(1839 - 1900 ce.)
Srii nIlakaNTa Sivan (dhaasar) was born in 1839 in vaDivISwaram, a small village near naagarkOyil (TamilNadu) by the grace of Muthu Kumaraswamy of Vaidheeswara Temple. Parents named him Subramaniam. During later part of his life this name would completely disappear and he would be called as nIlakaNTa dhaasar due to the great devotion that he had for Lord nIlakaNTa of Padmanaabhapuram temple. nIlakaNTa Sivan has described his birth place in the following viruttham (aTaaNa):
1. poDi pUsi angamisai pongara vaNindhOn thuDimaan mazhuppaDaiyan thUyamadhic chUDan aDiyIRu thEDi ariyayanu maRiyaadhaan vaDivODu mannumiDam vaDivIcchu ramE 2. aadhiyODu anthamili anbartham perumaan kaadhilaNi kuzhaiyuLaan kaNgaL mUnRuLLaan Odhinaan maRaipugazhumoru vanuyar variyan maadhi nODu mannumiDam vaDivIc churamE azhagammai maadhinODu mannumiDam vaDivIc churamE
The parents left vaDivISwaram and settled down in Padmanaabhapuram. Here is a temple for the Lord nIlakaNTa (Lord Siva) and His consort, Anandavalli. Child Subramaniam, even from very young age would visit this temple and stand in front of the deity and melt down in deep devotion. At the age of 5, he was sent to school. But the child's mind was constantly drifting towards his Lord. He liked to spend his time chanting Siva bhajans taught to him by his mother. He would do temple service, teach songs to other children and spent his childhood in this manner.
At the right age, his parents desired to get him married. At this juncture, he left the house without telling anyone and went to the thaaNumaalayan temple in SusIndhram. A surprise was awaiting boy Subramaniam in the temple. When he sat in meditation, he heard a voice saying "illaRamE nallaRam". These were the words of the Lord as advice for His disturbed devotee. The Lord adviced him to continue his devotion towards Him, taking up married life. Subramaniam obeyed these words and went home and agreed to get married.
In that village there was a rich person by name thaaNu Iyer. His daughter, Lakshmi had chevvaay dhOsham and was unable to get her married to anyone. Subramaniam (nIlakaNTa dhaasar) was wedded to this girl. But even after marriage, dhaasar was living like a water droplet on a lotus leaf without any attachments.
At the age of 18 dhaasar left his house and went to the padmanabhapuram temple and hid inside the vaahana pirai (room where the Lord's vehicles, vaahanam, are stored). For three days dhaasar did penance without any food or water with extreme determination to have vision of his Lord. Knowing this the Goddess, Anandavalli thaayaar along with Her Consort, Lord nIlakaNTa appeared in front of him and gave dharshan. The Goddess graced him with food and thambUlam. After this vision dhaasar composed his first song, "thirunIlakaNTa dhaSakam". This is a beautiful work containing 10 verses in tamizh.
