Bhootkal Vartmankal Bhavisyatkal

After reading about what has been commonly written about Thirumoolar in our previous article , let us delve deeper. Let us break down the article into five different parts: Part 1 will help us understand the significance of naming. Part 2 will decode the word Thirumoolar. Part 3 will take help of the two narratives in our previous article and give an insight into Thirumoolar. Part 4 will then present a summary based on Part 2 and Part 3 Part 5 will conclude the article by providing the key to understand and experience Thirumanthiram based on our learnings from this post. Part 1 - What is the significance behind a name? Our forefathers spent a great deal of time while naming a person or even things. An elaborate ritual was laid out for this process. Naming was not something as mundane as choosing a fancy word or an unusual word to make the name sound unique, classy and appealing. The name was used to define who a person is and what he embodies. The name ...

This list is intended to serve as a ready reference for the words used in some of the articles in the blog.  S.No Tamil Word English Translation 1 Aadhinam refers to a mutt; sometimes also used to indicate the head of the mutt. 2 Mandapam a temple porch / smaller shrines inside a temple 3 Nayanmaar They were a group of 63 devotional poets / saints who were devoted to Lord Shiva 4 Pradakshina circumambulation of the shrine, temple 5 Sastiapthapurthi It is a ceremony celebrated on the completion of 60 years of age of the male. It is combination of three words from Sanskrit – “sashti” meaning 60, “Abdha” meaning years and “purthi” meaning completion. 6 Siddha Great thinker / perfected one In case you find the translation inappropriate or have suggestions to improve the s...

His original name was Sundaranathar. Bogar – 7000 apparently has reference to Thirumoolar’s father and his mother. He was one of the eight disciples of Nandhidevar (Nandhinatha Sampradaya). The other disciples were Sanaka, Sanatana, Sanananda, Sanatkumara, Vyagrapada, Patanjali and Sivayoga Muni. Thirumoolar had around 16/64 disciples of his own (differing versions). Some of them are Kaalangi Siddhar, Kanjamalai Siddhar, Mālāngan, Indiran, Coman, Piraman, Uruttiran. He is considered one of the 18 siddhas in the Tamil Siddha tradition and also considered one of the 63 nayanmaars . He had come down to Thiruvaduthurai. There are many versions which we come across as to why he came there and what happened from there on. Two of the prominent ones are as follows: 1.      The Periya Puranam Version: He wanted to visit and stay for some time with his friend and first siddha – Agathiyar and started on a journey from Kailash to Podhigai Hills. He ha...

(Part 1 - Background behind this series)  Thirumoolar – As We Understand  We were attending my maternal uncle’s Sastiapthapurthi in Mayiladuthurai. Post the function, we planned a visit to Thiruvaduthurai, more so to meet the Aadhinam & seek his blessings. While going there, my uncle said that the Thiruvaduthurai Siva Temple was home to the largest Nandi. Naturally, we were interested in seeing it. So, post meeting the Aadhinam, we went to the temple and saw the huge Nandi carved out of a single big rock. We then went into the temple. The sanctum-sanctorum was however closed because it was around 1 pm and we did our pradakshina . This was when my uncle told that this is also the home to the great Siddha – Thirumoolar. My mother had told me and my brother a lot of stories about him – how he lived for 3000 years composing an aphorism every year. Infact one of my mother’s friend - a learned vedic scholar had once told my mother that he was about to start deciphering Thir...