The Lord Who Did as He Was Told

At Tiruvekhā, the Āzhwār was moved by the devoted service of an elderly woman and, at her wish, restored her youth and gave her unsurpassed beauty. She went on to marry the Pallava king, who, learning the secret of her youth, wished to regain his own. She told him to approach Kaṇikaṇṇan, the Āzhwār's disciple.

When Kaṇikaṇṇan was summoned to the court, he refused to come. When he was asked to compose a verse on the king, he refused to praise a mere mortal. When he was told that the king was an aspect of the Lord, he composed a verse on the Lord, and not on the king. Enraged, the king banished him from the kingdom.

Hearing of this, Tirumazhisai Āzhwār went to the Lord in worship and asked Him to leave the place with them. He sang:

"Kaṇikaṇṇan pōginrān, kāmaru pūṅ kacchi

Maṇivaṇṇā! nī kiḍakka vēṇḍā;

thuṇivuḍaiya sennāp pulavanum pōginrēn, nīyum un tan

pai nāgap pāyaich churuṭṭik koḷ."

"Kaṇikaṇṇan is leaving beautiful Kanchi. O Maṇivaṇṇā, You need not lie here any longer. I, the bold poet of ready tongue, am leaving with him; roll up Your serpent bed and follow us."

And so they all left Kanchipuram, and with the Lord gone, the city fell desolate. The king realised his folly and begged Tirumazhisai Āzhwār and Kaṇikaṇṇan to forgive him and return. Seeing the king's repentance, the Āzhwār prayed that they might all go back, and he sang again:

"Kaṇikaṇṇan pōkkozhindhān, kāmaru pūṅ kacchi

Maṇivaṇṇā! nī kiḍakka vēṇḍum;

thuṇivuḍaiya sennāp pulavanum pōkkozhindhēn, nīyum un tan

pai nāgap pāyil paḍuththuk koḷ."

"Kaṇikaṇṇan has given up his leaving, and so have I, the bold poet of ready tongue. O Maṇivaṇṇā, You must lie here in beautiful Kanchi; spread Your serpent bed and lie down upon it once more."

They all returned, and Kanchipuram regained its lost glory. Because the Lord did exactly as the Āzhwār told Him, He came to be called Yathōthakāri, and Sonna Vaṇṇam Seitha Perumāl, "the Lord who did as He was told."