The Pallava kingdom was famous for its scholars. Its capital Kanchi was renowned for its institutions which attracted students from all over Bharata. In that kingdom, on the north bank of the river Pali is the town of Tiruverkadu. In that town which is sung in the Devaram hymns was born Murgga Nayanar. He hailed from an agricultural family which served the feet of the Divine with three eyes.

 All his childhood and youth, his thoughts were centred only on the Father of this universe and he worked to serve the Lord’s devotees. Great love generally manifests as service. He had this rule of eating his meal only after providing a feast for the devotees who depend only on Shiva. The rice he served vied in brightness with the stars and the clarified butter melted like a glacier over the mountains. The best vegetables of the town were procured daily and their taste was enhanced when Nayanar served them with great care to the devotees. Whatever be the need of the devotees it would be fulfilled once the Nayanar came to know.

Murgga Nayanar’s wholehearted courteous service with love brought a lot of devotees to his house. He continued to offer flawless service to them and spent his entire wealth on that. Finally, there came a point where he was left with nothing. Any normal person would have renounced his values when pushed to a situation with a continuous stream of troubles. But it is the quality of great persons to stand for their principles under any circumstance. Such great people become the beacons in history that save ships that require direction. Murgga Nayanar was not worried about wealth for himself. For him the wealth was only a means to achieve his goal of serving the servitors of Shiva. But he was bothered about the lack of resources for the continuation of his holy task of hosting the devotees of Shiva. He could not find any job to earn money in that town.

Murgga Nayanar had learnt the art of gambling in the past. In the absence of any other alternative, he decided that it was a better way of obtaining money than not serving the devotees. He continued his service using the money he obtained from gambling. He started travelling to many towns, offering scented water with his heart full of love to Lord Shankara in those towns. He saluted the Lord at Tiruvarur on his way to Tirukudandai (Kumbakonam). He considered his victories in gambling at Tirukudandai as the blessings of the Lord and used that money for providing a feast to His devotees. He used to lose the first game to encourage the opponent to wager more and would win the games that followed thereby increasing his winnings. He was quite strict in following the rules of the game. He never cheated but, if somebody else did and refused to pay, he would stab him with a knife. So, he was called Narsoodar (principled gambler) Murggar.

The service for devotees continued with the money from gambling. He did not touch food till the devotees ate to their satisfaction. He ate in the last round after all the devotees had their food. This continued throughout his lifetime in this world like the relentless tides of the sea. At the end of life on this earth he reached the holy feet of the Lord of Deva-s and Gana-s. Let the strong resolve of the Murgga Nayanar towards his service even in troubled circumstances stay in the mind.

Guru Pooja: Karthikai / Mulam or Dhanur / Mula

Har Har Mahadev

• Birth place of mUrgga nAyanAr
• The puranam of Moorkka Nayanar in English Poetry
• மூர்க்க நாயனார் புராணம் - செய்யுள்
• மூர்க்க நாயனார் புராணம் உரைநடை
• मूर्ग्ग नायनार दिव्य चरित्र 

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