The Palanquin
Umapati Sivacharya, early fourteenth century, is the fourth and last of the Santana Acharyas of Tamil Shaiva Siddhanta, and eight of the fourteen Meykanda Shastras are his.
Where he started
A Dikshitar of Chidambaram.
Which requires explaining. The Dikshitars are the hereditary priestly community of the Nataraja temple at Chidambaram, one of the most important temples in the Tamil country and the one this app has an entry on for the Nataraja image itself.
They are not employees. They are a community with hereditary rights in the temple, they perform the worship, and they have administered the temple for a very long time. A Dikshitar of Chidambaram in the fourteenth century was near the top of the religious order of south India.
And Umapati was a senior one, learned, established, and carried in procession.
What happened on the road
He was being carried in a palanquin.
And by the roadside was a man gathering firewood, in poor condition, of no visible standing, and this was Marai Jnana Sambandhar, the third Santana Acharya, though Umapati did not know it.
And as the palanquin passed, he said something.
In substance: there goes a blind man, in broad daylight, riding on another blind man.
What it means
Two blindnesses, and both are the point.
The man in the palanquin cannot see, despite the learning, the office and the proximity to the deity.
And the men carrying him cannot see either, because they are carrying him.
And it is daytime, which is the sharpest part: the light is available and neither party is using it.
What Umapati did
He got down.
And followed him.
The accounts have him going after the man on foot, asking to be taken as a student, and being accepted, and the whole of the rest of his life follows from that afternoon.
Which is the part worth dwelling on.
Being insulted in public by somebody of no standing is the situation in which almost nobody behaves well. The ordinary responses are available and they are all worse: ignore it, have him moved on, be gracious about it and continue, or make an example of him.
He got out of the palanquin.
What it cost him
Chidambaram.
He took initiation from his new teacher, and in the course of it he ate with him, or accepted food from him, and Marai Jnana Sambandhar was not of a community from whom a Dikshitar could accept food.
And the Dikshitars excommunicated him.
He was barred from the temple, cut off from the community he had been born into and had served, and lost his position, his rights and his standing.
And he moved to Kotravan Kudi, a village near Chidambaram, and lived there.
And this is where the eight books were written.
Pettan
The episode that made the excommunication permanent, and it is the one the tradition tells hardest.
Who Pettan was
A firewood cutter, who passed Umapati's house at Kotravan Kudi on his way to and from work, every day, for a long time.
And he was of a community at the bottom of the order, which the sources state, and which is the whole substance of what follows.
He was not a student. He was not learned, he did not attend anything, and there is no account of him receiving instruction.
He walked past every day and he looked in.
What Umapati did
He gave him the offering.
The accounts vary on exactly what: the consecrated food, the tiruvamudu, the sacred ash, or the formal act of grace, and in the fullest tellings all of it.
And in the tradition's account Pettan received liberation.
What Chidambaram said
That it was impossible.
The objection is stated plainly in the accounts and it is not softened: a man of that community could not receive what had just been given to him, an excommunicated priest had no standing to give it, and the claim that liberation had been granted was an outrage.
And a formal challenge followed.
What happened next
The tradition's account has a public demonstration and a vindication.
The versions differ. In some, Umapati grants liberation to a dry stick or a plant in front of the challengers, which sprouts or is visibly transformed. In others, a divine voice from the Chidambaram temple settles it. In the most told version, Nataraja sends an olai, a palm leaf order, from the temple, addressed to Umapati and instructing the Dikshitars, delivered by a temple servant.
And the account has the objection collapse.
How to hold that
As hagiography doing exactly what hagiography is for.
The miracle is the mechanism. What the story needs is for a fourteenth century social rule to be overruled by an authority that outranks the community enforcing it, and the only such authority available is the deity.
So the deity is made to write a letter.
And what the story is actually arguing is available without the letter:
- A man's community did not disqualify him
- The people who said it did were wrong
- And they were wrong in the terms of their own religion, not in spite of it
Which is the same argument as Periya Nambi carrying Maraneri Nambi's body, as Kanaka Dasa at the Udupi window, as Chokhamela at the step, and as Nandanar at this same temple.
And Nandanar is the point.
Nandanar, the Thirunalaipovar Nayanar, is one of the sixty three Nayanars, was of the Pulaiya community, and his story is set at Chidambaram: he wanted to enter the temple, was told he could not, and the tradition resolves it with a miracle in which the deity intervenes.
This app has an entry on him.
So Chidambaram has two of these stories, five centuries apart, and in both of them the temple is where the exclusion happens and the deity is where the answer comes from.
The uncomfortable part
Which should be said and not left out.
The Dikshitars still administer the Chidambaram temple. It is one of the very few major south Indian temples not under state administration, the community's hereditary rights have been contested in Indian courts repeatedly, and the Supreme Court ruled in their favour on the administration question in 2014.
And questions about access to parts of the temple, and about who may perform what, have been litigated and argued about within living memory.
