INTRODUCTION
Idangazhi Nayanar was a shaivite king, and was one among the 63 Nayanars. He was a great devotee of Lord Shiva and respected his devotees.
LIFE
Idangazhi was born and brought up in Kodumbalur in Tamil Nadu. Idangazhi was one of the small rulers who served under the Chola king. He belonged to the yadava community.
He implemented many new schemes for the worship of Lord Shiva in temples as per the Shaiva traditions. In his region, there lived a shaivite saint and daily he provided food to hundreds of shiva devotees in his home. Once he became very poor due to his noble act of food donation. In order to provide food to the shiva devotees, he entered the food treasury to steal the rice, but was noticed by the guards and he was presented to Idangazhi, and he understood the reason behind the burglary. And he immediately released the devotee. Idangazhi then announced that shiva devotees are allowed to take as much food grains in the godown. By doing that, he relieved the shiva devotees from their hungry. Idangazhi was such a humble and a noble king, who respected the shiva devotees in a proper manner.
Idangazhi Nayanar is specially worshipped in the Tamil month of Aippasi, and he is also worshipped as one among the 63 nayanars in the shiva temples. Throughout his life, he concentrated his attention on regularly visiting shiva temples, conducting proper pujas, provided food to the devotees of Lord Shiva, and ruled the kingdom properly and took care of his people in a good manner.
IMPORTANCE
He spread the importance of shaivism among the people and invoked them into shiva bhakti. Though he was a ruler of a kingdom, he lived a noble life, and followed the spiritual path in his life. People were praised him for his shiva bhakti and for being a mighty ruler of the kingdom.
Let us worship the great nayanar and be blessed.
“OM SREE IDANGAZHI NAYANARE NAMAHA”
“OM NAMAH SHIVAYA”
WRITTEN BY
R.HARISHANKAR
