The Birth of Tirumazhisai Āzhwār

Tirumazhisai Āzhwār was an amsham of the Sudarshana Chakram, the divine discus of Sriman Nārāyaṇa. He was born to Bhārgava Muni and Kanakāngi at Tirumazhisai, near Kanchipuram. The child remained in his mother's womb for an unusual twelve months, and when he was born, he had no limbs and no developed form. His parents left him at the foot of a cane bush in the forest. There, Sriman Nārāyaṇa and Mahālakshmī appeared and blessed the child, and he grew at once into a perfectly formed and lovely baby.

A childless couple, Tiruvāḷan and Pankaya Selvi, who earned their living by cutting cane, found the child and took him home. The child would neither eat nor drink, nor did he show any of the needs of an ordinary body. Then an elderly farming couple offered him a bowl of milk, and he drank it with relish. One day the couple drank the milk the child had left behind. Their youth returned to them, and in time a son was born to them, whom they named Kaṇikaṇṇan.