Vazhga". This is called Siva Puranam. The songs of Thiruvachagam were considered gems and the Lord" himself named him as Manickavasagar. Manickavasagar had spent all the gold and constructed a big temple at Thiruperunthurai. The King came to know of this and got angry. He sent his men to bring Manickavasagar to Madurai and put him in prison. The Lord began to perform miracles. He changed all the jackals of the forest into horses and came as a servant to the palace. He entrusted the horses to the King. Then the king released Manickavasagar; at nightfall the horses returned to their former form of jackals and ran into the forest. The King became angry. He ordered his men to place a heavy stone on the head of Manickavasagar and make him stand on the sands of the river Vaigai in the hot sun. The dry river ran into floods. The people ran here and there. The people of Madurai were entrusted with the task of stopping the floods in the river. All the people started to do their work. The Lord Himself came as a servant on behalf of an old lady named "Vanthi" who was selling rice "Pittu". The King was supervising the works. He saw the servant of the old lady not doing his part of work. He was idling. So, the King whipped him. The stroke fell on all the people. The servant unloaded a basket full of sand and disappeared. The King realised the greatness of Manickavasagar and begged his pardon. Manickavasagar gave up his ministership and travelled throughout Tamil Nadu. He visited various Siva temples. He sang the songs of Thiruvachagam in praise of the Lord. Finally he came to Chidambaram. One day Lord Nataraja appeared before Manickavasagar as a brahmin and said that he would write out all the Thiruvachagam songs on a palm leaf. Manickavasagar agreed and soon the job was completed. The next day the people found the palm leaves at the feet of Lord Nataraj. At the end of the work it was written "written by a man living in Chitrambalam as narrated by Manickavasagar". Vasagar was very happy indeed. 150
