In the Chozha country in a small village called AAthanoor , Nandanar was born in a dalit caste called Pulayan (seventh century?) .He was living as a slave labourer to a Brahmin land lord along with his caste people. Since their caste was engaged in making of drum using animal skin (called Parai in Tamil) , this caste also was referred to as Parayar. Apart from these Nandanar also made He also made strings for string instruments 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. Once along with some of his people he went to a temple called Thiruppunkoor which was near his village. As Dalits they were not supposed to enter the temple. Nandanar however wanted to have a glimpse of the God. The idol of the big bull Nandi which normally is in front of Lord Shiva , in Shiva temples was not allowing him to have a glimpse of Lord Shiva. When Nandanar requested Lord Shiva, he made Nandi slightly move away and allow Nandanar to see his lord. Nandanar was ecstatic. In Thirupunkoor he heard about the great Nataraja temple at Chidambaram. He wanted to go there and see the Lord. Daily he used to tell his people that , he would go to Chidambaram temple , the next day (Nalai poven in tamil) and people around him teasingly called him as Thiru Nalai povaar,( The divine onewho will go tomorrow) .But for that he had to get permission from his master. His own caste people including the senior most member of his caste, called Periyya Kizhavanar , were against the idea of Nandanar. His master also was not willing to permit him as he thought that it is against the caste norms prevailing at that time. But once he permitted him to go , provided he cultivated his huge cultivable land in one day. It is believed that as per instructions of Lord Shiva , Lord Ganapathi did it in a night. The master of Nandanar realized his mistake and even wanted to know about the Lord from him. The Deekshidars, the Brahmin priest of Nandanar received him and took him inside the temple in a palanquin. It seems Nandanar became a streak of light and joined the God.
Posted on: Sun, 14 Dec 2014 15:57:04 +0000
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