ABOUT TIRUMULAR

Tirumular (KR. Arumugam)

The primary source of biographical details on Tirumular is the Tamil work known as Peirya Puranam,
authored by Sekkilar. Periya Puranam is a work which gives the life stories of all the sixty-three saints
(Nayanmars) of Saivism. Though Tirumular is a Siddha, he is popularly known as a Saiva saint of the
Siddhanta tradition and hence his biography is included in Periya Puranam. The other sources are
Nambiyandar Nambi’s Tiruttondar Tiruvandadi, Umapathy Sivacariyar’s Tiruttondar Purana Saram,
Swaminatha Thambiran’s Tiruvavaduturaip Puranam, Dandapani Swamigal’s Pulavar Puranam, and
Agastiyar Vaittiya Rattinac Curukkam-300. We may also find some accounts in A. Chidambaranar’s
article on Tirumular’s biography.

Periya Puranam speaks of the life story of Tirumular in detail under the title “Tirumuladeva Nayanar
Puranam.” The life sketch runs as follows:

After getting initiated by the graceful Nandi (Siva) at Mount Kailash and attaining the astamasiddhis
(the eight supernatural powers) one yogin (who’s original name is not given in Periya Puranam)
started for the southern hill called Podigai to meet and to spend some days in the company of his long
time friend Agastya.

On his way to Podigai, the yogin visited Kedarnath, Pasupatinath (in Nepal), bathed in the Ganges,
worshipped in Kasi, and then visited Vindhya and Parvata mountains. Having worshipped there, he
then proceeded to Sri Kalahasti, Tiruvalangadu, Kanchipuram, Tiruvadigai and then to Chidambaram.
After worshipping Lord Nataraja at Chidambaram he reached Tiruvavaduturai and paid obeisance
there and began his way towards Podigai.

On the way, on the banks of the river Kaveri, he saw a flock of cows grieving over the death of their
herdsman whose name was Mulan. Mulan was a resident of the nearby village Sattanur. Pitying the
cows, the yogin, using his power of transmigrating into another’s body, which is one of the eight
siddhis, entered into the dead body of Mulan, the cowherd, hiding his original body in a hollow tree
trunk. The cows were happy over the recovery of their master. The yogin led the cows and drove
them into the village and stood outside the village.

The wife of Mulan was anxious about her husband, who still had not returned even after sunset,
which was unusual. She came in search of her beloved husband and found him standing outside the
village with a strange look. She rushed towards him and touched him. At her touch Mulan jerked and
told her indifferently that there was no relationship existing between them and sat in meditation in
the nearby mutt. The wife in astonishment brought the village administrators to the spot. Seeing
Mulan in meditation, his body glowing, the villagers pacified her and asked her to leave the yogin
alone to pursue the spiritual path in peace.

After spending some time in meditation the yogin came to the riverbank in search of his original body.
It was not where he had hidden it. Thinking that it was a play of Lord Siva to make him live in the
newly acquired body, the yogin left for Tiruvavaduturai. The yogin’s name became Tirumular. (Tiru is a
saintly prefix in Tamil meaning holy). One should take note that the names and the otherworldly
possessions are meant only for the mortal body and not for the immortal self. When the body changes
the name also changes, like in the episode of the yogin from Kailash, whose name is now changed to
Mulan. There is a lesson in this story: one should be willing to let go all of one’s attachments, one’s
worldly possessions, which includes the body or one’s name, which are impermanent. Why should
one strive for fame while one’s name itself is impermanent?

Tirumular sat in Siva-Yoga under an arasa-maram (called the king of trees), i.e., a pipal tree (Ficus
Religiosa) situated west of the temple in Tiruvavaduturai. Once in a year he would awakened from his
meditative slumber and write one verse. Thus, he wrote three thousand verses (which means he lived
at least three thousand years in Siva-Yoga). The three thousand verses he wrote are compiled as the
Tirumantiram. Then he traveled to Mount Kailash and attained soruba-dsamadhi.