(viruttam Sivaranjani) paNDenna pUsaiyaan seydha payanOvaladhu parama! nin karuNaiyialbhO paaviyEnai aaTkoLLa vENDumena en manapparimIdhu thaavi nenjam koNDa a~jnaanavaan kaNDagak kaaniDai koDunthozhil purindhu mEvum kObalObhaadhiyam koDiya mrgaadhiyaik kuRaivaRRa kaNDa jnaanac chaNDakOdhaNDak guNaththovani seydhu OTTiyum saiva virudhaik kaaTTiyum chaDathimira mODuRRa kaaDellaam nIkki unRan peruvazhi thulakki aNDar thozhum paadha ennidhayamkODi mIdhamaiya vaiththangulaatthi aruL lIlaipurinIla kaNTavun pORRamadhai aDainthOrgaL kaNDilEnE
(hindolam) saami nI kaNDu ninvaamaiyaam en peRRa thaay kaNDu manamirangi thamizh vaaNiyudhavi adhanaaRpaaDi aruLuRath thandhu mEnmElum manbhaayk kOmaLaththaamaraip pUmalar padhagathi koDuththaaLa ennuLLaththE kuDi koNDa thirunIla kaNTaavunpOl karuNai koNDOrgaL kaNDilEnE
After having the vision of the Goddess, Anandavalli he composed Anandhavalli dhaSakam:
aiyndhu mOraaRu mIraindhu mIraaRu mOraindhu mOrpatthumaana ay mUnRu mOronRum aTcharamagaa manthram aruL vaDivamaana thaayE ayndhu karanODu IraaRukaranaiyumInRa ambikE inbha nidhiyE akhilaaNDa kODi pugazh magaraasiyaana paramaanandha valli umaiyE
dhaasar's first keerthanam was in hamir kalyaNi raaga. The song is "Sivanai ninai manamE saambhasadha - Sivanai; bhavavinai aganRu pOmpaDikrubai thandhaaLum paranai paramadhayaakaranai umaavaranai - Sivanai"
Later everyone surrendered to dhaasar and requested him back to his family life. His father-in-law thANu Iyer got him a job as magistrate. But being a honest and straightforward person, he resigned that job when he was asked to present a false witness by dishonest men. Once when he saw a family in which the parents were unloving towards their children, he sang with a heavy heart, the mukhari song "enna vidham pizhaippOm eLiyOrE?". This song is composed of several charanams. One of the charanams goes like this:
kaala mazhaigaLil laadhaacchE adhu kaalam thavaRip peyyalaacchE - panjak kaalam eppOdhum nilaiyaacchE - pollaak kaalamidhenRu satthiya paalamiDiyalaacchE
He composed thousands of songs. In most of these songs nIlakaNTa is the mudra he uses. There are several other songs in which he uses "maikkaNTar", "kaRaikaNTar", "maimaNikaNTar", "maimaNi sundaran", "maimaNikaNTatthaan", "nIlamaNIkaNTan", "nIlamaNisundaran karumaNi sundaran", "karumaNi kaNTan". He composed "SiramE nI paNivaay mahaadEvan thiruvaDi mUvagaimuRaiyaay" in the lines of thirunaavukkarasar's thEvaram "thalaiyE nI vaNangaay". Ramalinga aDigaLaar sang "arumarundhoru thanimarundhu ambalatthil kaNDEnE". Similar to this, dhaasar sang in bEhag the song marundhirukkudhu marundhirukkudhu manamanbuRRavarkkE. Its anpallavi goes like this:
marundhu maRRedhuvum idhuk koppaagaadhu manam koNDaal pOdhum jananam varaadhu
Thyagaraaja Swami created a raama bhakta saamraajyam with his sangeetham by singing "sangeetha jnaanamu bhakthivinaa sanmaargamugaladhE O manasaa". Similarly in tamizh, nIlakaNTa Sivan's songs exude the paramaananda Sivanandaamrtham. Some of the songs that are filled with great devotion towards Lord nIlakaNTa are "Sivanaamam vegukshEmam", "Sivan varuvaar thuNai avar tharuvaar gathithERikkOnI manamE", "sadaaSiva bhajanai seyvaai manamE", "aadhiSivanaruL yaarukku irukkudhO avarE periyavarE - yaaraanaalenna anbuLLa pErgaLE sIraana bhanthukkaLE", "Sankaranai dhinam thudhi manamE avarthaan unakkiha dhanamE".
