Pallava Kingdoms. He belonged to such an elite family and they owned fleets of ships for International trade.
When he was five years old, Thiruvenkadar lost his father and took over the business. He also continued his father’s duty of feeding Lord Siva’s devotees (Sivanadiyars) daily. He flourished as a trader and was married to Sivakalai, at the age of sixteen.
God as Child
Even after several years of marriage, Thiruvenkadar and Sivakalai had no children. At around the same time, there lived a Saivaite by the name of Sivasarumar who spent all his wealth in feeding the Sivanadiyars and thus became poor. When all his wealth was spent, he sold his wife’s nuptial chain to continue to feed the Sivanadiyars.
Lord Shiva decided to bless both his devotees for their faithful service. He appeared in the dream of Sivasarumar and told him that he would find him as a baby, at a certain spot. “Hand over the baby boy to Thiruvenkadar. He would give gold equal to the weight of the baby”, were the orders of the lord. When the baby was taken to Thiruvenkadar, he adopted the child and as a gratitude, gave gold and other wealth to the Sivasarumar couple.
Realization
The divine child was named Marudhavanan and after he grew, took up his father’s responsibilities in business. Once Thiruvenkadar, sent him on a ship with a good lot of merchandise to trade. He returned with sacks and claimed them to be his earnings. Thiruvenkadar got angry when he opened one of the sacks to find dried cow dung and husks. He locked up Marudhavanan in a room. When he threw the husks out in the sea, he was surprised to see that the sack contained gold and precious gems. He hurried home to apologize to his son, but the locked room was empty. His wife gave him a small box that their divine son had given, before he disappeared. It contained a palm-leaf manuscript and a needle without an eyelet. On the script were the words: “kaadharundha oosiyum vaaradhu kaanum kadaivazhikke” meaning “not even an eyeless needle will accompany you in the final journey of life”. Thiruvenkadar realized the philosophy and wisdom of the words.
Sanyasa
Pattinathar (the man from Pattinam) renounced his family and all other mundane attachments. He commanded his dutiful head clerk to distribute all his wealth to charities and with only a loin cloth, set on foot to seek the divine. However, his materialistic relatives were unable to accept the plight of their highly wealthy relative wandering like a beggar in the streets.
Appam
The relatives gave him poisoned appam (a kind of rice cake) through his sister. But he realized their intent and threw it over the roof of their house singing “than vinai thannai sudum, Ottappam veettai sudum” (One’s ill deeds will come back to burn them – much like the appam that I have thrown on the roof of the house will burn it down). The house and the neighborhood caught fire and the relatives fell in his feet and pleaded for mercy. Then Pattinathar extinguished it by singing another song.
Mother’s support
Pattinathar’s mother accepted her son’s choice of renouncing worldly pleasure and offered his first alms when he resorted to live by begging food. She advised him not to consider even his begging bowl – “thiruvodu” as an asset and that would make him rich in the concept of “Sanyasas”.
One day when he was in Thiruvidaimarudhur, the small pack that his mother tied to his hips untied itself, indicating that she was in her deathbed. He rushed to see his mother and she held her life in her hands until Pattinathaar held her in his hands.
After transferring all his rights to property to temple, Pattinathar left his hometown for good and pursued his pilgrimage to Ujjain to worship Goddess Kali.
King Badhragiri
Pattinathar encountered the King of Ujjain, Badhragiri on the streets and refused to bow to him. Though the King insisted him, Pattinathar was firm in his conviction that he will not bow down to anyone other than Lord Shiva.
Later when Pattinathar stayed in the Dharmasala (pilgrims’ accommodation), the King visited disguised as a merchant and participated in a conversation about Sanyasa. Pattinathar explained the importance of detachment and the King took up the side of a householder.
King argued that to remain in service of a dutiful wife, brought ultimate peace and happiness. However, Pattinathaar differed saying that women are like men with wavering and unreliable thoughts. He then revealed his identity and claimed that noble women, like his queen are devoted and to take back Pattinathar’s words. Pattinathar refused to oblige and was sentenced to a painful death sentence (in kazhumaram).
Pattinathar was least in fear and accepted God’s wish singing “Munn Seidha Theevinaiyo Innaganae Vandhu Moondadhuvae” (sins that accumulated over my previous births is now standing before me to end this life). The kazhumaram instantly caught fire and burned down, saving Pattinathar. The King learnt the incident and was shocked at the divine interference. Later, he overheard a conversation of the Queen plotting with an officer, to kill the King and Pattinathar.
King was shattered knowing the truth and ordered a death sentence to the Queen and renounced the kingdom. He was determined as a disciple of Pattinathar and reached enlightenment, when he proved himself to renounce all worldly attachment.
Siva Samadhi
When the King turned disciple attained salvation with the blessings of Lord Shiva, Pattinathar longed to merge with the divine. He had a vision of Lord Shiva telling him that he would reach the divine abode at a spot where wild sugarcane tastes sweet. Nobody touched the Wild sugarcane (Pei karumbu) as it had a viciously bitter taste. Pattinathar travelled to several places before reaching Thiruvottiyur, where the wild sugarcane finally tasted sweet.
He played with cowherd boys, who would cover him with a big vessel and Pattinathar would miraculously vanish and come walking from a distance. On the third time, the boys dint find Pattinathar walking and lifted the vessel to see him turn into a Shiva Lingam.
Myth Vs. Truth
There were two Saivaite saints by the name of Pattinathar, little is known about the life history of the one who lived earlier. The latter Pattinathar’s samadhi is believed to be around 1000 years old and much of his life details are known.
Gorakhnath is a popular saint in North India, who is also referred as the guru for the Ujjain King Bhadragiri with the same incident being an eye-opener for the King. None of the other life incidents match between Goraknath and Pattinathar. Another popular belief is Gorakhnath is the Korrakar Sidhhar of the south (Disciple of Bogar Siddhar).
Having closely associated with Thiruvottiyur during childhood, I had the good fortune to visit Pattinathar samadhi a few times. Located near the sea shore, ascetic’s temple is also spartan and abides by the preaching of simplicity.
Thiruvottiyur is an area prone to severe sea erosion on a normal day and over the years, I have witnessed landmass disappearing into the sea waters. However, when there was a severe tsunami in December 2004, I was surprised that there was no impact in Thiruvottiyur.
With 800 Kms of coastline affected in Tamilnadu and more than 10,000 lives lost in this natural calamity, there was absolutely no damage to property and population in Thiruvottiyur. Local residents believed that it was the Pattinathar who protected them.
End-Note
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