Manikkavacagar

The 8^th century Tamil bhakti poet Manikkavacagar (meaning, ‘whose words are rubies’; also called Manikavasagar) along with Appar, Sundarar and Sambandar are called samayak kuravar / ‘The Four Saints’ of Tamil Nadu who were chiefly responsible for reviving Saivism in southern India which, in the early medieval period, was largely Buddhist and Jaina. Today, thirteen centuries later, his words live in the hearts and tongues of devotees in temples, homes, and in popular media like TV adaptations, etc. A poet of mystical bhakti, Manikkavacagar sings of passion, compassion, separation from his god and ecstasy. Bhakti emerged as a devotional and socially radical form of worship which emphasises personal dedication–-as against institutionalized religion–-to a chosen god in a voice intimate, intense and often confessional.

Some historians situate Manikkavacagar in 6 CE though most often he’s located in the court of the Pandiyan king Varagunavarman (c 862-885 CE). Born into a priestly family in Vadhavoor on the banks of the river Vaigai near the temple town of Madurai, he was known as Vadhavoorar before his Realization. On hearing about his scholarship and oratory the king made him a minister, a post he soon relinquished. The minister-turned-mendicant wandered the southern kingdoms, singing songs to Siva, thus adding to the map of India’s polytheistic sacred geography. Numerous temple stalapuranas, or site histories, mention Manikkavacagar, including those in Thiruvannamalai, Uththara Kosamangai, Thirupperunthurai, Thiruvarur, Madurai and Tillai Chidambaram. At age 32 he is said to have disappeared in a flash of light into his beloved deity at Chidambaram.

Though not counted among the 63 Nayanar–-as the Tamil Saiva mystics are termed–- Manikkavacagar’s two commodious collections of over 1000 hymns in cen / Classical Tamil, Thiruvasakam / Sacred Utterances and Thirukkovaiyar / Sacred Songs of Love form the eighth volume of the twelve-volume holy book, Thirumurai. This is considered by believers to be on par with the Sanskrit Vedas, and, along with the Saiva Agamas and Meykanda or Siddhanta, form the scriptural cannon of the Tamil Saivism (as against its Kashmiri branch). The underlying concept of this dualistic philosophical is pathi-pasu-pasam or Lord-living beings-bonding, which stresses the attainment of mukthi / release from rebirth through Siva’s arul / grace.