In a mOhanam krithi he sings in line with avvayaar's saying "kOyililla Uril kuDiyirukka vENDaam" thus:
mangala vEdhampaaDi maNavaa Urum maRai sonna vazhi thEDi naDavaa Urum Sankaranaark kanbuDaiyaarirukkaa Urum thazhalUTTitthaamuNbaar thariyaa Urum pangamaRath thirunIRu thINDaa Urum paragathikkup paraSivanai aNDaa Urum nangai umaapathi kOyilillaa Urum naaDalla adhuvellaam koDiyakaaDE ellaarum SivanaDiyaar - naa mellaarum oru kuDiyaar
He performed pilgrimage to 108 holy places with his disciples. During these times he performed several miracles and surprised others. Lord Muruga appeared in front of nIlakaNTa in the form of an effulgent light when he was preparing to go to kadhirkaamam. Immediately he sang the mukhari song "kaNNaaRa kaNDEniru kaNNaaRu peruga, senkaNNan maruganai mukkaNNan thirumaganai - kaNNaaRa kaNDENE". The favorite place of nIlakaNTa dhaasar was vaikkam. The deity there is called "vaikkatthappar" (Siva). He has composed several songs and kaNNis on vaikkatthappar (karuNaiperunkaDalE in suddha dhanyaasi). For sometime dhaasar was not visiting ERRumaanU temple which is near vaikkam. Lord Siva sent an elephant calf and chased dhaasar and his disciples into His temple and made him sing a song there,
oTTilaadhu viTTaDiyEn pOmaaRunninEn enba dheNNi enai oru kuTTi yaanaiyai viTTuNar vIndhiTTa kOlankaNDu vandhunnaDi kumbiTTEn aTTisollaa dharuL purivaayini appanE, muppuRam thazhaliTTa naaL ishTamaay kiTTi vandhadhOr maalviDai yERRavaa ERRumaanUr iRaivanE
Next, there was a village called karunkuLam where rain failed for successive five years. The citizens of the village pleaded with nIlakaNTa to do something for them. nIlakaNTa sang a viruttham in amrthavarshiNi with great devotion to Mother Goddess and immediately it rained filling all wells and canals.. The villagers lives were saved thus.
pizhaigaLellaam nI poRuppaai peRRavaLE piLLaigaLukku un kazhaliNaiyE thuNaiyiladhOr gathikaaNOm kaNDaRivaai mazhaiyena vandharuL tharuvaai maadhEvan maadhavi azhagunak kIdhaagumanRO annai kulaSEkhariyE maartthaaNDESwarar kula SEkhariyE maartthaaNDESwarar akhilaaNDESwariyE annai kulaSEkhariyE mazhaitharuvaayE
Once, after performing sangeetha upanyasam in another place, dhaasar along with his disciples was going along a jungle path. Suddenly lots of thieves surrounded them and grabbed the money bag from them and were leaving... Thereupon dhaasar called the thieves and told them to take the music instruments also and they could make money with them. Immediately the thieves thought that was a good idea and took all the instruments and started in their way. Miraculously their hands and legs became swollen and they struggled to move. Afraid of the situation and realising the greatness of the person whom they tried to rob, they turned back and surrendered to nIlakaNTa and asked for forgiveness.
When a widow's son died of cholera, nIlakaNTa brought back the boy to life, by chanting panchaakshara mantra into the ears of the dead body. In padmanaabhapuram temple when once there wasn't enough oil to light the torch for the procession, nIlakaNTa took some water from a nearby pond and lit the torch with it. Another time when temple procession was hindered by dashing rain, nIlakaNTa sang "edhirpaDum varuNa anja" and stopped the rain.
Once in a village a house lord drove away dhaasar's disciples who went to that house for taking rest on the thiNNai. When dhaasar came to know of this incident, he remarked with regret "tomorrow after taking oil bath he is going to die.. why is he refusing today to lend his thiNNai for others to rest?". Correct to the words, next day the house lord was washed away in a flood when he entered the river after taking oil bath.
Hearing about the greatness of nIlakaNTa dhaasar, the king og Travancore "mUlam thirunaaL" invited him to his court. nIlakaNTa performed sangeetha upanyasam and in the middle sang without any fear the truth that even a king will in the end be a handful of ashes thus, "arasaniDatthil namakkennE avaraalaavadhum maRRennE" - "muDi sUDum mannanum muDivil oru piDi saambalE aavar". Hearing this the people present in the court were frightened. But the king enjoyed it and remarked "sathyam parajnadhE enikkE vaLarE ishTamaayi, santhOshamaayi" and praised dhaasar and presented several gifts to him. With these gifts when dhaasar stepped out of the palace, he discovered what is in the mind of the palace guard and gave all the money and gifts to him and walked away empty handed.
