During his brief stay at
Mahisara, Thirumazhisai-alwar’s thirumani, a mound of white mud
that is used by Sri Vaishnavas to apply urdhva-pundram (a sacred mark
indicating one’s subservience to the Lord) on different parts of the body, got
exhausted.
Thirumazhisai-alwar
was disturbed as all his efforts to procure thirumani went in vain (in those
days, the Vaishnavas never did a thing without applying urdhva-pundrams). Thirumazhisai-alwar went to bed and Lord Srinivasa, of Tirumala,
appeared in his dream and asked Thirumazhisai-alwar to dig at a particular
place for thirumani. Thirumazhisai-alwar did as told by the Lord
and found a lot of thirumani and became happy
After sometime, Thirumazhisai-alwar
decided to move to Kanchipuram, which is considered as the most sacred place on
this planet by all the three cults – Vaishnavas, Shaivas and Shakteyas.
The
Vaishnavas adore Lord Varadaraja and other Deities in Kanchipuram while the
Shaivas adore Ekambareshwara, and the Shakteyas worship Goddess Kamakshi with
utmost devotion. Kanchipuram is also considered to be one of the seven places
in which people attain liberation just by staying there and the other six
places are Ayodhya, Mathura, Haridwar, Kashi, Avanti and Dvaraka.
After having the darshan of all the
Deity forms of Lord Vishnu at Kanchi, Thirumazhisai-alwar
selected Thiru-vekha, which is surrounded by Sri Varadaraja Swami
Temple, Sri Deepaprakasha Temple, Sri Azhagia Singar Temple, Ashtabuja Perumal
Temple, Pandavadootha Perumal Temple, Ulaganda Perumal Temple and seven other
very important Vaishnava shrines, to stay and continue his devotional service.
Kanni-kannan, who was born to an old couple due to the blessings of
Thirumazhisai-alwar, got to know about the presence of the alwar in Kanchipuram
and came to him having renounced everything.
Kanni-kannan fell at the lotus feet
of the alwar and started to serve him with his permission. Thirumazhisai-alwar
used to go into a trance while contemplating on the glories of the Lord and
would never come out of it for months.
According
to some people, Thirumazhisai-alwar used to see and experience the unlimited
glories and beauty of the Lord and see different pastimes of the Lord within
his mind whenever he used to go into a trance.
Thirumazhisai-alwar used to
occasionally drink some milk that was supplied by Kanni-kannan whenever he used
to come out of his trance and that was his only means of sustenance.
Thirumazhisai-alwar, thus, spent a very long time undisturbed at Thiru-vekha.
One
old lady who was fed up of life decided to serve Thirumazhisai-alwar till her
death and used to regularly clean his
dwelling and decorate it with various drawings (Rangoli). After many years,
Thirumazhisai-alwar woke up from his trance and was very pleased to see his
surroundings clean. Thirumazhisai-alwar asked the old lady if she needed
anything and, to that, the old lady replied, “This old body is making my
life miserable. Could you make it young and beautiful?”
The saint mercifully glanced at the old lady and all of a sudden
she was transformed into a beautiful young lady and looked like a celestial
damsel. Pallava-raya, the king of the region that was then called
Tonda-Nadu, happened to see her
and wedded her.
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