Nayanar 31: Dandi Adigal (Tantiyatikal)

The 31st saint is Tantiyatikal (Dandi Adigal) and the words of Arurar are, “Nattamiku Tantikkum (Murkkarkkum) atiyen”— ‘I am the servant of Tanti of growing eyes (and Murkkan)’. “Having no eyes he began digging a tank for Shiva with the help of a rope to show him the way and the limit; the Jains laughed at him and lost their eyes whilst Tanti (Dandi) got his eyesight. He is the hero of Arur”—Thus sings Nampiyantar Nampi in his Tiruttontar Tiruvantdti—V. 37.

The Sanskrit and Kannada traditions speak of him as Dan-diyadighanayanar or Dandibhakta and refer to his digging a well and receiving his eyesight but not to the mocking Jains losing their eyes.

Cekkilars story is more graphic. The temple tank of Thiruvarur became shorter on its western side because of Jain mutts, there. Blind Tanti resolved to widen the tank on that side. Tanti planted sticks or pegs and a guiding rope across them to mark the straight line of the bund up to which he had to dig. The Jains protested saying that innumerable insects would die in the futile attempt of his. Unable to bear the insult, he threw out a challenge that they would lose their eyes, while he would be blessed with eyesight. They accepted the challenge and swore they would vacate the city if he ever received the eye sight and in an angry mood they removed the pegs, the rope and the shovel. God brought the king to interfere and act as a judge. When the saint received his eyesight his enemies had to vacate the city.

It had already been noted that Tanti was a contemporary of Nami-nanti. All these stories give us a picture of the JainaSaiva conflict of that age. Tanti was so called probably because as a blind man he walked with a stick. Tanti is a popular name in South India for we know that great Sanskrit writer Dandin belonged to the Pallava Court.