Nayanar 26: Tiruneelanakka (Tirunilanakka)

The 26th saint is Tirunilanakka Nayanar [Tiruneelanakka] and Arurar’s words are, “Olipunal cul Cattamankai Nilanakkark katiyen”— ‘I am the servant of NUanakkar of Cattamankai surrounded by the resounding waters’. In the Cattamankai hymn, Campantar refers to this saint as Nakkan and Nilanakkam He speaks of Cattamankai as the place which the Shaivites speak of as the city of NUanakkan full of mental control—“Niraiyinar Nilanakkan netumanakar enru tontar araiyumur Cattamankai”. In another verse, he speaks of Nakkan worshipping at the temple (parava).

Cekkilar gives a detailed version of the story of this saint. Whilst he was one day concentrating his mind on God, a spider fell on the linga and his wife blew it out with her mouth.

Nilanakkar thought that she had committed a sacrilege as though spitting on the linga and told his wife that he could not any longer live with her. That night in the dream of Nilanakkar, Shiva appeared and showed that the whole form of the Lord was full of the boils as the result of the infection by the spider except in the portion blown on by the lady. The next morning Nakkar brought back his wife to his house.

Campantar came to Cattamankai to worship the Lord along with the Panar and his wife. When Nilanakkar invited him to his, Campantar requested him to give a place to rest for the Pana couple and Nilanakkar placed them in the room of the sacrificial fire. In the end, he disappeared with Campantar on the occasion of the latter’s marriage.

Nampiyantar mentions only the spider incident but not that of the Pana. But the Pana episode emphasizes the fact that the Shaivites did not swear by the caste regulations or believe in untouchability. The Kannada and Sanskrit traditions give us the Sanskrit form of the name, viz., Nilanagna, and state that he was persuaded not to abandon his wife for what he considered her of removing with her tongue the fibre of a spider from a linga-image of Shiva.