Legends of the Nayanmars

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minded devotion pleased Lord Shiva, who blessed him and gave
him the most coveted boon of being in his presence forever.
Anayar thus attained salvation and reached the holy feet of Lord
Shiva where his music continued to captivate his Lord forever.
14. MURTHIYAR NAYANAR
Murthiyar was a humble sandal merchant in the temple
city of Madurai, the capital of the Pandya Kingdom. The great
temple of Sundareswarar was anintegralpart of Madurai.
Murthiyars days were spent in grinding the best sandal he had
and taking the sandal paste to the temple to be adorned for Lord
Shiva. This he did with a fervent devotion and pure heart.
One day, the Pandya king was defeated in a battle and
Madurai was captured by a Jain king. This new king hated
Saivism and wanted to promote Jainism among the people. He
prohibited worship of Lord Shiva and stopped all services in
the temple. Murthiyar in spite of the prohibitions, continued to
serve sandal paste to the temple. This irked the new King, who
ordered all the ways by which Murthiyar could get the Sandal
to be blocked.
Murthiyar was distressed as he was unable to get sandal to
serve his Lord Shiva. Out of extreme devotion, he ground his
own hands on the grind stone, so he could serve his blood instead
of Sandal. Lord Shiva was pleased by this show of Murthiyars
intense devotion. He appeared in front of Murthiyar, blessed
him and foretold that he would become the next Pandya King.
Murthiyars hands got healed miraculously.
The Jain king soon died and as the deceased Pandya King
had no offspring to take up the Kingdom, the citys wise men
decided to implement their age old custom of choosing their
King. This custom involved blindfolding the temple elephant
and making it walk around Madurai city. It will have a garland