page_title: Murkha Nayanar
section_title: Life
hierarchical_section_title: Murkha Nayanar / Life
caption_attribution_description: English: Vedapureeswar temple, Thiruverkadu
context_page_description: Murkha Nayanar, also known as Moorka Nayanar, Murka Nayanar, Moorkha Nayanar, Murgga Nayanar, Moorkka Nayanar and Murkhar, is a Nayanar saint, venerated in the Hindu sect of Shaivism. He is generally counted as the thirty-second in the list of 63 Nayanars.
context_section_description: The life of Murkha Nayanar is described in the Periya Puranam by Sekkizhar (12th century), which is a hagiography of the 63 Nayanars.
  Murkha was born in Tiruverkadu (Thiruverkadu), which was part of Tondai Nadu, then part of the Pallava kingdom. Tiruverkadu is currently a western suburb of the Indian city of Chennai. He was a Vellalar, a caste of agricultural land owners. He is described as great devotee of the god Shiva, the patron god of Shaivism. Murkha Nayanar cultivated devotion for Shiva from his childhood. He used to serve Shiva, by serving Shaivas, the devotees of Shiva. He used to prepare rice with ghee and various sweet and savoury delicacies and feed the devotees. The saint spent all his wealth in feeding the devotees. He sold all his possessions, including his properties and his slaves.
  To gain wealth and feed the devotees, Murkha turned to gambling and mastered "the art". Since people of Tiruverkadu did not want to gamble, he travelled to various towns, gambling and spending the money in serving Shiva and his devotees. He finally reached Tirukkudanthai (present-day Kumbakonam), home of numerous Shiva temples. To serve a feast to the devotees, he went to the gambling houses of the town. He strategically lost money in the initial rounds, forcing the opponents to gamble more money in the later rounds, winning great amount of money. He used to stab rivals, who cheated or used deception to win or refused to pay after losing. His actions earned him the name Murkha Nayanar, translated variously as "wicked Nayanar", "fierce Nayanar" and "violent Nayanar". The money was given to cooks, to prepare a feast for the devotees. He used to eat only after all the devotees had eaten. He lived his life, gambling and serving devotees, finally reaching Kailash - Shiva's abode, after his death.
caption: Vedapureeswarar Temple, Thiruverkadu where there is a shrine of Murkha Nayanar
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "", "Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon PowerShot ELPH 115 IS", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "180", "Image YResolution": "180", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image DateTime": "2016:03:20 09:14:47", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "248", "GPS GPSVersionID": "[2, 3, 0, 0]", "Image GPSInfo": "5038", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "180", "Thumbnail YResolution": "180", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "5620", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "5213", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/1250", "EXIF FNumber": "4", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "100", "EXIF SensitivityType": "Standard Output Sensitivity and Recommended Exposure Index", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0230", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2016:03:20 09:14:47", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2016:03:20 09:14:47", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "3", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "329/32", "EXIF ApertureValue": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "4", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "11611/1000", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3264", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2448", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "Interoperability RelatedImageWidth": "3264", "Interoperability RelatedImageLength": "2448", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "4960", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "1632000/121", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "1224000/91", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF CameraOwnerName": ""}