Shiva's stamp on a gate in Madurai

 

Shiva’s Stamp on a gate in Madurai

Kulapoodana Pandyan was ruling the Pandya kingdom with Madurai as his capital. He was a good ruler with devotion to the holy couple of Madurai - Lord Sundareshwara and Mother Meenakshi. While good to his own citizens, Kulapoodana Pandyan was not very fond of the Chola king of the kingdom north of his land.

The one thing common amongst these two rival kings was their complete devotion to Lord Shiva. The Chola king had a beautiful Shiva temple in Kanchipuram itself. Like many people who aspire for things just outside their reach, Kadu Vetti Cholan had a desire. He wanted to visit Madurai and offer prayers to the Lord there. This desire was triggered by two things. The first one was the fact that the Lord ruled Madurai as its king. In that respect it was equal to Kashi. The second reason was that Madurai was the famous Rajata Sabai or the Velliyambalam where the divine dancer Nataraja (Lord Shiva) performed the Sandhya Thandava.

This desire to go to a new place and visit a shrine would have been an easily achievable task for an ordinary person. In the case of Kadu Vetty Cholan – there was a small problem. The Chola kingdom and the Pandya kingdom were not on friendly terms. So as a king of the Chola kingdom he could not just travel to the Pandya kingdom to fulfil his desire.

Over a period of time, the Chola king’s devotion kept growing. He gave up wearing jewellery and wore rudraksha or sacred beads. He also gave up rich food and his rich life and was leading the life of a simple man. Lord Shiva, who is the most kind hearted, was observing the devotion of the king and was pleased.

One night, Shiva came in the dream of the Chola king as an ascetic or Siddha purusha. The Sidda purusha told him “Oh king ! Without any fear, come alone to the Madurai temple. The Lord will take care of you.” The Chola king was very pleased and decided it was the divine word that he heard in his dream.

The Chola king decided to leave immediately. He got up in the middle of the night. Without informing his ministers, body guards or even his wife, he left in disguise for Madurai. He galloped in his favourite horse towards the city of Madurai. He galloped through small towns, streams, forests, sugar cane fields and barren lands. After a few days of travel, the king finally reached the northern banks of river Vaigai outside Madurai. It was monsoon season and the river was in spate. The water was rushing from one bank to the other making it dangerous to cross.

The Chola king stood at the banks of the river and just kept chanting “Ohm Namashivaya” with true devotion and belief. After some time, he heard some one calling out his name. He opened his eyes to see the same Sidda purusha whom he had seen in his dream. The king prostrated in front of the Siddha with tears in his eyes. The Siddha took pity on him and used his powers to clear a path in the roaring waters of the Vaigai.

Grateful to the Siddha, Kadu Vetty Cholan just followed him. The Siddha purusha reached the northern gates of the city and despite the presence of the guards, the gates just opened. The Chola king and the Siddha went through the streets of the city and reached the doors of the temple.

The doors of the temple opened to welcome the Siddha purusha and king. The king did not stop to wonder why the doors were opening automatically. He followed as if in a state of trance. They finally reached the sanctum of Lord Sundareswara. The king had his darshan to his heart’s content of Lord Sundareswara and Mother Meenakshi.

The king forgot himself and was sitting in front of the Shiva linga in the temple. Dawn was fast approaching and the city was stirring back to life. The Siddha purusha raised the king from his meditation and told him “You need to leave. The temple will start getting crowded”. Then the Siddha applied the thiruneeru (sacred ash) on the forehead of the king and guided him back to through the northern gate. The Siddha then accompanied the king to the outskirts of the kingdom. The Chola king left for his country a very happy man.

The Siddha purusha came back through the north gate and before it closed, affixed the bull seal on the north gate. The temple opened as usual. The guards who came to the north gate realised that there was a new seal – that of a bull. The royal seal of the Pandya kingdom was a fish and that was the seal that was there in all the gates till then.

The guards informed the Pandya King of this seal. The King came and inspected the bull seal. He asked the pundits in his court. They could not explain anything. Worried whether this was a bad omen the king fasted for the day and went to sleep on the floor of his chambers instead of his bed.

In his dream, Lord Sundareswara came and told him “The Chola king is a great devotee of ours. We wanted to give him darshan. Once he left through the north gate, we sealed it with our bull seal.”  The Pandya king woke up with a start. He could not believe it at first.

Then he realised that this was a great blessing for him and his kingdom. Having witnessed the ocean of kindness of Lord Sundareswara, the Pandya king decided to devote his time and life in the service of the Lord.

Making his son Rajendra Pandyan the king, the old king Kulapoodana Pandya retired to the temple for a full time service of the Lord Shiva.