Letters from Sri Ramanasramam, by Suri Nagamma

Would you like to read it?” asked Bhagavan. “I should very
much like to but I do not know Tarnil sufficiently well,” I replied.

“All right. I will tell you the story briefly,” said Bhagavan and,
with a smile, proceeded with the story as follows:
“Sundaramurti was born in the sacred place Tirunavalur
in Thirumunaippadi country in the Siva Brahmana caste called
Adi Saivam, to the Siva priest called Chadayanar, alias Sivacharya,
and his wife Isaijnaniyar. He was named by his parents
Nambiyarurar. One day, while he was playing in the street
with a toy cart, the king of the place, by name Narasinga
Muniyar, saw him and took a fancy to him. He requested
the father, Sivacharya, to let him have the boy. The father
agreed and the boy was brought up by the king as his foster
son. Even so, the Brahminical customs as regards thread
ceremony and vedic instructions were carefully observed
and he became well-versed in all the Sastras.

“When he came of age, his marriage with the daughter
of a relative by name Chatangavi Sivacharya was decided
upon, and invitations were issued to all relatives for the
function. Sundaramurti went through the usual premarital
ceremonies a day before the marriage, and on the marriage
day proceeded properly dressed as the bridegroom, along
with his relatives, to the bride’s father’s house in Puttur village
on horseback quite early in the morning. On reaching the
bride’s house, he alighted from the horse and sat on the
wedding seat in the marriage pandal in accordance with the
usual custom. There was a blare of music and the arrival of
the bride was awaited.

“Just then, Lord Siva approached the marriage pandal
in the garb of an old brahmin, and announced, ‘All of you
please listen to what I say.’ On their assenting, the old man
told the boy, ‘Look here, there is an agreement between you
and me. First fulfil it and then marry.’ The boy replied, ‘If
there is an agreement let it be so but tell us first what it is.’
The old brahmin told the audience, ‘Sirs, this boy is my
servant. I have with me the deed of service executed by his
grandfather in my favour.’ Sundaramurti replied, ‘Oh!
Madman, enough! We are hearing for the first time that a
brahmin is the servant of another brahmin. Go, get away!’ The
brahmin replied, ‘I am neither a madman nor a devil. I am
not offended at your remarks. You have not understood me
at all. Stop this childish talk and come and serve me.’
Sundaramurti then said, ‘Show me the deed.’ ‘Who are you
to decide after seeing the deed?’ said the old man. ‘If the
people in the audience see the deed and agree that it is true,
you should begin to serve me.’ Sundaramurti got very angry
and pounced upon the man to snatch the deed from him.

The brahmin however ran away but the boy pursued him,
snatched the deed at last, and tore it to pieces. The old man
caught hold of Sundaramurti and began shouting. The
marriage guests got agitated over that, separated the two and
said to the brahmin, ‘You are speaking of arrangements unheard
of in this world. Oh! Quarrelsome old man! Where do you
come from?’ The brahmin replied, ‘I belong to the village of
Thiruvennainallur. Don’t you agree that this boy Nambiyarurar
has confirmed his servitude to me by unjustly snatching away
the service deed from my hands and tearing it to pieces?’
Sundarar replied, ‘If indeed you are a resident of
Thiruvennainallur village, your claim can be decided there,
can’t it?’ The brahmin replied, ‘Yes. Come with me. I shall
produce the original deed before the Council of Brahmins
there and establish my claim that you are my servant.’
Accordingly the brahmin walked ahead and Sundaramurti and
all the other Brahmins followed him.

“As soon as they all reached the Council of Brahmins in
the other village, the cunning old brahmin filed his claim petition
before them to the effect that the boy Nambiyarurar tore up
the service deed in his favour. The councillors said, ‘We have
not heard anywhere in this world that Brahmins become
servants of Brahmins.’ The brahmin replied, ‘No. Mine is not a
false claim. The deed that this boy tore up is the deed of
service executed by his grandfather to the effect that he and
all his successors are to be my servants.’ The councillors asked
Sundaramurti, ‘Can you win your case by merely tearing up
the deed executed by your grandfather? What do you say?’
He replied, ‘Oh virtuous men, learned in all the vedic lore!
You all know that I am an Adi Saiva. Even if this old brahmin is
able to establish that I am his servant, you must please consider
it a piece of magic, beyond the reach of mental reasoning.

