INTRODUCTION :
Kotpuli Nayanar, was a great Nayanar saint, who was well known for his sincere shiva bhakti and is considered as one among the 63 Nayanars.
LIFE :
Kotpuli Nayanar was born in Nattiyattankuti, in Thanjavur district of Tamil Nadu. He belongs to vellalar caste. He was an ardent devotee of Lord Shiva, and he served as Army Chief of the Chola king. He used to donate several bags of rice to Shiva temples, for preparing Naivedyam (food offering) to the god and also provided food to shiva devotees at his home. He rendered this noble act for a long period. Once he stored rice in large quantities in his house, and instructed his family to offer it as a Prasad to Lord Shiva and to feed to his devotees, and he went to other region for some time for rendering his official services. After some time, due to severe famine, Kotpuli's family had eaten the rice in order to save themselves. After some time, Kotpuli finished his duties and returned to his home. After knowing about all the incidents, he decided to punish his family, and killed everybody, including his wife, children and parents. Though the act done by him was considered as rude and crude, he had done so, in order to punish the guilty, even though they were treated as his near and dear persons. Due to his sincere devotion on god, Lord Shiva and Mata Parvati appeared before him and blessed him and brought back the life of his relatives again. He and his family were reached KAILASA after their death. Sundarar praises Kotpuli Nayanar in the famous sacred text “Tiruthonda Thogai”. Kotpuli is specially worshipped in the Shiva temple in Nattiyattankudi and he is worshipped in the Tamil month of Aadi and also worshipped along with the other nayanars in the shiva temples.
IMPORTANCE :
Kotpuli Nayanar was a great shiva devotee, who always worships Lord Shiva, and considered himself as his slave. He always chants the glory of Lord Shiva and sung in praise of him. He cannot be forgotten in this world for his extreme devotion on Lord Shiva. Let us worship the great nayanar and be blessed.
“OM SREE KOTPULI NAYANARE NAMAHA”
“OM NAMAH SHIVAYA”
“OM SAKTHI PARASAKTHI”
SENT BY
R.HARISHANKAR