This app's position: the historical record is what it is, the stories the tradition tells about itself are the strongest available argument against exclusion, and they were told by the tradition rather than against it.
And a person going to Chidambaram to see Nataraja does not need to have a view on the administration. Go, stand in front of the figure, and look at the five acts.
The Eight Books
Written at Kotravan Kudi, after he lost the temple.
Sivaprakasam
The light of Shiva, a hundred verses, and his fullest doctrinal work.
It sets out the whole system: pati, pasu and pasam; the three impurities; the five acts; the descent of grace; and liberation as inseparable union. If you want Shaiva Siddhanta in one book, this is the one after the Siddhiyar.
Tiruvarutpayan
The fruit of divine grace, and it is the loved one.
A hundred couplets, in kural venba, arranged as ten chapters of ten.
And the form is a deliberate quotation. The Tirukkural of Thiruvalluvar is the most famous work in Tamil, it is a hundred and thirty three chapters of ten couplets each in exactly this metre, and Umapati is writing in its shadow on purpose.
What the Tiruvarutpayan does: takes the entire technical system and compresses it into a hundred two line verses that an ordinary person can memorise.
Its central image: the eye needs light. The eye is perfectly formed and perfectly capable and it sees nothing in the dark, and what it needs is not improvement but illumination.
The soul is the eye. Grace is the light.
And the corollary the verses draw out is that the soul does not generate the light and cannot, and that the light is not a reward for the eye being good.
Nenju Vidu Thoothu
The heart sent as a messenger.
A genre piece, and one of the loveliest things in Tamil: the poet sends his own heart as an envoy to the deity, with instructions on what to say, and the poem is the briefing.
Which is a very old Tamil form, going back to the sangam love poetry where a lover sends a bird, a cloud or a friend, and Umapati is using a secular convention for a devotional purpose.
Vina Venba
Questions in venba metre, addressed to his own teacher, and it is the counterpart of Arunandi's Irupa Irupahtu: a disciple asking, in verse, and a whole doctrine arriving in the answers.
Unmai Neri Vilakkam
The clarification of the true path, short, on the stages of practice.
Kodikkavi
Four lines, on the raising of the temple flag, and it is the shortest of the fourteen Meykanda Shastras.
Potripahrodai
A hymn of praise, in the ahaval metre.
Sankarpa Nirakaranam
The refutation of positions, in the manner of Arunandi's Parapaksham, and it takes up rival Shaiva and other schools.
And the other works
Koyil Puranam, the sthala purana of Chidambaram itself, written by the man Chidambaram had thrown out.
Sekkizhar Puranam, the life of Sekkizhar, who wrote the Periya Puranam, the great account of the sixty three Nayanars, and who has an entry in this app.
Tiruttondar Purana Saram, a condensation of the Periya Puranam.
Which is worth noticing as a shape
An excommunicated priest wrote the temple's own official history, and the tradition kept it, and it is the standard account.
And he wrote the life of the man who wrote the lives of the sixty three Nayanars, one of whom, Nandanar, was barred from that same temple for the same reason he was.
The Short Version
Who: Umapati Sivacharya, early fourteenth century, the fourth and last of the Santana Acharyas of Tamil Shaiva Siddhanta, and the author of eight of the fourteen Meykanda Shastras. He began as a senior Dikshitar of Chidambaram, the hereditary priestly community of the Nataraja temple, which put him near the top of the religious order of south India.
The palanquin: he was being carried in procession when a man gathering firewood by the roadside, in poor condition and of no visible standing, said as he passed that there goes a blind man in broad daylight riding on another blind man. The man was Marai Jnana Sambandhar, the third Santana Acharya, though Umapati did not know it. Two blindnesses are meant: the man in the palanquin cannot see despite the learning and the office, and the men carrying him cannot see either, because they are carrying him, and it is daytime, so the light is available and neither party is using it. Umapati got down, followed him on foot, and asked to be taken as a student.
What it cost: he took initiation and ate with his new teacher, who was not of a community from whom a Dikshitar could accept food, and the Dikshitars excommunicated him and barred him from the temple. He moved to Kotravan Kudi nearby, and the eight books were written there.
Pettan: a firewood cutter of a community at the bottom of the order, who passed Umapati's house daily and looked in, and who was not a student and received no instruction. Umapati gave him the offering, and in the tradition's account he received liberation. Chidambaram said it was impossible and issued a formal challenge, and the accounts resolve it with a miracle, variously a dry stick made to sprout, a divine voice, or Nataraja sending an olai, a palm leaf order, from the temple. The miracle is the mechanism: the story needs a fourteenth century social rule overruled by an authority outranking the community enforcing it, and the only such authority available is the deity. The argument survives without the letter: a man's community did not disqualify him, the people who said it did were wrong, and they were wrong in the terms of their own religion.
