Arunagiri (8)

January 2, 2002

His success over Sambandan in Thiruvannamalai

temple spread his glory further. He cured many people of

dangerous diseases like TB, Leprosy etc, by just applying

the Holy ash (Vibhuthi) on them. He went visiting

various temples and had darshan of the Lord in all the

temples. But no matter how many temples he visited, he

always regularly visited the temple in Thiruvannamalai.

Thus passed 22 years. He was 61 years

old. Though Sambandan was defeated and exiled, his cunnigness

didn't get quenched. It grew slowly over the years. He

was waiting for a chance to avenge Arunagiri Naadhar.

By his cunningways he somehow made it back into the

kingdom and became the royal scholar again. Meanwhile

King Prabhuda Deva Raya became seriously ill. His

eyesight also started diminishing. He was given a lot of

treatment but of no avail. In the heavens above,

there is a plant called Parijatha, which is supposed to

have a lot of healing powers. Sambandan, waiting to

avenge Arunagiri Naadhar, said to the king, "Your

Highness, we have tried all the possible treatments there

is in this world. The Parijatha flower can cure any

disease. Why don't you send your divine friend Arunagiri

to heaven and ask him to bring that heavenly flower

?" On hearing this, the king requested Arunagiri

Naadhar to bring the flower to him. Arunagiri obliged.

But it's not possible to go to heaven with the human

body. Hence he decided to enter the body of a dead

parrot that was lying near by. (He knew the art of

leaving his body, and entering another body). He kept his

own body under a tree near the gopuram of the temple,

and flew heavenwards in the parrot body. The

heavenly plant is actually called Manonmani. But many

people mistake it for Parijatha (wish fulfilling tree of

the heavens). The Manonmani has triangular shaped

leaves, and has a pearl like white bead (mani = bead) at

the peripheral most tip.

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