yield benefits in both spiritual and worldly terms
if they are visited.
A wide variety of places, times, locations, or
objects can be described as mangala. In Jain tradi-
tion the ashtamangala or eight auspicious things
are taken out for special occasions. They include
a mirror and a pot full of water. In fact, the poten-
tial for auspicious or inauspicious occurrences
is practically unlimited on a day-to-day basis in
Indian tradition.
Further reading: John Carman and Frederique Apffel
Marglin, eds., Purity and Auspiciousness in Indian Society
(Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1985).
Manikkavacakar (c. ninth century) Tamil
poet-saint
Manikkavacakar is often considered the Tamil
people’s most revered Shaivite poet-saint, even
though he is not included in the traditional
grouping of 63 saints. His works, Tirukkovaiyar
and TIRUVACAKAM, form the eighth book of the
Tamil Shaivite canonical work TIRUMURAI. There is
hardly a Tamil Shaivite who does not know a line
from these two poems, which express devotion to
Lord SHIVA with great beauty and fervor.
Manikkavacakar was born in a Tamil Brahmin
family in Tiruvatavur, a village on the Vaikai River,
which also runs through the city of Madurai, and
thus he has the proper name of Tirvatavur (He
Who Belongs to the Sacred Village of Tiruvatavu-
ras). But he is best known, Manikkavacakar (he
whose utterances [vacaka] are like rubies [manik-
kam]). His father was an adviser to the Pandya
king. The son followed in his father’s footsteps
and became chief minister to the Pandya monarch
Arimarttanar.
The story goes that Manikkavacakar was sent
by the monarch to a port city with a huge sum of
money to buy horses. There Manikkavacakar, who
was inclined to renounce the world, met his GURU,
who was in fact a form of SHIVA himself. There he
took teaching from the guru and asked to be taken
as a devotee. He surrendered to his guru all the
treasure entrusted to him by the king. When the
king found out, he imprisoned Manikkavacakar.
Forced to stand in the hot sun so that he would
agree to return the money, the saint prayed to
Shiva, and a herd of beautiful horses was deliv-
ered to him to give to the king. Unfortunately,
the horses were jackals who had been magically
transformed and reverted to their former nature
during the night.
The king again tormented Manikkavacakar
in the hot sun. Eventually, when Shiva revealed
himself to the king, Manikkavacakar was released.
He was ordered by Shiva to go to three shrines to
teach and to defeat the Buddhists in debate.
One of these shrines was the famous Shiva
shrine of CHIDAMBARAM. It was there that most of
the hymns that formed the Tiruvacakam were first
sung (and probably written by his followers). It
is said that the Buddhists there heard of the saint
and sent someone to debate him. Manikkavacakar
completely vanquished the Buddhists in debate,
invoking SARASVATI to strike them dumb. The Bud-
dhists then all became devotees of Shiva. Eventu-
ally, Shiva himself wrote all the poet’s works, and
the saint disappeared into the icon of Shiva in
Chidambaram.Further reading: G. U. Pope, The Tiruvacakam (Oxford:
Clarendon Press, 1900); K. Ravi, Saint Manikkavasagar’s
Verses of Wisdom: A Bio-Cosmic Worldview (Madras:
Anand Jothi, 2002); Glenn Yocum, Hymns to the Danc-
ing Siva: A Study of Manikkavacakar’s Tiruvacakam
(Columbia, Mo.: South Asia Books, 1982).manipura chakra
The manipura or “City of Jewels” CHAKRA is the
third chakra from the base of the spine in the
KUNDALINI YOGA system. It is situated on the spine
at the level of the navel. This chakra is associated
with the drive for power and accomplishment.
Arrogance and vanity are the emotions that mani-
fest from it. Its element is fire (see PANCHA MAHAB-K 276 Manikkavacakar