page_title: Manikkavacakar
section_title: Literary work
hierarchical_section_title: Manikkavacakar / Literary work
caption_attribution_description: English: Manickavasagar in Vellore Museum
context_page_description: Manikkavacakar or MaanikkaVaasagar was a 9th-century Tamil poet who wrote Tiruvasakam, a book of Shaiva hymns. He was one of the main authors of Saivite Tirumurai, his work forms volume eight of the Tirumurai, the key religious text of Tamil language Shaiva Siddhanta. A minister to the Pandya king Varagunavarman II, he lived in Madurai. His work is a poetic expression of the joy of God-experience, the anguish of being separated from God. Although he is a prominent saint in Southern India, he is not counted among the sixty-three nayanars.
context_section_description: Thereafter Manikkavacakar moved from one place to other, singing and composing devotional songs. Finally, he settled in Chidambaram. His Tiruvasakam is placed near the murti of Shiva there. Several verses of Tiruvasagam including the accho patikam after singing which he attained mukti at Thillai Natarajar's feet are also engraved in the walls of the chidambaram temple. The tiruchazhal hymn after singing which the communal Buddhists were exposed is also engraved in one of the prakarams. The work tiruchitrambalakkovaiyar was sung entirely in thillai chidambaram. Throughout his work he discusses how important it is to forego attachments and cultivate dispassionate, devoted, sincere and simple hearted love to lord Shiva in order to attain his beatitude and also that the five letters of na ma si va ya alone give one mukti.
  Manikkavacakar's work has several parts. The Tiruvembavai, a collection of twenty hymns in which he has imagined himself as a woman following the  Paavai Nonbu  and praising Shiva. The twenty songs of Tiruvembavai and ten songs of  Tiruppalliezhuchi  on the Tirupperunturai Lord are sung all over Tamil Nadu in the holy month of  Margazhi  ( The 9th month of the Tamil calendar, December and January).
  Manikkavacakar is believed to have won intellectual arguments with Buddhists of Ceylon at Chidambaram. His festival is celebrated in the Tamil month of  Aani  (June - July). Manikkavacakar's hagiography is found in the Thiruvilaiyadar Puranam (16th century AD).
  In 1921, an English translation of Manikkavacakar's hymns was done by Francis Kingsbury and GE Phillips, both of United Theological College, Bangalore (Edited by Fred Goodwill) and published in a book as Hymns of the Tamil Śaivite Saints, by the Oxford University Press
caption: Manickavackar (Wooden Image), ASI Museum, Vellore
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