The devotees of Tirunannipalli, eager to welcome the dawn of Tamil land, Tirugnana Sambandhar, requested him to grace them by coming to their town and worshipping Lord Chandrachuda. Accepting their invitation Sambandhar left Sirkazhi after worshipping the Lord at Tiruthonipuram. His father carried him on his shoulders to Tirunannipalli. The prodigy sang his obeisance to the Lord of Tirunannipalli, who holds the mighty river on his matted locks, praising also the fertility of that town. Accepting the warm welcome, he went and prostrated to the Lord at Tirunannipalli. He then worshiped God at Tiruvalampuram, Pallavanicharam, Pukar chaykkadu, Tiruvenkadu and Tirumullaivayil with his tiny hands held in salutation over his head and tears of love that wet the blooming lotus-bud feet of the Lord. After returning to Sirkazhi, bowing down to the Umamaheshwara, he saluted with sweet songs at the shrines in Mayendhirapalli, Kurukavur and Tirumullaivayil, apprising along the way to all classes of people about the spiritual path of Shaivam. While the young Sambandhar was pleasing the Lord of Sirkazhi with his honey like songs, Tirunilakantha Yazhpana along with his wife Matanga Chulamani, the couple who worshipped with music the Lord, who is the sound of Pranavam, came to Sirkazhi one day. Coming forward to welcome them, Sambandhar took them to the temple and asked them to play the yazh ( a string instrument very famous in ancient Tamil lands) for the Lord. The attractive music that was enhanced with superior devotion accompanied by their melodious voices could make even the bees to stop and listen for a moment. Even the heavenly gandharvas and kinnaras started to play along with them. Sambandhar was pleased with their talent. He hosted them and took care of them. They set his rich padhikams to mellifluous yazh music. They requested him to be able to stay with him and play his evocative hymns in yazh forever. He accepted it as the grace of God and they lived with great affection and respect for each other. Yearning to see the dance of the Lord, Sambandhar conveyed his wish to go to Chidambaram to his devotional father. He happily agreed and they along with Yazhpanar and other devotees went to the highly praised land Chidambaram, that is surrounded by beautiful gardens. When he arrived at the southern entrance of the temple, the entire town was there to welcome him with the chants of the Vedas and musical instruments. Prostrating at the seven-stage tower of the temple, he entered the temple with the intense eagerness to salute the Dancing Lord Nataraja. He beheld with joy overpowering his mind, his hands folded like a petal over his head and his eyes mirroring his heart, the Wisdom, who dances in the hall of his heart, dancing there visible to his bare eyes. He danced, delighted in His dance, drowned himself in the nectar of the experience, praising the simplicity of the bliss of Lord Shiva which is beyond the logic of the mind, comes straight from the heart and appears in a form that the senses can feel and worship. Praising the worship of the priests of the temple, he sang the glory of God – “katrankeriyombi”.