What can I say of such a claim?’ The councillors told the
brahmin, ‘You must first prove to us that he is your servant. To
decide an affair of this nature, three things are needed, custom,
written evidence and oral evidence. Should you not produce
at least one of these three items?’ The brahmin replied, ‘Sir!
what he tore up is only the duplicate copy; the original deed
is with me.’ The councillors demanded the production of the
original deed, and gave him an assurance that it would not be
torn up by Sundaramurti. The old man took out the original
deed from the folds of the cloth around his waist, and showed
it to them. The village karnam (village officer) who happened
to come there unexpectedly then, was asked to read it. He
bowed before the councillors, opened the folds of the original
document and so as to be heard by all, he read it out aloud as
follows: ‘I, Adi Saiva by caste and Arurar by name, residing in
Thirvennainallur village have executed this deed of service
gladly and out of my own free will, undertaking to do service
by me and by my successive descendants, to pitthan (mad man)
residing in Thiruvennainallur village. (Sd.) Arurar.’
“The witnesses to the deed were those very councillors,
and they all identified and confirmed that the signatures
were their own. The councillors asked Sundaramurti to verify
if the handwriting in the deed was his grandfather’s. The
man pretending to be a brahmin said, ‘Sir! This is a mere boy.

How can he identify his grandfather’s writing? If there is
any other paper available, containing his grandfather’s
writing, please send for it, and compare.’ They all agreed,
and the relatives of Sundaramurti searched, and produced
a paper containing his grandfather’s handwriting. The
councillors compared the two papers, and confirmed that
the writings in the two papers agreed. They told
Sundaramurti, ‘Boy! There is no way of escape for you. You
have lost. It is your duty to do service according to this old
man’s orders.’ Sundaramurti was stupefied at this and said
that he would obey the order, if fate had decreed that way.

They had compassion on the boy, and had still some doubts
about the brahmin, and questioned him, ‘Sir! This deed says
that you belong to this very village. Can you show us where
your ancestral house and property are?’ The brahmin
pretended surprise, and said, ‘What! You are all of this
village, so learned, so intelligent, so elderly — does not even
one among you know my house? How surprising are your
words! Come with me then!’ So saying, he led the way, and
they all followed. They all saw the God in disguise enter the
Siva’s temple called ‘Thiruvarul Thurai’ in the village, and
were stupefied.

“Sundaramurti thought, ‘The brahmin who made me
his servant has entered the temple of my God Parameswara!
What a wonder!’ So thinking, he followed alone eagerly the
footsteps of the brahmin and entered the temple with great
desire and shouted, ‘Oh brahmin!’ At once Lord Siva appeared
in the company of Goddess Parvati, seated on the sacred
Bull, and said, ‘My son! you are Aalaala Sundara, one of my
Pramatha Ganas (chief attendants). You were born here as a
result of a curse. You requested me to have you as My own,
wherever you might be, even during the period of the curse.

I therefore made you My servant here.”
Thus Bhagavan narrated to us the earlier story of
Sundaramurti. He continued:
“As soon as Sundaramurti heard those words of the Great
Lord, he was overjoyed like the calf that hears the mother’s
call. With his voice trembling with emotion and eyes filled with
tears of joy, he made prostrations to Him, and with folded hands
said, ‘Oh Lord! You are gracious to my worthless self, hold me
fast to you like the cat holding on to its kitten, and make me
your own. What gracious kindness!’ and praised Him. The
Great Lord was pleased and said, ‘My son! Because you have
disputed with me, you shall have the name of ‘Van Thondan’.

The service to be rendered hereafter by you to me, is to worship
me with flowers of verses. Compose verses on me, and sing
them.’ With folded hands, Sundaramurti said, ‘Oh Lord! You
came in the guise of a brahmin, and preferred a claim against
me, and I contested and argued with you, not knowing your
greatness. You are the great Lord that gave me recollection of
my past, and saved me from falling into worldly actions and
behaviour and getting drowned therein. What do I know of
your limitless great qualities, and what shall I sing of them?’
Ishwara said, ‘You already called me Pitthan, madman. Therefore,
sing of me as the Mad Man’. So saying, he disappeared.

Sundaramurti immediately sang the “Sri Padikam”, commencing
with the verse ‘Pittha pirai sudi’. His story is full of such strange
experiences,” said Bhagavan.

I asked, “Is he named Sundaramurti as the result of
the recollection of his past?” “Yes, yes! No other reason is to
be found in his story!” replied Bhagavan.