Nayanar 52: Munaiyaduvar (Munaiyatuvar)

The 52nd saint is Munaiyatuvar Nayanar (Munaiyaduvar). The words of Arurar are: “Araikkonta vel nampi Munaiyatuvarkkatiyen”—‘I am the servant of Munaiyatzivar, the patron and lord of the spear of attack’. According to Nampiyantar, he was the lord of Needur. He was a mercenary soldier, who for money, helped the defeated people to become victorious in war and who gave all his money to the Shaivites.

This Needur, Cekkilar identifies with a place of that name in the Cola country probably nearby the railway station Needur and he also makes the saint a chief of the Velan community explaming further that the money he received as the mercenary soldier for feeding them with ghee, curd, milk, fruits, sugar, and other kinds of food, in addition to the various kinds of gifts to the Shaivites.

In the Darasuram sculpture representing this Nay a-nar, we find three persons: (1) the central one with his tuft dressed up as a makuta and a sacred thread, is in the act of piercing with a spear which he holds up in his hands. On his left is his opponent who had fallen down on the ground with a crown. On his right stands another with hands held in anjali pose, probably the person who had secured the help of this saint against his enemy.

The Sanskrit and Kannada traditions speak of him as Monai Anduvarundyanar or Nasirabhanjana, the latter expression meaning ‘one who destroys the van guard of the enemies’ army’. They speak of him as a brave warrior who spent all his earnings in the construction of Shiva temple about which we hear nothing jn Tamil.