He was not an ordinary Swami. He was the grandson of Sri Muthu Vijaya Ragunatha Sethupathi, Maharaja of Ramnad. He was the only son of the King of Chembinaadu, King Poovalavath Devan and Kumari Ammayar and took birth in 1737. Siddhar Muthuvaduganatha Swamigal was a prince born to be a ruler of the kingdom. When he was five years old, his father expired. His father’s brothers plotted to usurp the kingdom. They decided to poison this child and kill him. To the mother Srimathi Kumarayi, her child was more precious than the kingdom. So leaving the palace, wealth & all the comforts behind, she fled with her child in her arms at the dead of night and started running aimlessly. She ran the whole night through forests, braving the rocky terrain full of stones & thorns & reached Thirupuvanam towards morning. The child was hungry. She spotted a small hut. A kind woman who stayed there poured out in a vessel some porridge (kanji). Weeping bitterly, she fed the child.
“Why are you crying Mother?” asked the child. Hugging him tightly, she told him about the evil plot hatched by the cruel men. She was afraid that the enemies may capture them any time. The youngster laughed on hearing this. He said “Amma, don’t worry. It is Parashakti who has blessed me with a mother like you.
No evil can ever touch you. I am born by the Grace of the Mother Parashakti. You can safely proceed to a place of your choice”. Saying this he gently wiped her tears & smiled.
Carrying this Divine Child, she hurried across towns like Tirupuvanam, Madurai etc & reached Palamedu. The mother & child were given shelter by a kind & generous wealthy man by the name Sri Jagannath Pillai. Everyday the youngster would take the cows for grazing to the nearby fields. Allowing them to graze on their own, he would rest under a tree, immersed in thoughts of Mother Parashakti. The cows would graze without damaging even a single crop, drink water & then lie down in a circle around Siddhar Muthuvaduganatha Swamigal ! In the evening, they would follow Siddhar Muthuvaduganatha Swamigal in a line back home & enter the cowshed.
One day, the buffaloes tied to the plough suddenly sank to the ground & however hard the workers tried, they would not get up. Siddhar Muthuvaduganatha Swamigal happened to be there. He asked the farmers to move away. With great devotion he sang hymns in praise of the Village Goddess. Instantly, the buffaloes stood up & without anyone holding & guiding the plough, they on their own ploughed the field the whole day!
The labourers were stunned at this sight. They ran & reported this strange event to Sri Jagannath Pillai who rushed to that spot. He froze at what he saw. Siddhar Muthuvaduganatha Swamigal was fast asleep with his head resting on the body of a huge cobra. The cobra had the hood spread over his head providing shade from the scorching sun. Everybody was stunned. Hearing the commotion, the cobra disappeared suddenly. The little boy got up as if he were getting up from normal sleep.
Sri Jagannath Pillai admitted Siddhar Muthuvaduganatha Swamigal in school. He would step out of the class time and again & play with a little girl. The Master snapped at him & asked, “Who is that girl?” He replied, “She is Valli, who has come to make the world conscious of the Truth.” He sat in the class with his eyes closed. The Master knocked him on the head & said “You are sleeping while I’m teaching the lesson.” The youngster opened his eyes & recited the entire lesson which was taught verbatim. Not only that, he also explained in detail the lessons which the Master was supposed to teach the next day!!
Sri Jagannath Pillai was proud & happy with this little boy so full of knowledge & wisdom. He decided that he would not give him any chores. He also told him that he was free to go wherever he wanted to and he could return at his own will. Siddhar Muthuvaduganatha Swamigal went out of town for a few days.
When he was away, Sri Jagannath Pillai developed a huge boil on his back. In spite of the best medicines & treatment by the specialists, the condition of J.P became from bad to worse & now his life seemed to be in danger. Siddhar Muthuvaduganatha Swamigal returned home. He was deeply upset at what he saw. He took the doctors attending on J.P to task for their inability to cure him.
They retorted sarcastically, “What do you know about medical practices?” Looking at these haughty medicos, the young man asked “Do you want the boil on the back of J.P to be burst or to be wiped off without even a scar?” The specialists replied, “You are smart. We have been applying medicine on this boil for many days. It is almost on the verge of bursting. You seem to be coveting the name & fame which we rightly deserve. Let us see you making the boil vanish without even a trace of a scar.”
