Native placeThanjavur (Chola Nadu)
Associated templeAraneri (Achaleswarar) shrine, Thyagaraja Temple, Thiruvarur
Guru PujaAvani — Pusam (Pushya)
In the sixty-threeNo. 55
The Life
Serutunai Nayanar was a Vellala devotee of Thanjavur who gave himself to the flower-service — making garlands and gathering blossoms — for Shiva at the Araneri shrine in Thiruvarur. He held it a strict law that no flower meant for the Lord should be smelled or enjoyed by anyone before it was offered. When the Pallava king Kazharsinga's queen, visiting the shrine, casually picked up a flower gathered for worship and smelled it, Serutunai blazed with holy anger at the sacrilege and, seizing her, cut off the nose with which she had inhaled the Lord's flower. His fierce, uncompromising zeal for the sanctity of Shiva's worship — placing the Lord above all rank and fear of kings — won him the grace of Shiva and a place among the sixty-three.
திருநீலகண்ட நாயனார்Thiruneelakanta Nayanar
the potter of Thillai who kept his vow of chastity
Chidambaram (Thillai)Read the life ›
தில்லைவாழ் அந்தணர்Thillai Vazh Andhanar
the three thousand Brahmins of Chidambaram
Thillai (Chidambaram)Read the life ›
இயற்பகை நாயனார்Iyarpagai Nayanar
the merchant who gave away his own wife at a devotee's word
Kaveripoompattinam (Puhar)Read the life ›