Thiruthondar puranam starts with the event of Sundaramurthy Swamigal going towards

Mt. Kailash. This is narrated by Sage Upamanyu, son of Viyagrapatha, to his disciples.
When he was teaching them, they witnessed a ray of bright light travelling towards
north. The sage stood up and greeted it with reverence. His disciples were surprised to
see him worship the ray of light as he never worshipped anyone else other than Lord
Siva. So Sage Upamanyu started elaborating the greatness of Sundaramurthy
Swamigal.

When Lord Siva saw his mirror image and invited, it came out as Aalaasundarar.
The word ‘Aalaalam’ means poison. He was the one who brought the poison that came
when Devas and Asuras churned Thirupparkadal. He was an aide to Lord Siva and so
always remained near the Lord. He brought Thiruneeru - holy ash – and flowers for the
Lord. One day when he went to pick flowers in the garden, he saw two celestially
beautiful maidens – Kamalini and Aninthithai - also gathering flowers for Goddess Uma.
They were her aides. They were attracted by Aalaasundarar and he was also bewitched
by their beauty. But they did their errand of picking flowers for their masters and
returned their way back.

Lord Siva ordered Aalaalasundarar to go to the world, marry those maidens and
enjoy the worldy pleasures. But Aalaala sundarar was not much pleased by that. He
was worried that he may be distracted by the worldly pleasures and forget his Lord and
his past. So he requested Lord Siva to stop him when he strays from the right path.After
getting Lord Siva’s acceptance, he comes to the southern region so as to elevate its
already high stature.

Southern region is well known for its fertile lands, perennial rivers, ideal kings, rich
cities, so on and so forth.Chola dynasty was ruling over the region at that time.
Manuneethi Chola was ruling with Thiruvarur as his capital. He is picturised as a
wonderful king who always stood for justice. His country flourished wonderfully under
his rule. He built an arch with a bell hanging in it so that people when faced any injustice
can come and report to him. Then ,as a king he would take actions to set right
everything. But as his rule was a golden period no one had rung that bell.

One day his son, the prince went in chariot in the street which was meant for the
royals. Such a big crowd accompanied him and made a din of noise. As he was sitting
in a very tall and huge chariot he missed seeing a stray calf that was near the wheel of
his chariot. So it got crushed and died. Seeing this, even the prince was unhappy for
killing a harmless calf. At the same time the mother cow was also moved to tears. It
rushed to the tower where the bell hung. It started ringing the bell to ask justice for the
death of its calf.
 The king was shocked to hear the bell ringing as till then no one has rung it-that
is, no one had been wronged in his country. He was surprised even more to know that it
was a cow that was demanding justice. When the king further inquired about the
untoward event, he found out that his son was the wrong doer.

As an ideal ruler he wanted to do something to rectify the problem. But the ministers
were of the idea that some remedial measures could be taken. The king wanted to
punish the wrong doer suitably. He wanted to feel the same sorrow experienced by the
mother who had lost its offspring. So he ordered the minister to ride the chariot over his
son’s body as a punishment for his irresponsible behaviour. The minister was appalled
by that judgment. He did not have the heart to do so. He felt guilty to disobey the king
as well. So he killed himself. The king realized that nobody would be ready to hurt their
prince. At once he climbed over the chariot and by riding it he crushed his son with its
wheels. The king wanted justice to be preserved during his rule. Even at the cost of his
son’s life and his great loss, he did what he thought correct.

Lord Thiyagaraja along with Goddess Uma appeared before him and blessed him
for his selfless judgment. The calf, the prince and then the minister came alive by the
grace of Lord Thiyagaraja.

Thus the greatness of the region where Sundaramurthy swamigal is about to live is
picturised wonderfully in this part of Thiruthondar puranam @ Periyapuranam,.

***************

Questions:

1.Who was Sage Upamanyu?

2. What did Sage Upamanyu witness one day?

3. What did Sage Upamanyu do on seeing the bright light?

4.What do you mean by ‘aalaalam’?

5. What was Aalaalasundarar’s duty?

6.Whom did Aalaalasundarar meet in the garden?

7. Name the two maidens.

8. Name the capital city of Manuneethi Chola.
9. What was built to help the citizens to get justice?
10. Who rang the bell for the first time?
11. What was the problem for the cow?
12. What was the punishment given to the prince?