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Home > Devotees > 63 Nayanmar Stories
chEkkizAr
chEkkizAr was born at kunRaththUr in the thoNdai n^Adu (part
of Tamilnadu and Andhrapradesh which was ruled by pallavA kings) which
was famous for its intellectuals. He was born in shaivite farmer
family of chEkkizAr tradition with his younger brother pAlaRAvAyar.
The chOza king - kulOththuN^ga chOzan II (an^apAyar) - who
was ruling the region then wondered at the intelligence, honesty and
excellence of chEkkizAr and made him his prime minister knighting him
as uththama chOza pallavar. chEkkizAr was an ardent devotee
of Lord Shiva in thirun^AgEshwaram and did a lot of services
to that temple. He built a temple in kunRaththUr and named that too
thirun^AgEshwaram.
The king who was much interested in arts was mostly
appreciating the thamiz book chIvaka chin^dhAmaNi. As a dedicated
minister to guide the king in the proper way, chEkkizAr advised him
that those books will do good neither for living nor for liberation
and on his question he told the king that the lives of the devotees
who were praised in the thiruththoNdaththokai(1) of chun^dharar(2),
which was later sung by n^ambiyANdAr n^ambi in his thiruththoNdar
thiruvan^dhAdhi, are the great thing to read and follow. Inspired by
this the king asked chEkkizAr to sing in detail the lives of the
devotees as an epic.
chEkkizAr agreed and worshiped the dancing Lord (n^atarAjar)
at chithambaram.(3) The Lord gave him the first word to start the epic as
ulakelAm. (chEkkizAr has used this word with respect in the
beginning, middle and end of the work). Then he wrote the entire
periya purANam and was made public in chithambaram in the presence of
intellectuals, saints and others. After the araN^gERRam (publication),
the king took chEkkizAr around the town on the royal elephant and he
himself fanned chekkizAr during the procession. He made the periya
purANam as the twelfth thirumurai.
thiruth thoNdar purANam is the only work available that was
written by chEkkizAr. After writing the periya purANam chEkkizAr
involved himself completely the lives of the 63 saints along with
other devotees and finally reached the sweet feet of Lord Shiva.
Other names of chEkkizAr:
aruN mozith thEvar (original name)
thoNdar chIr paravuvAr
uththama chOza pallavar
gurupUjai : vaikAci pUcam
See Also:
1. thiruththoNdaththokai
2. chun^dhara mUrthi n^AyanAr
3. chithambaram
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