Meikanda Shivam

meykandar

meykandar is the composer of the very renowned text of shaiva sidhdhantha - shiva nyAna bOdham.(1) He was born at thirup pennagadam in thirumunaippadi state in the tradition of shaiva peasant. His parents achchuthak kalappalar and his wife did not have a child for a long time. So he appealed to his guru sakalAgama paNDidhar(2). He worshipped the Lord shiva, brought the holy thirumuRais and put a thread inside the thirumurai palm leaf book (kayiRu chArththal). The song that came was peyadaiya piriveydhum.. in thiruvenkattuth thiruppadhikam(3). As per that he asked achchudhak kalappalar to go to thiruvenkadu and having bath in the mukkuLam there worship the Lord at that abode. So did the kaLappalar many times singing that glorious song of thirunyana sambandhar. One day the Lord appeared in his dreams and said that appreciating his determined devotion on the Lord and sambandhar devaram, he would be blessed with a splendid son like sambandhar. Very soon his wife delivered a son. They named him as svethavanap perumal, in the name of God at thiruvenkadu.

As the young child was growing once, his maternal uncle took him to his house at thiruvenainallur. The boy was playing in the streets. That time the fourth agachchandhanak kuravar - paranchodhi munivar(4) was going in the sky-way towards podhikai hills. When he was flying on the thiruvenai nallur airspace he got stopped. Wondering what happened he realized the presence of the blessed kid playing in that street. The gracious saint came down, gave the child shiva diksha and the name meykanda shivam, taught him the cryptic essence of sacred shivanyana bodham.

Enlightened prodigy meykanda shivam composed the essence of that sacred knowledge in the form of sutras (aphorisms) in thamiz. This is the shiva nyana bodham available to us(1). This is a base text for many of the later compositions on shaiva sidhdhantha done by other santhAna kuravargaL. He also did a vArthikam (elaboration) for the same. His fame started spreading and many became his disciples. Hearing this the guru of their family sagalagama pandidhar came to thiruvenai nallur to see the child. While the whole town went to salute him, meikandar was sitting with his students explaining the nature of Anava impurity. So sagalagama pandidhar came himself to the place of meikandar. Standing with pride he questioned meikandar, "What is the form of Anava impurity ?" meikandar without speaking a word pointed his finger towards sagalagama pandidhar. That great scholar petrified for a moment realized at that moment the superior knowledge ! He saluted the prodigy and asked him to accept him as a disciple. The kulaguru was becoming the disciple of the child ! meikandar gave him diksha name as arulnandhi shivam and accepted him as one of the prime students.

Apart from arnandhi shivam, some of the other renowned disciples of meykaNDAr were thiruvadhikai manavasakam kadandhar (5) and chitrambalanadigaL. Totally there were forty-nine students for meikandAr. He period was 1232 ACE. He reached the Divine Feet of God in aippasi swathi.