Siddhar Muthuvaduganatha Swamigal accepted the challenge. He took a little holy Thiruneeru ( viboothi / holy ash i.e. white powder which is to be put on the forehead ) in his right hand & recited a Mantra with the holy ash. Then with his left hand he smeared the holy ash from the right hand on the boil. That was it!! What a miracle! The huge boil which was draining the life of Sri Jagannath Pillai, the boil which the best specialists could not heal, just vanished without a trace! The doctors were dumbstruck. Falling at the feet of Siddhar Muthuvaduganatha Swamigal, they admitted this was indeed a miracle. They had neither seen nor heard of such an extraordinary event. Everyone present was all praises for Siddhar Muthuvaduganatha Swamigal.
Siddhar Muthuvaduganatha Swamigal left Paalamedu & proceeded towards Azhagar Hills & met Sri Balayya Swamigal who was doing intense tapasya on the top of the mountain. Here he was blessed by the Swami and received from Sri Balayya Swamigal divine Upadesa. He got down the hill & traveled towards the north & reached Pattur via Alampatti. He stayed here with his mother, set up a small school & started teaching little boys. Not only did he solve their problems but he also guided them in the Bhakti marg & Jnana marg. The villagers affectionately called him Teacher Sahib. He was also known as Pattur Teacher.
During this time, the people in Singampunari, which was situated in the north-east of Pattur were facing a severe problem. Year after year, a Peethambara group of wicked people who practiced black magic descended on the village & using their powers threatened and looted the innocent people. The Singampunari folks decided to bring Pattur Teacher to their village to put an end to the atrocities committed by this evil group.
Sri Nallathambi Pillai along with ten of the villagers went to Pattur & they were returning home with Siddhar Muthuvaduganatha Swamigal. As they were crossing the valley between Kottai hill & Koovanna hill, a doubt arose in the mind of one of them. He wondered whether it was possible for this young man to drive away the fierce Peethambara group. Would their effort end in failure? Siddhar Muthuvaduganatha Swamigal could read his mind! He gazed up the hill & all of a sudden wild animals like bears, tigers, elephants, lions etc came rushing down the hill & blocked their way. There was panic. Some of the men started running for life. Some of them fell at the feet of the Siddhar Muthuvaduganatha Swamigal and pleaded with him to save them. The Master made a signal & gave a command. At once, the wild animals prostrated at his feet & vanished! The person who doubted the power of the Siddha begged forgiveness falling at his feet.
Through divine insight Siddhar Muthuvaduganatha Swamigal came to know that these wicked magicians used to tie up the Sri Vinayakar in the temple using their magical powers so that they could succeed in plundering & looting the people of Singampunari. He decided to stop this.
Vaikashi festival for the Singanagar God Sevagamoorthy had just got over. When the grand Sri Vinayaka pooja was going on in the Sri Chandhiveeran Koodam, Siddhar Muthuvaduganatha Swamigal arrived there carrying deer skin and wearing padukas. He looked at the Sri Vinayaka statue & said, “I’ll call you now. You must respond. If you don’t, I’ll kick you.” The villagers were shocked. When he did not get the response as he called out to Sri Vinayaka, he kicked the statue with his right leg. However the statue moved away gracefully. The Siddha snatched the garlands round the neck of the statue and wearing them round his own neck, he left. The Master had in fact released the statue from the binding knots of black magic by kicking the statue & the statue moving away was a signal that it has been freed. Also, it was in order to protect the people from the destructive power of the garlands which were infused with the evil power of the Peethambar devils, that he had worn it on himself.
Some people however were furious with Siddhar Muthuvaduganatha Swamigal because they could not see the good intention behind his action. “If this is the miserable plight of the Moola moorthy Lord Vinayaka, what wicked things would he not do to us?” This fear made them decide on a severe punishment to Siddhar Muthuvaduganatha Swamigal.
That evening in the dim light of the setting sun, they noticed Siddhar Muthuvaduganatha Swamigal coming along. They rushed towards him, caught hold of him, tied his hands, covered his face & mouth, carried him and dumped him into a deep pit which had been dug & kept ready in advance. They filled the pit with lots of pungent chilli powder, prickly thorns and plenty of mud. They pressed it down and covered it tightly & fled. Using the Siddhis received from Mother Varahi, Siddhar Muthuvaduganatha Swamigal got out of the deep pit with an explosive sound at midnight and levitated back home! |
