Here are two stories from the life and times of Thirumangai Azhwar that revolves around jewelry including how leaves turned gold at the Aabarnadari temple.
Neelan, Kaliyan a.k.a Thirumangai mannan
Once upon a time, there lived a man called Neelan*. He was the chieftain of a clan of thieves. Also referred to by the name of Kaliyan*, he was well read and wax eloquent poetry in several languages. He fell in love with a woman who promised to marry him only if he became religious and was devoted to Lord Vishnu.
Neelan promised and volunteered to do maintenance work at the temples of Lord Vishnu and feed vaishanavites. As a result, his wealth diminished quickly. Further, he grew disappointed, looking at the dilapidated state of the temples. As a thief the only way he knew to source funds quickly was by stealing. He stole money from the rich and either renovated or built temples for Vishnu.
* Thirumangai Azhwar is also known by names such as Neelan, Kaliyan, Kaalan, Parakaalan.
When leaves turned gold – Aabarnadari
Once, he heard that there was a golden statue of Buddha at a Vihara in Nagapattinam and he went to steal it. On the way back, he went to a place called Avarani and saw Lord Vishnu as a deity in a reclining Anatha Narayana Swamy posture. He sang praises of the lord but he also felt bad that the lord was un-adorned. The statue that he stole would be enough only to build the temple tower of Srirangam and he could not give any gold to this deity.
Therefore, he got some tulsi – holy basil leaves, and decorated the Deity with them. Neelan wished the deity to be adorned with beautiful glittering gold ornaments from head to toe. After he left, the tulsi garlands turned into gold ornaments. This is the story of how Anatha Narayana Swamy became known as Aabarnadhari – one who wears gold ornaments from head to toe.
The Aabarnadari perumal temple is located in Sikkal, close to the famous Thiru Kannagudi temple.
The divine loot
The life story of Neelan, who later became known as Thirumangai Azhwar, has one more story related to jewelry. One day, he was walking by a grove and he saw a rich, newly married couple – husband and wife, taking a stroll. They were adorned from head to toe. Now, Thirumangai thought, “What if I steal all these ornaments? Imagine how many temples I will be able to build or repair?” He approached them and instructed them to remove all their jewels. The couple too gave almost everything away.
However, the man refused to let go of his toe ring. In the past, not only did women wear marital signs as jewelry, but men too wore a piece of jewelry to signify their marital status. They were worn as toe rings on the feet. This man did not want to give up something so emotional and so important to him. Neelan wouldn’t have any of it. He tried to pull them out of that man’s feet but alas he failed.
Thus, in his anger, he lifted the man’s foot and kept it next to his heart, and pulled the toe rings off. Now interestingly for him, this was no ordinary couple. This was Lord Vishnu and Lakshmi, who were out on their way to test this man. Now, the God being so kind, decided to forgive Neelan for his stealing. Instead, he considered the act of him putting the Lord’s feet on his heart and holding it close as a sign of surrender or Sharanagathi. But he decided that he wanted to play a little more with Neelan.
How Neelan became Thirumangai Azhwar
The thief was extremely happy to get the jewelry and packed it into a bundle. However, when he tried to lift it, he could not. The bundle was so heavy that even when many people together attempted to lift it, nothing happened. Neelan went to the man and accused him, “You must have put some curse on me. Otherwise, why am I not able to move this bundle? You must have done something. Now tell me what I can do to lift the curse.” The man asked, “do you really want to know?” Neelan replied, “Of course, yes. I’ve been asking that for a long time. Can’t you give me a straight answer?”
The man replied, “Yes…repeat after me – Om Namo Narayanaya”.
Neelan repeated, “Om Namo Narayanaya” and lifted the bundle with a finger. At that moment, he had unknowingly said salutations to the one true Lord Vishnu. That was when it hit him. All along, this has been the doing of the divinity to show him the error of his ways. Neelan repented, begged for forgiveness and sang 10 stanzas in praise of Lord Vishnu. By writing and singing nearly 1351 pasurams at 86 holy shrines of the Lord across the country he became the Thirumangai Azhwar or the Saint-Poet from Thirumangai as he is hailed today.
References
S, Prabhu. 2018. Anantha Narayana Perumal Aabaranadhari. 2018. https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2018/08/anantha-narayana-perumal-aabaranadhari.html.
“Thirumangai Alvar.” n.d. The History of Srivaishnavam. Accessed November 14, 2021. http://thehistoryofsrivaishnavam.weebly.com/thirumangai-alvar.html.
“Thirumangai Azhwar – Divyaprabhandam.” n.d. Google Sites. Accessed November 14, 2021. https://sites.google.com/site/divyaprabhandam/thirumangai-azhwar.
TS, Padmapriya. 2018. “Thiruvananthapuram of Tamil Nadu.” Aalayam Kanden. June 4, 2018. https://aalayamkanden.blogspot.com/2018/06/thiruvananthapuram-of-tamil-nadu.html.
Note
All stories have been collected from various sources, including oral histories and temple histories and compiled to form one narrative. Hence, there may be differences from the master narrative. The project hopes only to be a curator of stories and not an expert on history, religion and iconography.