By Swami Sivananda
Idankaliyar Nayanar was the king of Velas in Kodumbalur. He was a staunch devotee of Lord Siva. He had made arrangements with all the Siva temples to perform worship according to the Siva Agamas. There was another Siva bhakta in the same locality doing Maaheshwara Puja. This bhakta became very poor and so he could not continue his puja and feeding of bhaktas. So, one day this Siva bhakta entered Idankaliyar Nayanar's granary at night and began to steal paddy.
The watchman caught the Siva bhakta red-handed and took him to the Idankaliyar. The king learnt on enquiry that the Siva bhakta's motive for stealing was to feed the devotees of the Lord. Idankaliyar let him go.
This incident opened the eyes of Idankaliyar Nayanar. He realized that nothing belonged to him and that the real owners of his property were Lord Siva and His Siva bhaktas. So, Idankaliyar gave permission to all Siva bhaktas to enter his palace and granary and take whatever they wanted. Thus, Idankaliyar Nayanar displayed his zeal for the spread of Saivism. Thus, he, too, earned Lord Siva's grace.
References:
Sekkilaar, and G. Vanmikanathan. Periya Puranam — A Tamil Classic On The Great Saiva Saints of South India. Ed. Dr. N. Mahalingam. Chennai: Sri Ramakrishna Math, 2000.
Sivananda, Swami. Sixty-Three Nayanar Saints. World Wide Web edition. India: Divine Life Society, 1999.
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