Manikavasagar

Manikavasagar literally words like jewels, was a Tamil poet who wrote Tiruvasagam, a book of Shaiva hymns. Manikavasagar was one of the prominent Nayanmar poets of the Hindu bhakti revival: his work forms one volume of the Tirumurai, the key religious text of Tamil Shaiva Siddhanta. A minister to the Pandya king Varagunavarman II (c. 862 C.E. – 885 C.E.), he lived in Madurai. His work is a poetic expression of the joy of God-experience and the anguish of pain separated from God.

The work of Manika Vasagar is called as Thiruvasagam (Holy script).”Thiru Vasagathukku urugar Evvasagathukkum Urugar” meaning,” those who do not melt for Thiruvasagam will never melt for any other book”, is a famous Tamil saying of those times.
Manikavasagar is said to have been born in Vadhavoor, seven miles from Madurai on the banks of river Vaigai.

Once, Manikkavasagar was given money by the Pandiyan King to buy horses for the cavalry. He knew that the cavalry was in urgent need of remounts but when he arrived at Thirupperunthurai, he saw that the temple was in more urgent need of renovation. He diverted the money for the renovation of the temple, an act well within his powers of discretion. The king put Manikkavasagar into prison. The Lord was incensed at the injustice and sought to teach the king a lesson.

The impermanent and evanescent nature of power based on the strength of an army. Lord Shiva turned the howling jackals turn into cavalry horses. Lord Shiva reached Madurai with these horses. The king was pleased and he released Manikkavasagar. On the same day, all the cavalry horses turned into howling jackals. The king was upset at the chicanery and threw Manikkavasagar into prison again.

The divine law of punishing an innocent was transgressed. Lord Shiva made the perennially dry Vaigai rise to a devastating flood. The king had to be taught a lesson again. The Pandiyan king ordered every family in Madurai to send one man for each family to help to construct embankments to contain the waters of Vaigai.

Manikkavasagar, as a prisoner, was there with his basket frantically throwing hordes of mud into Vaigai. An old lady Vanthi, who used to sell "Pittu" could not send anyone from her family in the embankments efforts. The lady was an ardent disciple of Lord Shiva. The Lord appeared as a labourer in front of her.

Being poor, Vanthi could only offer to give him "Pittu" instead of money if he agreed to throw mud into Vaigai River. Shiva accepted the chore. He was very lazy and used to sleep after eating "Pittu". The Pandiyan king came to know about Vanthi's servant through his soldiers. He was ordered before the king. Even as the king started to beat him, Lord Shiva disappeared after throwing a basket of mud into Vaigai. The flood was contained and threat averted.

The king realized that it was Lord Shiva who came as servant to rescue Manikkavasagar. Thus the Lord taught the Pandiyan king a much needed lesson in righteous kingship.

A notable work of Manikavasagar is Tiruvembavai, a collection of twenty hymns om which he has imagined himself as a woman following the Paavai Nonbu and praising Shiva. The twenty songs of Tiruvembavai and ten songs of Tiruppalliezhuchi on the Lord are sung all over Tamil Nadu in the holy month of Margazhi ( December and January).

Thiruvempavai was composed in the temple town of Thiruvannamalai when the temple town was celebrating the Pavai Nolumbu. This is a penance observed by unmarried girls of those times to get good husbands. The maids all wake up early , wake each other up and with song and dance, go to the ponds and streams for bathing and then worship Pavai (woman goddess) and request her to bless them with suitable husbands. These songs are sung by them during the festival on 10 days preceding the Thiruadhirai Nolumbu. It is so much part of Tamil culture that his “Thiruvempavai” will continue to be sung as long as the sun and moon are there in the cosmos.