51. (a). THE AKSHARA POETS. Vangiya Sekaran ruled over Thiru Aalavaai well.
Brahma performed ten Aswamedha yaagaas with the help of his three wives Saraswathi Devi, Savithri Devi, and Gayatri Devi. One day Brahma went to the Ganges with his wives for the morning bath. On the way, Saraswathi Devi listened to the divine music of a Vidhyaadhari and lingered on. Brahma proceeded with his other two wives and finished his morning dip. Saraswathi Devi got annoyed to find that he had not waited for her arrival. She demanded to know why he had not waited for her arrival. Now it was Brahma’s turn to get angry. He told her, “It is your fault that you came late. But you are taking me to the task. May you be born on earth as a human being until all your sins are absolved!” “I do not want to be born on the earth as a human being even once. Why should I suffer several births as a human?” Saraswathi’s tears moved Brahma’s heart. He told her, “The forty-eight Akshara's from ‘aa’ to ‘haa’ will be born as human beings in various varnas. They will become famous poets and help Tamil flourish. The first letter ‘a’ represents Lord Soma Sundara Himself. He too will become a poet- the leader of the group and let knowledge and wisdom bloom”! 51 (b). THE GREATNESS OF THE AKSHARA POETS. The forty-eight Akshara's (or letters) were born as human beings in different varnas. They shone with intellectual brilliance even as small children. As they grew up, they became well versed in all the arts and the eighteen languages. They all excelled in Tamil. They disliked pomp and show and preferred to wear Rudraksha instead of gold. They preferred Viboothi over sandal paste. They had no interest in women and spent all their time in worshiping Lord Siva on whom they had boundless bhakti. They decorated Him with many floral garlands as well as by the poetic garlands of their own beautiful Tamil compositions. 51 (c). MEETING THE PAANDIYA KING The educated people are welcomed wherever they go! These forty-eight poets went around the country. They won over easily anyone who wished to indulge in debates with them. They wished to go to Thiru Aalavaai to have a darshan of Soma Sundareswarar. They all went there together as a group. Siva donned the form of a Tamil Poet and approached them. “Who are you, people? Where are you coming from?” They replied unanimously,” We have come for a darshan of Soma Sundareswarar!” “Yes! Aalavaai is the place which absolves all the sins. Soma Sundareswarar is the giver of mukthi. Let us worship Him together!” Siva led them to the temple and helped them to have a darshan. He just vanished immediately after that. The poets realized that it was the Lord Himself who had helped them with the darshan. They went to meet the Paandiya king to his durbar. Their greatness, their simplicity, their intelligence, and their good manners impressed everyone favorably. The king showered costly gifts on all of them. He got a big mandapam made for them. They stayed in the Sanga Mandapam together happily. <http://groups.yahoo.com/subscribe/worldmalayaliclub/> *வாழிய செந்தமிழ்! வாழ்க நற்றமிழர்!* *வாழிய பாரதமணித் திருநாடு!* *வணக்கம்* *சுப்பு* [image: dennis a] -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
