Tiruvenkattu Adikal is one among the twelve devotees who have sung the divine Padinoran Tirumurai, the eleventh Tirumurai. This devotee of wisdom and experience, has composed many songs that give perspectives to people on topics that they would not have thought about or would have been reluctant to think about. This devotee, who lived in the end of the 9th century CE, has lived both as the rich as well as a mendicant living off alms and provided us with the wisdom born out of his experiences like - "Don't get lost in the gains and losses of life. Realise the Truth and live blissfully praising It."

Kaveripoompattinam or Pugar was a coastal town of the great Chozha empire. Here the Kaviri river, the lifeline of the Chozha region, merges into the sea. Because of its geographical location, this port was a major centre for trade. This commercially important town naturally was home to many prosperous merchants involved in local and international trade. There lived a rich merchant named Shiva Neyar. He was rich not only in material wealth but also in morality, charity, honesty and piety. A devotee of Lord Shiva, who appointed Kubera as the lord of wealth. To him and his chaste wife Gnanakalai, a child was born as a result of their discipline and devotion. As it was born by the grace of God while they stayed in a nearby town called Tiruvenkatu, they named the child Tiruvenkatar. The child grew up in wealth. When he was five years old, his father reached the feet of the Lord glorified by the Vedas.

Tiruvenkatar mastered the arts and literature. He also shone in his devotion to Lord Shiva. When he was sixteen, he married Sivakalai, the daughter of Sivachidambara Chettiar and Sivakami Ammaiyar. They lived a fruitful married life with love and service. The couple served well the servitors of the Lord and other pious men. Tiruvenkatar also performed his duties as the owner of a business. He excelled in his endeavours and became extremely wealthy. He made his fortune through sea and land trade. Despite great wealth, they did not have any children for many years. He then prayed to the Lord at Tiruvidaimarudur for a child.

Lord Maruthavana at Tiruvidaimarudur was eager to bestow his Grace on two of his distinguished devotees. One was a servitor named Siva Sharma who never failed in worshiping that Lord who had swallowed the deadly poison - Halahala. He served the devotees of Lord Shiva by providing food and other essential things. Though he became poor, he never swerved from the path of service. To guide both this servitor and Tiruvenkatar, Lord Shiva appeared in the dream of Siva Sharma’s chaste wife Suseela, and informed her about a child under the bilva tree near the Tiruvidaimarudur temple. He asked her to take the child and give it to Tiruvenkatar and obtain the wealth they needed to continue their charity. When the child was brought to Tiruvenkatar, the Lord ordered him to donate liberally. Both the devotees were happy and thanked Lord Maruthavana who had solved their problems. 

Blessed with a child by the grace of Maruthavana, Tiruvenkatar named the child Maruthavana and brought him up in wealth. Maruthavana emancipated a Gandharva named Manibhadra who had been cursed to be a fish by a sage from Sindhu. At the age of sixteen, Maruthavana embarked on a sea voyage for trade. On his return, he brought sacks of dung and gave them to his father. He handed a box to his mother and disappeared. Venkatar had expected Maruthavana to bring back riches from his sea voyage but seeing the sacks filled with dung he was irked. As he threw those sacks of dung, he discovered rare and precious gems hidden among the dung. The shocked father came looking for his son when his wife Sivakala gave him the box that his son had given her. The box contained a needle without an eye-hole, a silk cloth and a palm leaf. On that palm leaf were written the words – “kadatra oosiyun varadu kan num kadaivazhikhe” – On our final journey even an eye-less needle will not come along. These words shattered his illusion of the world and brought about great wisdom.

Tiruvenkatar renounced his worldly life and was determined to follow the path of Lord Shiva for the rest of his life. He ordered his chief accountant, Sendanar, to distribute all his wealth in charity, and comforted his wife with words of advice before taking up his new austere life. Relatives who prioritised money and prestige could not accept their own kin wandering the streets like a beggar. They tried to poison him by sending appam through his sister. But the enlightened ascetic Pattinathadikal, realizing this, threw it on the roof of the house and sang "ottappam veettai sudum" (May the appam burn the house). As the house and neighbourhood went up in flames, the relatives fell at his feet and begged for mercy. Then Pattinathar sang another song which then doused the fire. On the request of his mother, he lived in that city till her death.

Pattinathar travelled to Tiruvidaimarudur and sang tiruvidaimarudur mummanik kovai. He then journeyed to many temples in the Chozha, Pandya, Malai, Thondai, Kongu and Tuluva countries (South India) singing hymns of wisdom. He worshiped Lord Shiva all over the country and went to the north. He resurrected a boy who had died of disease at Tiruvarur. In the Kongu State, he was hungry late one night and knocked on the door of a house for food. The people in the house mistook him for a thief and beat him up. Realising that he was a saint, the neighbours intervened and freed him. Since then, even if he was starving, he vowed not to go to anyone's door to beg for food. He would be content with whatever food was brought to him. 

While Pattinathar was in the city of Ujjain (Unchenai Makalam), he was meditating on the all-pervading Shankara at the Vinayaka temple. Some thieves who had just looted the royal palace, threw a pearl garland towards the deity while passing by. But the necklace fell on the neck of the meditating sage. The king’s soldiers who were pursuing the thieves mistook Pattinathar for a bandit. Without examining the facts, the king ordered him to be sent to be impaled on a stake (kazhumaram). Nothing is my doing – thus sang Pattinathar and surrendered to Mahadeva. The impaling stake suddenly went up in flames. Realising his power and innocence, the king apologised and offered himself as the monk's servitor. Pattinathar ordered the king to abdicate the throne and go to Tiruvidaimarudur. The king became a sage named Bhadragiri. Then Pattinathadikal continued his pilgrimage to the north. On his return to Tiruvidaimarudur, he gave salvation to his disciple Bhadragiri.

Meanwhile, Tiruvenkatar’s chief accountant Sendanar, on his orders, donated his wealth to charity. But instigated by his relatives, the king imprisoned Sendanar. Pattinathar prayed to the Lord and got Sendanar released. He then went to Sirkazhi and composed the prabandha called Tirukazhumala Mummanikovai. He composed the Nanmani Malai on the Dancing Lord of Tillai. Then he worshiped Annamalaiyar and went to Kanchipuram. There he sang the songs Kachith Tiruvantadi, Tiruvekamba Malai and Kachith Tiruvakaval. He worshiped the Lord, who is present in all directions, in places like Tirukkazhukkunram, Tiruvalangadu and Srikalahasti and reached Tiruvotriyur as guided by the Lord at Tiruvidaimarudur. As per the order of the Lord, he expressed his experiences in his work Arutpulambal or Arutpanubhavankal.

One day while staying at Tiruvotriyur, worshipping Lord Shiva, the Foremost of the Vedic Yagna, Pattinathar was playing with the cowherd boys. The boys put him in a pit covered it with sand and plants. And lo behold! He would come out of another hole! While this was going on for a while, at one time, when he was sealed in a pit, he did not come out again! Instead, he united with the Supreme Being and became Shiva Lingam.

Har Har Mahadev

See Also:
1. Padhinoram Thirumurai 
2. Pattinaththar Padalgal 
3. Chendhanar