KUNGILIYA NAYANAR

INTRODUCTION
Kungiliya Nayanar or Kalayan is a Nayanar saint,
and considered as a great devotee of Lord Shiva.
He is considered as one among the 63
nayanmars.
LIFE
Kalaya was born in Thirukkadaiyur,Tamil Nadu.
And he was an ardent devotee of Lord
Amritaghateswarar and Annai Abhirami. Kalaya
worked as a temple priest and he served Lord
Shiva by offering incense stick called Kungiliya( A
kind of agarbathi used for shiva puja), and from
then onwards he was known as Kungliya Nayanar.
Due to his divine service, in course of time, his
wealth was diminished. Even after that, he
continued to burn Kungiliya in Shiva's temple.
Once he gave his wife’s thali (Sacred Ornament)
in return for a bag of incense and went to the
temple and burnt it. Shiva was pleased with the
devotion of the couple and restored his wealth.
At a Shiva temple in Thiruppanandal, the shiva
lingam was remained in a leaning posture. Due
to the request of the chola king, he made the
lingam in the straight form. The king was very
happy and gave lot of wealth to Kungiliya Kalaya
Nayanar. He had spent all the wealth towards
doing shiva puja at his home and in the temple,
and provided food to the devotees of Lord Shiva.
After serving Lord Shiva and his devotees for a
long time, Kungiliya Kalaya Nayanar
attained Kailash, Lord Shiva's abode after his
death.
IMPORTANCE
He had helped a lot for doing shiva puja, which is
considered as a great sacred deed. He also
provided food to the hungry people and to the
devotees of Lord Shiva. He never thought about
his family, but only thought about Lord Shiva and
chanted his glories and his various names and
recited the Shiva Mantra “OM NAMAH SHIVAYA”
throughout in his life time. He also cultivated the
shiva bhakti to the people. Most of the people
were attracted by his speech and become the
followers of Shaivism.
Let us worship the noble saint and be blessed.
“OM SREE KUNGLIYA NAYANARE NAMAHA”
“OM NAMAH SHIVAYA”
WRITTEN BY
R.HARISHANKAR