Page:The story of saiva saints.pdf/13

Rh prayed to the Lord and improvised a decad under the caption "Thiruththondaththogai" and worshipped the devotees of Siva. Viranmindar was immensely pleased and by the grace of god Viraninindar became one of Siva's celestial hosts.

In Pazhaiyaru there lived in the Merchant Caste a Saint called Amarneethiyar. He was very rich and by guessing one's intension one's need he used to feed him and offer blanket Waist cord or loin cloth whichever he wanted. Once the Lord in order to test his devotee came to the Saint in the guise of a celibate (Brahmachari), gave a loin cloth from the staff in inin [sic] his hand and went away for bath informing him that his loin cloth had nothing to equal it. The Saint placed it in a safe place but alas! it disappeared without the knowledge of the Saint. Then the celibate came and demanded his loin cloth but what would the Saint do. He became perplexed. The celibate got wild and asked the Saint to give a loin cloth equal in weight to another loin cloth of the same texture in his possession. The Saint agreed. The loin cloth was placed in the scale of a balance and in the other scale all loin cloths were placed one by one to match the loin cloth of the celibate but in vain. At last the Saint mounted the scale pan with his wife and children to equalize the same and attained beatitude by the grace of the Lord.

In Karur there is a Siva Temple called Thiru Anilai and there lived a Saint called Eripaththar daily worshipping the Lord in that Temple. In order to remove the distress of the devotees of Siva if any, he used to keep a sword in his hand. There was a devotee in the temple by name Sivakami Andar who used to make garland of flowers and offer them to adorn the Lord. One day when Sivakami Andar was proceeding to