Research says that the prank played by Lord Siva at Thirumuruganpoondi by sending the demons in the guise of robbers to steal the saint poet Sundarar of his valuables is the fiction in Thevaram
When the word 'English' is a verb, is its past tense 'Englished'? Though the English usage of the U.K hardly permits it, many American online dictionaries contain the word 'Englished'. Hence, such a 'modern' expression has to be accepted when a retired professor of English at the famed Annamalai University introduces it in his book. V.Thanuvalingam, Former Head of the Department of English at Annamalai University, who is already known for his Herculean but painstaking task of translating Periya Puranam, a hagiography of 63 Saivite saints into English, has now come out with his new book 'The Englished Thevaram - Lord Shiva hymns of Sundarar. The Eazham Thirumurai or The Seventh divine anthology is much with the history and culture of Kongunadu with today's political context on the debates over whether Saivism was synonymous with Hinduism.
The saint-poet Sundarar, born in Thiruvarur of the Chola country, once visited the shrines at Perur, Avinashi, and Thirumuruganpoondi in a 'Coimbatore' that was not born during his lifetime - the 6th and 7th century A.D. After meeting his bosom friend and king Cheraman Perumal, Sundarar was on his way back home accompanied by men carrying the gifts presented by his royal friend. But at the village Thirumuruganpoondi, which Sundarar calls 'Muruganpoondi', he was waylaid and stolen of the valuable gifts by a team of native Vettuvars of Kongunadu. At the shrine of Thirumuruganpoondi, even today, you are sure to come across a spot where the Vettuvars are alleged to have robbed Sundarar of his valuables. Though there was no eyewitness for this theft, Sundarar has registered the incident into ten songs with the title 'Thirumuruganpoondi Pathigam' in his Thevaram.
Sundarar lambastes the 'brutal acts' of the thieving Vettuvars thus in the English translation by Thanuvalingam:
"The Vaduga hunters carry the curved bow,
Shouting obscenities threatening
The wayfarers with intimidating words,
"Stab and hit" and waylay them in this place."
Sundarar, known as Thambiran Thozhar ( Comrade of Lord Shiva), rightfully bursts out asking his friend cum God thus:
"The stinking Vaduga hunters
Live here in the Murugan Poondi town.
Along with your thin-hipped consort
Why do you abide in this place, my Lord?
As read from one of the verses in the Thirumuruganpoondi Pathigam, the native Vettuvars with a pagan faith must have had a different culture and tradition. While non-killing was the doctrine of Saivism, Sundarar's verse drops a hint at the native Vettuvars of Kongunadu as a beef-eating tribe.
These evil-doers kill cows and swallow them
But they are ignorant of their sins.
Murders are committed every day
In this place and valuables are looted and
These hunters are like simians living
In the town of Muruganpoondi.
According to Sundarar, the incident was a prank the Lord played on him.
" Indeed the Lord felt that he was to bestow gifts on Sundarar. He sent His benign demons in the guise of robbers and they effected what He had decreed. Indeed the Lord felt that when he was to bestow gifts on Sundarar, why he should receive gifts from king Seraman Perumal. Hence His prank" writes Thanuvalingam in his introduction to the Pathigam.
However, Pandithar A. Krishnasamy Naidu, the first Tamil teacher of P.S.G Sarvajana Higher Secondary School, Coimbatore, in his book Kammavarum Thennadum, researched this incident and opined that it is the temple authorities of Thirumurugan Poondi that provided the worried Sundarar what the Vettuvars had stolen from him. His research says that the prank played by Siva by sending the demons in the guise of robbers is a piece of fiction in the bhakti literary work.