Saint Pattinathar is a revered figure in Tamil spiritual history, known for his profound devotion and miraculous transformation into a Shiva Lingam after his death. His life story serves as a beacon of inspiration for many, highlighting themes of renunciation, devotion, and divine transformation.
TITLE:- “The Inspirational Story of Saint Pattinathar: The Great Tamil Saint Who Became a Shiva Lingam After Death”
He was born in the port-town Kaveripoompattinam to a wealthy mercantile family, who himself was a merchant before giving up his materialistic way of life. He became the guru and contemporary of another ascetic philosopher, Pattirakiriyar. Pattirakiriyar was a king of Kongu Nadu before becoming a religious mendicant under Pattinathar.
Statues of 14th century Pattinathar and his contemporary Pattirakiriyar, at a temple in Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu.
” HISTORY OF PATTINATHAR “
*This temple is located on the Ennore Expressway at Tiruvottiyur.
*This is the place where ‘Pattinathar’, who renounced the royal life, attained salvation as “needleless needles do not reach the market”.
*He was born in a merchant family in Tiruvengat and lived like Kubera in Kaveripoompattinam, flying a flag in business.
*He was childless by nature, but a foster son came to him by the grace of God. They named him Marudavanan and brought him up with great affection.
*When he grew up, he went across the sea to gather material. The message written on the straw in the box he brought ashore after the sea trade that ” turned the lives of the starving people upside down ” The next time he read the words written on it, ‘Kadtara uzyu varatu kan khadapurke’, he gave up his Rich life and put on silk pediments and became a Paradesi. He went to the simple state of eating from house to house. He became obsessed with Eason and starved.
*According to his mother’s request, Pattinathar lived in the locality until her death. One day he came running after hearing the news of his mother’s death. In the cremation ground, he saw the piles of logs and firewood stacked on top of the mother’s body.
Get it all broken up in five days
Be sure to intervene when you’re young
Very much in earnest now, she put a hand imploringly upon his arm.
I will see you somewhere
Including me…
The front fire is on three sides
Backfire in South Sri Lanka
Mother’s fire is in the belly
The fire set by Yanum is a brain cloud
As he finished singing, the green bat lit up.
*After that Pattinathar left the town and went to many temples in Tamil Nadu and worshiped Eason by singing songs. Going north to Ujjain, when a Pillaiyar was doing penance in the temple, the thieves thought that Pillaiyar was going to put a pearl necklace around his neck in the dark. The king sentenced the starving to death.
* When he was dragged under the gallows to execute the punishment, I realized that “I have done nothing, but God has done nothing.”
The mulberry tree burst into flames to sing a song that began with me. The shocked soldiers came to inform the king. The king came to know about Pattinathar and resigned his position as a king and became a disciple of Kolumbundu Pattinathar. He is Bhadragiri.
*When the starving Shiva, who saw the salvation of the disciple, cried out to me, “Wherever the demon cane sweetens you, there is salvation for you.” Shiva blessed me.
*After that Pattinathar who left Tiruvidaimarudur went to many places and came to Tiruvotiyur next to Chennai. While walking along the beach there, he saw ghost sugarcane growing and snapped one and bit it. What a sweet heart Aga enjoyed.
* Realizing that this is the place of our salvation as Eason had said, he was starving.
* He called the children who were playing on the beach and gave them some beach sand and said to eat it, it will taste like sugar.
It was sweet. Surprised boys asked who are you sir. Pattinathar said, “I will tell you” and pointed to the nearby Vannar and said, “Put me in this chawl and cover me. I will show you another joke.”
*The boys made him sit and covered him with a cloth. After a while he came walking from a short distance. The children wondered what a miracle this was. He said close it again. They closed, walked out again from a distance and surprised. Ok can we play one more time? He sat down. The boys enthusiastically covered him with shawls. Again they looked around for him to come from afar. But this time he never came.
After waiting for a long time, when I opened the road to see if it was still inside, there was only a Shivalingam inside.
*The boys ran into the town and told the matter and brought the elders.
Later, a temple was built for Pattinathar, who became a lingam. It is not relevant to call it Samadhi temple. Why is it that Pattinathar made his body a Shiva Lingam and attained salvation.
