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Eight thousand Jain gurus were ready. Sambandhar arrived with his ten thousand disciples. The citizens of Madurai were there too. The Jain gurus wrote all the mantraas known to them and dropped them in the fire. Every single leaf got burnt to ash. As a three year old boy, Sambandhar had praised Uma Devi after drinking the divine milk from her hands. He threw into fire the palm leaf on which that song was inscribed. The palm leaf did not get charred and remained as fresh as before. Sambandhar took out the palm leaf and saved it with his other songs. The gathering laughed mockingly. The gurus became very angry. “You might have won the ordeal by fire but that is not the end. We will have the ordeal by water. We will throw our palm leaf manuscripts in water. The leaf which goes along with the water is defeated. The one which swims against the current is wins.The loser must serve the winner life long.” “I have enough people to serve me. The loser must agree to be impaled. The Jain gurus agreed to this. The minister got ready thousands of strong sharp wooden impaler ready with the help of the carpenters. Sambandhar told the gurus, “It is not too late even now. You may till live by caching hold of Siva’s lotus feet.” The gurus said arrogantly, “We don’t run away from challenges.” Sambandhar said, “Our aim is merely to revive our religion and not put you to death.” The gurus laughed at Sambandhar, “Are you afraid that you may lose in the ordeal by water?” DEFEATED AND IMPALED. The gurus wished to put an end to the contest soon. They reduced the speed of the Vegavathi river. They threw in water the palm leaves with their mantras written on them. Sambandhar wrote the poem starting with “Vaazga andanar.” He swore to God,”If it is true that Siva is the sathya and nithya vasthu as proclaimed by the Vedas, let this leaf swim against the current!” Sambandhar’s palm leaf swam against the current while all the others were swept away by the river. Flowers rained. There was great jubilation. The gurus accepted their defeat. Sambandhar told them, “Even now you may live by worshiping Siva”. But they were too proud and haughty to do so. Most of them climbed on to the impaler. Some others were forced to climb, by the crowd. The palm leaf went a long distance and disappeared!. Sambandhar sang a pathigam, “Vanniyum maththamun.” A swayambu lingam grew under the vilva vrukshasm. Sambandhar went round the lingam. An old brahmin appeared from the lingam.”You look just like my lovely younger son!” He applied viboothi on the boy’s forehead. “You must go round and sing the praise of God.” He returned the palm leaf and disappeared. The king built a beautiful temple for the swayambu, with mandapam, gopuram, high walls and surrounding streets. The place assumed the name Thiruvedagam. The king stayed with sambandhar for one year and rendered many services. He got rid of the three doshaas of a jivan. He enshrined Siva in the temple of his heart. *வாழிய செந்தமிழ்! வாழ்க நற்றமிழர்!* *வாழிய பாரதமணித் திருநாடு!* *வணக்கம்* *சுப்பு* [image: oEYIwho5P65TiFULlri0IGP98yjfF3i_Pu6P9Rip2BHdReujIr3MmDnJ9Yn8411O.png] -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to thatha_patty+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/CAPC%3Dj%2BqJ%3DM_P5rnMty44M--M3Th_bkc1LaoXi28hdSLnn39htA%40mail.gmail.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
