THE DREAM OF MARUDHU 'S...

Sivaganga was an off-shoot of the Ramanathapuram Samasthanam at first. It was divided into 5 parts. 3 parts were made into the Ramanathapuram proper and the northern 2 parts were composed into the minor Samasthanam of Sivaganga. This was given away as dowry to Sasivarna Thevar, when he married the daughter of Sethupathy of Ramnad.
The last Raja of Sivaganga was Muthu Vaduga Natha Thurai Thevar.Vellai Marudhu alias Periya Marudhu Servai and his younger brother, Marudhu Pandiyan alias Chinna Marudhu were serving the King. The king lost his life in a war with the forces of the British East India Company.
They rescued the queen, Velu Nachiyar and escaped to Hyder Ali, the Sultan of Mysore. With military help from Hyder, the Mardhu Brothers captured Madurai and Sivaganga.
They reinstalled Velu Nachiyar as the queen and Periya Marudhu Servaikkarar married her. He also used his own money to pay all the arrears of payment owed by the Sivagangai Samasthanam.
Thus Periya Marudhu Servai became the ruler of Sivagangai.
Chinna Marudhu became the minister and manager of the Samathanam. They did a lot of good deeds; protected the people; brought stability and prosperity. They even tried to bring back the ancient glory of the Tamils. So,the Marudhu's had many poets and scholars coming to their place. They had a permanent group of thirty-two Asthana Pulavars.
The chief among them was a child genius called BalaSaraswathi Saanthu Pulavar.(º¡óÐô ÒÄÅ÷).
The Marudhus ruled from 1773 to 1801.
Once, Periya Marudhu was suffering from multiple abscess called a carbuncle. It dragged on for many days without healing.
He consulted Saanthup Pulavar. He was told that the disease can only be cured by the grace of Murugan. If a devotee of Murugan applied ThiruNeeru over the affected part, it would heal immediately. This was Pulavar Vaakku.
Nattukkottai Chettiars were arden devotees of Kunrakkudi Murugan. So,the Servaikkaarar sent his servants and soldierswith orders to bring into his presence, the very first Nattukkottai Chettiar, whom they should meet.
A certain Kaadappa Chettiar of Niyamam, happened to pass along. He was promptly brought to the Servaikkarar.
Marudhu Servai asked him to apply ThiruNeeru over his abscess.
The bewildered Chettiyar was scared out of his wits, and praying with all his mind to Kunrakkudi Murugan to safe him from that difficult situation, put the ThiruNeeru.
That night Marudhu Servai fell into a deep sleep for the first time in so many days.
He had a peculiar dream. There was a very young and handsome sannyasi carrying a bunch of pea-cock feathers.
He pressed the abscess, expressed out the hardened pus, put it on a banana leaf, put some ThiruNeeru over the site, and vanished.
In the morning, Marudhu Servai found that the abscess had ruptured.
He honoured the Chettiyar by giving him a village and treating him as his elder brother, calling him "«ñ§½".
Then he visited Kunrakkudi and worshipped at the temple. He was aghast at the dilapidated condition of the temple. He consulted Astrologers and Maanthirikars who told him that the "Thagadu" underneath the main shrine was upturned. He immediately undertook a massive Thiruppani.
During it, they did find that the 'Thagadu" was indeed upside-down. The hill was surrounded by thorney shrubs.
He had them cleared. He built several water-tanks, the biggest and most magnificent was "Marudhapuri", (ÁÕ¾¡Ò¡¢) named after him. He created groves of one thousand mangoe trees and one thousand coconut trees. He built rampart walls to support and protect the hill-temple. He beautified and extended the temple.
Then he asked Saandhu Pulavar to compose a prabantham on Kunrakkudi Murugan.
Saanthu Pulavar sat in the Thogaiyadi Vinayagar Sannidhi at the foot of the hill and composed the "Mayura Giri Kovai".
This is a long poem of 536 verses. He completed the poem in the space of one day and the arangetram took place there.
When Marudhu Servai was finally captured by the British, Saanthu Pulavar could not bear the loss of Marudhu's friendship and one week later, he died in his home-village.
Thus he did not live to hear the news of the hanging of Periya Marudhu Servaikkarar which took place two weeks later.
If you go to Kunrakkudi, you will see, on two pillars in front of the central shrine of Subramanya, the life-sized statues of the Marudhu Brothers, perpetually paying homage to Murugan.
If you do, think about them, this story,.....and Jaybee.

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