*Though the temple constructions change, the same Linga remains in the same place. Even today Pattinathar is guiding the devotees who seek him.
Search for divinity
The celestial child grew up and followed in the footsteps of his father. Once, his father sent him on a ship with a large amount of cargo, and when he returned, he only had sacks full of rice husks. The father got furious and confined him in a room before going to the harbor and throwing the husks out. He was shocked to see that they were all gold; every dried bit of the husk turned out to be gold dust, and the sack also included beautiful stones. He dashed back home to see his son. He was not there in the sealed room. His wife brought him a tiny box that his son had given him before he vanished. It contained a palm-leaf text and a needle.
“Not even an eyeless needle will accompany you on the final journey of your life.”
Pattinathar (Thiruvengadar) realised the logic and wisdom of the words and renounced everything – his wife, his wealth, his family, and all other mundane ties. He left wearing only a loincloth. He sung numerous philosophical songs in order to enlighten people on the wonderful condition of renunciation. He sung about human life and its many facets, making his songs more appealing to the average person.
He continually exhorted people not to be attached to their bodies and their pleasures, because the body dies and becomes food for animals and worms. Consider God and place your resignation at His feet.
Pattinatthar worshipped Shiva at the Srikalahasti temple, which has inspired several literary and musical works. Pattinatthar’s samadhi [attained salvation in this location] is a historic site on the Ennore Motorway near Tiruvottiyur. It is thought to be between 500 and 1100 years old.
An idol for Pattinatthar may be found inside the Nandrudayaan Vinayagar.
Folklore of Bharthari and Pattinathar
Bharthari was King Gandharva-Sena’s oldest son, and he got the kingdom of Ujjain from the celestial deity Indra and the King of Dhara.
When Bharthari was king of ‘Ujjayani’ (modern-day Ujjain), there resided in his state a Brahman who was given the fruit of immortality from the celestial tree of Kalpavriksha after years of austerity. The Brahman gave it to his king, Raja Bharthari, who gave it to his love, the beautiful Pinglah Rani or Ananga Sena (as per Maha Kavi Kalidas), Raja Bharthari’s last and youngest wife.
The queen, who was in love with the state’s chief police officer, Mahipaala, offered the fruit to him, who passed it on to his sweetheart, Lakha, one of the maids of honour. Lakha, who was in love with the monarch, eventually returned the fruit to him. After completing the circle, the fruit revealed the consequences of betraying the monarch, so he summoned the queen, ordered her beheading, and ate the fruit himself. Following that, he abdicated the crown in favour of his younger brother Vikramaditya and became a devout mendicant.
He then became a student of Pattinatthar (Swetharanyar is the poorvashram name of this saint from Poompuhar, Tamil Nadu), who had a dispute with King Bhartrhari regarding samsari and sanyasi. Later in the conversation, Pattinathar stated that all women had a “dual mind,” which could be true of Parameswari as well. When the King informed Rani Pingalah of this news, she ordered Pattinathar to be punished and to sit in ‘kalu maram’ (a tree whose top portion is sharpened like a pencil and the entire tree is fully coated with oil, a person who is punished to sit in the top will be split into two pieces), they attempted to kill Pattinathar, but kalu maram started burning and nothing happened to Pattinathar.
The next day, the king arrived with tears in his eyes and released Saint from prison because he had witnessed Queen Pingalah falling in love with horsemen that night. He gave up his empire, money, and even his full coat attire for a humble kovanam (loin cloth), and the monarch became a disciple of Pattinatthar and received mukthi (salvation) at Tiruvottiyur temple.
His disciple Bharthari, or Bhadhragiri (as he is known in popular Tamil folk culture), authored Meignana Pulambal, a compilation of Tamil lyrical lines.
In popular culture
In 1935, Saint Pattinathar film was released, starring C. S. Sundaramurthy Odhuvaar in the title role. In 1962, a later day version came out with T. M. Soundararajan as the Saint Pattinatthar.
READ OUT MORE ABOUT SAINT PATTINATTHAR FROM GIVEN BELOW LINK,
https://shaivam.org/devotees/pattinathar-thiruvenkadar-history/