Tiruvaali Tirunagari

Special Note

Vedupari Utsavam Tiruvaali is said to be the birthplace of Amritavalli Thāyār, and Tirunagari is said to be the birthplace of Lord Vayalali Māṇavāḷan. It is said that on the night that the Lord got married to Thāyār, they were targeted and looted by Tirumangai Āzhwār. Before becoming a saint, Tirumangai Āzhwār was a dacoit named Kaliyan. Tirumangai Āzhwār wanted to marry a woman named Kumudhavalli.

She placed two conditions, namely, 1) To get Pancha-Samskāram done, and 2) to perform tadhiyararadhanam (annadhanam) for a thousand people for one year. To satisfy the second condition, Tirumangai Āzhwār used to steal gold from anyone he could find, sell the gold to get money to serve people. As fate would have it, Tirumangai Āzhwār ran into the Lord and Thāyār. He pulled out a knife and told them to remove all the jewelry that they were wearing. The Lord and Thāyār gave up all their jewelry.

Tirumangai Āzhwār tied up all of the jewelry in a cloth, and as he was about to lift it, the Lord performed an enchantment in such a way that he could no longer lift it. In anger, Tirumangai Āzhwār threatened the Lord to give him the mantra that would allow him to lift the bag. The Lord smiled and told him that he was performing all of this to make sure that Tirumangai Āzhwār would obtain this mantra and propagate it to the world. Thus the Lord gave Tirumangai Āzhwār the ashtakshara mantram.

All of this is performed as a drama to date on Pankuni Uttaram day. Find the pictures of the utsavam attached below.