The books: Sivaprakasam, a hundred verses and his fullest doctrinal work; Tiruvarutpayan, a hundred kural venba couplets deliberately written in the shadow of the Tirukkural, compressing the whole technical system into verses an ordinary person can memorise, whose central image is that the eye is perfectly capable and sees nothing in the dark, so the soul is the eye and grace is the light; Nenju Vidu Thoothu, in which the poet sends his own heart as an envoy; Vina Venba, questions to his teacher; Unmai Neri Vilakkam; Kodikkavi, four lines and the shortest of the fourteen; Potripahrodai; and Sankarpa Nirakaranam. He also wrote the Koyil Puranam, the official temple history of the Chidambaram that had thrown him out, and the life of Sekkizhar, who wrote the lives of the sixty three Nayanars, one of whom, Nandanar, was barred from that same temple for the same reason.
Common Questions From Devotees
Who was Umapati Sivacharya?+
The fourth and last of the Santana Acharyas of Tamil Shaiva Siddhanta, of the early fourteenth century, and the author of eight of the fourteen Meykanda Shastras. He began as a senior Dikshitar of Chidambaram, a member of the hereditary priestly community of the Nataraja temple, which placed him near the top of the religious order of south India. He was excommunicated from that community after taking initiation from Marai Jnana Sambandhar and eating with him, moved to the nearby village of Kotravan Kudi, and wrote his books there.
What is the story of the palanquin?+
Umapati was being carried in a palanquin in procession when a man gathering firewood by the roadside, in poor condition and of no visible standing, said as he passed that there goes a blind man in broad daylight riding on another blind man. Two blindnesses are meant: the man in the palanquin cannot see despite his learning, his office and his proximity to the deity, and the men carrying him cannot see either, because they are carrying him. And it is daytime, which is the sharpest part, since the light is available and neither party is using it. The speaker was Marai Jnana Sambandhar, the third Santana Acharya, though Umapati did not know it. Umapati got down from the palanquin, followed him on foot, asked to be taken as a student, and was accepted.
Why was Umapati Sivacharya excommunicated?+
Because he took initiation from Marai Jnana Sambandhar and in the course of it ate with him or accepted food from him, and Marai Jnana Sambandhar was not of a community from whom a Dikshitar of Chidambaram could accept food. The Dikshitars excommunicated him, barred him from the temple, and cut him off from the community he had been born into and served, so he lost his position, his rights and his standing. He moved to Kotravan Kudi, a village near Chidambaram, and it was there that he wrote the eight works that make him the fourth Santana Acharya.
What is the story of Pettan?+
Pettan was a firewood cutter of a community at the bottom of the social order, who passed Umapati's house at Kotravan Kudi every day on his way to and from work and looked in. He was not a student, was not learned, and received no instruction. Umapati gave him the offering, variously described as the consecrated food, the sacred ash or the formal act of grace, and in the tradition's account Pettan received liberation. Chidambaram objected that this was impossible, that a man of that community could not receive it and an excommunicated priest had no standing to give it, and a formal challenge followed. The accounts resolve it with a miracle, most often Nataraja sending an olai, a palm leaf order, from the temple. The argument survives without the miracle: a man's community did not disqualify him, and the people who said it did were wrong in the terms of their own religion.
What is the Tiruvarutpayan?+
The fruit of divine grace, a hundred couplets in kural venba metre arranged as ten chapters of ten, and the most loved of Umapati's works. The form is a deliberate quotation of the Tirukkural of Thiruvalluvar, the most famous work in Tamil, which is a hundred and thirty three chapters of ten couplets each in exactly this metre. What the Tiruvarutpayan does is take the entire technical system of Shaiva Siddhanta and compress it into a hundred two line verses an ordinary person can memorise. Its central image is that the eye needs light: the eye is perfectly formed and perfectly capable and it sees nothing in the dark, and what it needs is not improvement but illumination. The soul is the eye and grace is the light, and the soul does not generate the light and cannot.
Who administers the Chidambaram temple today?+
The Dikshitars, the same hereditary priestly community, still administer it. Chidambaram is one of the very few major south Indian temples not under state administration. The community's hereditary rights have been contested in Indian courts repeatedly, and the Supreme Court ruled in their favour on the administration question in 2014, and questions about access to parts of the temple and about who may perform what have been litigated and argued about within living memory. This app's position is that the historical record is what it is, that the stories the tradition tells about itself, Umapati and Pettan, and Nandanar five centuries earlier at the same temple, are the strongest available argument against exclusion, and that they were told by the tradition rather than against it. A person going to Chidambaram to see Nataraja does not need to have a view on the administration.
About the author
Pandit Ravindra Sharma · Vedic Rituals & Bhakti, 22+ years
Pandit Ravindra is the Vandnaa editorial team's resident specialist on aarti, chalisa, and daily devotion. He has performed home and temple pujas across Varanasi and Delhi for over two decades and contributes the bhakti-focused articles on this site.
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