Staying in Tillai-Chidambaram, the saint worshiped the nearby shrines of the Vagrant God, Tiruvetkalam, Kazhippalai and Tiruvuchi, singing about that Ultimate Wisdom that revealed the shrutis. Yazhpanar wondered about the boon the priests of Tillai had received to be so close to the King of Dance. When he was returning to Tillai, from Tiruvetkalam along with Sambandhar, the Lord revealed to them that the holy priests of Tillai were none other than the leaders of His army (Gananatha). They then went to the Jewelled Hall (Ratna Sabhapati) to praise the Dancing marvel with the song “Adinaay naruneyyodu palthayir”. Prostrating many times over, they took leave from the Lord of Tillai. On the request of Yazhpanar, they went to Tiruerukkathampuliyur, the birthplace of the Yazhpanar himself. The prodigy exclaimed, "Oh Venerable! This place should have performed sincere penance for you to be born here!". They worshiped the Father of Lord Kumara with welling heart and eyes. Praying to the Lord of Daughter of the Mountain at shrines along the way, they reached Tirumudhukunram (Virudhachalam). Singing many hymns about the Lord who resides on the bank of the river Mutharu with words of love that flowed like a river, including “murachadirndezhum”, they stayed there for many days. Then Tirugnana Sambandha Nayanar proceeded to Pennakadam to salute the Lord at Tiruthunkanai madam. The One who ends the circles of rebirths for the one who repeats His holy five letters, had taken a healing form at Tiruvarathurai where Sambandhar was headed. Unlike the previous sojourns, when he was taken by his loving father on his shoulders, this time he with his delicate flower like feet, with great determination at that tiny age, walked ahead followed by his father and other devotees in the hot Sun. With the sacred name of the Lord and His form from the first vision etched in the mind, he went ahead saluting the Lord without a care for his physical pain. How boundless is the Lord's Grace and how extraordinary is the passion of His devotees for Him, that this young child who in the age of setting his soft feet only on silk carpets, walked over the path full of stones and thorns without hesitation! When they reached a place called Maranpadi, the hot Sun, as if anxious about the fatigue of the devotees, reached the western horizon. All the devotees stayed in that town for the night at the place of a local devotee. How can the Lord – who is also the loving mother of one who depends only on Her, overlook the hard efforts of the child? He appeared in the dream of the brahmins of Tiruvarathurai and ordered them to take the regal insignia of a palanquin, a parasol and golden trumpets used to announce advent, all decorated with precious pearls, from His abode, to receive Tirugnana Sambandha, who was coming to Him. Surprised, they rushed to the temple at dawn. When they opened the temple to perform the worship at dawn, to their wonder they saw the shining palanquin, the parasol and the trumpets adorned with pearls. Praising Mahadeva, they went accompanied with reverberating music to welcome the young devotee. In the meanwhile, the Lord came in the dream of the saint and asked him to accept the regal insignia offered by the devotees as His blessings. Sambandhar narrated the dream about the Lord’s grace to his father and other devotees. As it was already morning, they completed their morning ablutions and adorned themselves with the holy Ash. By then the Vedic brahmins and devotees of Tiruvarathurai came and saluted the saint, bowed to him and presented the gifts given by the Lord. Thanking and bowing to His unparalleled feet in his mind, the young poet sang His praise. Chanting the indelible honey-like Holy Five Letters, the great saint who came to enlighten the entire world, boarded the beaming bright pearl palanquin.

The ocean of devotees who bathed in the flood of tears of joy with the vibration of the percussion instruments hailed the glory of the child Servitor of Lord Shiva, whose fame appeared to be echoed even in the heavens. That ocean of devotees moved along the winds of devotion on earth to come to the centre that was Tiruvarathurai where the Mount of Mercy was bestowing His Grace. The peerless little saint, prostrated to praise the Lord for considering him as worth conferring this Grace. That humble devotee circumambulated the abode saluting It again and again. While he was at Tiruvarathurai, he visited Nelvennai to pray to that Wonderful Lord of the weak. With the form of the Eternal Couple of Tiruthonipuram drawing him, he wished to come back to Sirkazhi. He bowed to the Lord of Tiruvarathurai and started his journey in the palanquin. He sang hymns rich in the melody, with an appealing combination of the seven-notes, saluting the Lord at Tirupazhuvur, Tiruvijayamangai, Vaikavur and Tirupurampayam. On reaching Tirucheynyalur, feeling a strong attraction to the abode of the Lord, worshipped by the great Chandisha Nayanar, he got down from his palanquin and entered the town. He worshiped the Lord of splendid devotees and went ahead to salute the Lord at Tirupananthal, Pandanai Nallur, Omampuliyur, Valkoliputhur, Kadambai, Naraiyur, Karuppariyalur and many other shrines on the way before he reached Sirkazhi. 
 

சேக்கிழார் எடுத்துத் தந்த திருஞானசம்பந்தர் திருப்பதிகங்கள்