There is not much difference between the version of Periya Puranam and the version given in other
sources. Only in Agattiyar Vaittiya Rattinac Curukkam-360 one finds a difference. We find it with a few
more additions in Caturagirit Tala Puranam. This version is:

In the Svetavaraha kalpa, there is related a story of a king by the name of Sveta Maharajan, who ruled
over the country of Rajendrapura in the Pandiya kingdom. He was married to Sundaravadani and
Chandravadani, the daughters of King Aditya, who was ruling another country with Anantanagar as its
capital. The son born to Sundaravadani was named Virasena and the three sons of Chandravadani
were called Dharmartha, Surasena and Vajrangada. Years rolled by and at the proper age Virasena
was married to Gunavati, the daughter of the king of Maharapura. As Dharmartha happened to be the
eldest, the king wanted to crown him as his successor. But, showing the legal and moral issues,
Dharmartha refused to be crowned and insisted that the fittest son to be the successor was only
Virasena his half-brother. The king was pleased and crowned Virasena as the king of the country.

One day, when the king Virasena was returning to the palace after completing his royal procession
through the city, he saw a fascinating flower in the palace garden. Charmed by the flower, he plucked
and smelt it, then collapsed unconscious to the ground. The royal physician was sent for. Examining
the body, he declared the king dead. At news of the kings death an uproar arose throughout the
kingdom. Gunavati’s grief was uncontrollable.
During this time, Tirumular was flying in the sky. Hearing the uproar of crying, he went down to the
palace to understand what had happened. To ease the grief of the people, Tirumular decided to
occupy the body of Virasena. He went to his hermitage and instructed his disciple Gururaja Rsi to
protect the body that he was going to leave safely in a cave. Then he left his own body and
transmigrated into the body of Virasena. Virasena got up to the astonishment of all. He explained to
Gunavati and others that the drop of poison deposited on the flower petal by a venomous snake had
killed him, but he was brought back to life by the grace of a Siddha.

In due course, Gunavati noticed that his way of moving with her, his mode of speech and other
activities were somewhat different. Realising that she was experiencing greater joy with him than
before, Gunavati requested her husband to explain the reason. Tirumular (now Virasena), revealed
who he was and told her that only for the sake of the people had he migrated into the body of
Virasena. He said that he would return to his hermitage within a short period. When Gunavati asked
what he would do if his original body had already been burnt or destroyed, he told her that his
original body was an immortalised one and could be burnt only by certain process known only to him.
Then, distracted, he revealed to her the secret process of incinerating the immortalized body.

Gunavati feared that once Tirumular, as Virasena left the palace, she would lose not only his
company, but all her royal fortunes. So she conceived a plan of burning his original body. She secretly
sent for some forest folks, paid them a lot of money, and instructed them in the process of burning
the body which lay in the cave. At the same time, the disciple Gururaja, very much concerned over
the long absence of his guru, left the hermitage in search of his master. Finding no one protecting the
cave, the forest folks went inside, searched it and found the body and immediately burnt it, as per
the instructions given by Gunavati.

Tirumular (i.e., Virasena), deciding that it was time for him to go back to his hermitage, left the palace.
Before reaching the hermitage, he happened to meet Gururaja, who was on his way to find his
master. Feeling full of apprehension, Tirumular reached the cave to find that his original body had
been burnt to ashes. With dismay, he returned to the palace and led a disinterested life with Gunavati
until one day when he decided to finally relinquish the palace comforts and went towards the eastern
side of Caturagiri. On a riverbank, he saw the dead body of Jambukesvara, a learned Brahmin of
Tiruvanaikka (Tiruchi district of Tamil Nadu). Tirumular made a quick decision and left the body of
Virasena and placed it inside the hollow of a beautiful tree, which henceforth came to be known as
arasa-maram (king of trees, because it sheltered the body of a king within its hollow). He then
transmigrated into the body of Jambukesvara, and retired to the forest known as Kalivana, and lost
himself in deep samadhi. When he came out of samadhi, he outpoured thousands of verses with the
high principles of Siddha-vidya. Tirumular thereafter came to be known as Jambumuni and
Jambukesamuni.