At the completion of the age of sixty, nIlakaNTa foresaw that his end was nearing. He told everyone about this in advance and adviced his wife and four sons not to grieve at his death. Devotees, Pundits and Kings gathered and decorated a pushpaka pallanquin. Dhaasar desired to attain kapaala mOksham in the month of ADi, krishNa paksha, dvaadhaSi thithi, evening at 4:30. This is "svacchanna maraNam" shedding one's mortal coils at a self-chosen time. For three days, day and night Siva bhajana gOsham continued and filled the air with Siva bhakthi rasa. When the heights of bhakthi was reached, nIlakaNTa sang,
(madhyamaavathi) aruL nIlakaNTa madhu kaNDa naaL mudhalaai anantha muRaipaaDivunRan aDimaiyaanEn thirunIlakaNTa dhaasan enappeyar siRandhEn sErtthaaNDathiruvaruLidhu ennavum uNarndhEn peruvaala muNDa thiruvaruL uNmai naaDi periya poruL vERillai ena unaiyaDaindhEn varukaala muNDena igazhndhiDaay .... mahaadEva enRunai azhaitthEn
Three times he called out the name "mahaadEva" and attained kapaala mOksham. nIlakaNTa dhaasar merged in Lord nIlakaNTESwara. The mortal body was kept in the pushpaka pallanquin and taken in a procession.
Unlike other composers, nIlakaNTa Sivan composed in several forms viz., in tamizh, sanskrit, maNipravaaLam, kaNNi, viruttham, chandhaviruttham, aarya viruttham, chandham, sindhu, aanandhac chindhu, moNDic chindhu, kaavaDic chindhu, vazhinaDai chindhu, aacchaariyaa, kocchagam, panchagam, shaTkam, ashTakam, navakam, dhaSakam, Sathakam (100 verses of 4 lines each), shaDaakshari, angaadhi maalai, navarathna maalai, aksharamaalai, kaaNikkai, annakkaNNi, paambukkaNNi, kuRatthikkaNNi, mayiRkaNNi, kuyiRkaNNi, andhaadhi, kalyaaNa uNjal, nalangu, laali, kummi, kappal, thaalaaTTu, aanandhakaLippu, maguDi, oppaari, raagamaalika, pancha raagamaalika, navaraagamaalika, ashTadhaSaraagamaalika (18 raagas).
He composed 63 naayanmaar charithram in which some of the songs were stolen. 64 Siva lIla, naalvar charithram of the four great Saivites viz., sundarar, thirujnaanasambandhar, maaNikkavaachagar, thirunaavukkarasar; sOmavaara mahaathmiyam, pradhOshamahaathmiyam, Sivarathri mahaathmiyam, Srirudhra mahimai, rudraaksha mahaathmiyam, panchanaTana kIrththanam.
He also composed dhasaavathaara sthOthram.
(gauLai) - mathsya avathaaram eLLamar eNNaipOlum engumaayirudhar inRu thaLLavaa engaL thunbam chathurmaRai kavarndhOn aavi koLLavaa kOvai thannaik koDukkavaa venRu dhEvar uLLavaaRuraikka mInaai udhitthavan Srii vaikuNTan (rIthi gauLai) - kUrma/varaaha avathaaram thaaraNi thaangi bhUmi thannai Or kombiRRUkki nIramar aamai panRiyaagi nIL bhuvanam kaakkum kaaraNan kari soR kETTuk karuNaiyaaya edhirndhu ninRa naaraNan kamalam pUttha naabhiyOn Srii vaikuNTan (maayaamaaLava gaulai) - narasimha/vaamana/raama avathaaram ...... (kannaDa gaulai) - parasuraama/balaraama/krishNa avathaaram ...... (kEdara gaulai) - kalki avathaaram ......
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