Chapter 2 - Azhvarkadiyan Nambi

Riding along the bank of the dam, Vandiya Devan turned his horse towards the South. As he rode, he wondered about his mission. He felt intuitively that he was bound on an adventurous journey that was destined to change his life. As he traveled towards the Chola Empire, he was amazed by the scenic beauty of the fertile lands and the gurgling tributaries of the Ponni.
He had also heard a lot about the numerous temples that the Chola Kings had built along the banks of the river Ponni.

He was also excited about the fact that he would be visiting famous cities like Thanjavur and Pazhaiarai. One was the present capital and the other a former capital. Apart from that he was going to meet the king! The great warrior and handsome King Sundara Chola. Not only that, he was also going to meet the most beautiful and intelligent woman in the Chola Empire, Elayapirathi Kundavai.

He just hoped he wouldn't have any big hurdles to cross to accomplish his mission. "But what if there are hurdles? Till I have my sword in hand hurdles will not be a problem," he said to himself.

Wanting to reach Kadambur before sunset, he hurried along the road. Being an auspicious day, people had flocked there to perform puja.

The town wore a festive look. There were numerous shops selling flowers and eatables. Apart from them there were astrologers, numerologists and sorcerers offering their services to the people. In the midst of all this, he saw a huge crowd gathered around and heard a few loud voices arguing. Wanting to know what was happening, Vandiya Devan left his horse in a corner and elbowed his way through the crowd.

He found out that there were only three people who were arguing vigorously. And the crowd seemed to be cheering and supporting their favourite. Of the three, one was a fat Vaishnavaite with a knot of hair in front of his face. He had applied sandalwood paste all over his body and also had a stout stick. The second one had applied vibudi all over his body and was obviously a Saivite. The third one was a saffron clad sanyasi with a shaven head. He was a follower of Adi Shankaracharya.

At this point, the Saivite spoke up, "Hey, Azhvarkadiyan Nambi, try answering this. Vishnu and Brahma attempted to find the head and the foot of our Lord Siva. Didn't they fail in their attempt and accept defeat? Then how can you say that Vishnu is greater than Lord Siva?"
Hearing this Azhvarkadiyan Nambi said, "Hey Veerasaiva Padathuli Pattar, stop talking nonsense. Your lord granted so many useless wishes to the ten-headed Ravana. Didn't all these wishes become a waste before our Vishnu's avatar Rama. Then how can you say that Siva is greater than our Lord Vishnu?"

Now it was the sanyasis's turn. "Why are you both arguing unnecessarily? No matter how long you argue you will not find the answer to this question about who is greater. You both are still stuck in a lower level of bhakti. You will have to rise above this level to gain enlightenment. Once you reach that level, you will find that there is no Siva or Vishnu. You will find that the entire world is a maya. Sarvam Brahmam Mayam. Our Adi Shankaracharaya said in his Brahma Stutra..."

At this point Azhvarkadiyan Nambi interrupted and said, "Enough sanyasi! Your Shankaracharya after writing all the upanishads and Brahma Stutram said in the end,
Baja Govindam Baja GovindamBaja Govindam Mudamadi

He said mudamadi about fools like you."

This won applause for him from the crowd.

But the sanyasi was unruffled. He said, "Hey Nambi! You are right I am indeed foolish to get into a theological debate with a stick-sporting rogue like you."

"sanyasi! Do you know why I keep this stick? I use it to break the shaven heads of sanyasis like you," said Azhvarkadiyan Nambi. The crowd loved this retort and cheered him loudly.

"My dear fellow! Stop this. Let the stick be in your hands. But even if you attack me with it I will not be angry. Everything is maya. The attacker is brahmam and the victim is also brahmam. If you hit me it means you are hitting yourself," said the sanyasi.

"Look here everyone. Brahmam is going to attack another brahmam. I am going to hit myself with the stick," shouted Azhvarkadiyan Nambi and went near the sanyasi.

After watching all this, Vallvareyan felt like teaching a lesson to Azhvarkadiyan Nambi.
At this point, the sanyasi slipped away into the crowd.

"Hey Padathuli Pattar, what do you say now? Do you want to debate or would you like to run like that sanyasi?" asked Azhvarkadiyan Nambi.

"Me? I will never run away like that sanyasi. Do you think I am like your Krishna to steal butter and then get beaten by Gopis?" asked Padathuli Pattar.

"Really? Seems like you have forgotten that your Lord Siva got beaten soundly on his back while he was unloading sand," said Azhvarkadiyan Nambi.

Azhvarkadiyan immediately turned towards him and asked, "Who are you to interfere?"

There were some people in the crowd took an immediate liking to our young warrior and they told Vandiya Devan, "You tell these people to stop fighting, thambi. We will support you."
"I don't think Lord Siva and Lord Vishnu are fighting amongst themselves. They are living peacefully. Then why should this Nambi and Pattar fight among themselves?" said Vandiya Devan.

Hearing this, many in the crowd burst out laughing.

"This boy is making fun of us. But let him tell us who is the Supreme God - Lord Siva or Lord Vishnu," said the Pattar.

"Lord Siva is great and so is Lord Vishnu. You can worship whomever you want. Why do you want to fight over this?" said Vandiya Devan.

"How can you tell that they both are great Gods? Do you have any proof?" asked Azhvarkadiyan.

"Proof? So you want proof? Okay, here it is! Yesterday I went to Vaikundam and incidentally Lord Siva had also come there. Both Siva and Vishnu were sitting on thrones which were of the same height. And I asked them who was the greater god among them. Do you know what they said?
Harium Sivanum onnuAriyadavar vaayil mannu
(Vishnu and Siva are one. And the words of those who do not know this are as mud.)"
"And they gave me a handful of mud," said Vandiya Devan and opened his palm. There was a handful of mud in it.

The crowd, much inspired by this act, applauded him and proceeded to heap mud on both Nambi and the Pattar.

Nambi became hysterical and started shouting, "You scoundrels! You atheists!"

A clash of arms seemed inevitable at this point. Thankfully they heard the sound of couches and drums close by. The crowd dispersed to make way for the procession.

"Great Warrior! True Soldier! Slayer of Mara Pandiyan. Victorious in 24 wars and bearer of 64 brave scars. The Treasurer of the Chola Kingdom, Periya Pazhuvetarayar, is on his way," announced a man who was at the head of the procession. After him came the flag holders, the drumbeaters and an endless row of soldiers.

In the end came a beautifully decorated elephant. On the elephant sat a powerful looking man. His face reflected power, the pride of his position and his physical strength.
Vandiya Devan looked at the man on the elephant and said to himself, "This is Periya Pazhuvetarayar."

Behind the elephant, there came a heavily veiled palanquin. It caught Vandiya Devan's eyes and he wondered who could be inside. The next instant a fair complexioned hand wearing bracelets opened the veil of the palanquin and a face looked out through the parted veil.

Vandiya Devan was a true lover of woman's beauty. The woman in the palanquin was beautiful with a glowing complexion but it didn't inspire happiness in his heart. Instead he felt fear and disgust.

Simultaneously the woman looked at something near Vandiya and a low scream escaped from her and immediately she disappeared behind the veils of the palanquin.

Vallavareyan sensed that the woman had looked at someone and had got frightened. He wondered who that could be and looked around and found Azhvarkadiyan standing beside him with an indescribable expression of disgust and distaste on his face.