Answers: Thedal Quiz – 5

Thanks again for your active participation in our fifth quiz on ‘devotees’. We thank all readers and respondents for their active participation.

Here are the readers who got all the answers right:

Renganathan and Soumya.

Many congratulations!

Here are the answers to the questions:

1. According to Vishnu Purana, which devotee of the Lord was blessed to shine for eternity as the Pole Star in the sky?

Dhruva. When he was mistreated by his step-mother Suruchi, he went to the forest and started chanting the Lord’s name. When the Lord appeared, he shunned worldly desires and wanted only the divine grace of the Lord. On witnessing is extreme devotion, Lord Narayana blessed him to be the pole star (Dhruva Nakshatra) and shine in the sky for eternity.

2. Name the ardent devotee of Lord Rama who is also associated with berries.

Shabari. She was a tribal girl who met sage Mathanga and served him well. The sage blessed her and said that Lord Rama shall give her darshan and asked her to await his arrival. As per her Guru’s words, everyday Shabari would pluck berry fruits, tasted them and would put only the good ones in her basket to offer to Rama. She then eagerly anticipated Lord Rama’s arrival who finally came with Sita and Lakshmana and blessed her when she was extremely old. Shabari is a metaphor for endless wait for God.

3. Name the 16 year old boy who was rescued by Lord Shiva from death and went on to become a great sage and blessed by Lord Vishnu.

Markandeya. He was born to sage Mrikandu who was given the choice of either a righteous son, but with a short life or a child of low intelligence but with a long life. Mrikandu chose the former, and was blessed with Markandeya, an exemplary son destined to die at the age of 16. Markandeya grew up to be a great devotee of Shiva. On the day of his destined death, the God of death, Yama sprung his noose around Markandeya’s neck which landed around the Shivalingam. Shiva emerged in all his fury and vanquished Yama for his act of aggression. Lord Shiva then blessed Markandeya to be 16 forever. He grew in greatness and featured in many puranas including Markandeya purana.

4. As per Mahabharata, who got so overwhelmed with affection on seeing Lord Krishna that he fed him banana peels while discarding the fruit itself?

Vidhura. When the war became imminent, Lord Krishna was sent by the Pandavas as a last resort to restore peace. While visiting Hasthinapura, Krishna shunned the invitation of Duryodhna and visited the humble abode of Vidhura, the minister and half-brother of king Dhritharashtra. Vidhura was excited and overcame with devotion, he started feeding the Lord with banana peels and threw away the fruit. Even so, Lord Krishna partook the offering with pleasure thus teaching all of us that the intent matters more than the ability itself when it comes to devotion to the Lord.

5. Name the Shaivaite poet, who was rescued by Lord Muruga along with 999 others after he sang a popular Sangam Literary work.

Nakkeerar who sang Thirumurugatruppadai. The story goes thus: Nakkeerar was doing penance on the banks of a river when he was abducted by a demon and brought to a cave where another 999 other men were also imprisoned. The demon had decided to kill and eat all of his prisoners, when their number reached thousand. When Nakkeerar heard of the demon’s plan, he composed verses in praise of Lord Shanmukha which came to be known as ‘Thirumurugatruppadai’. The cave in which they were imprisoned shattered and Lord Shanmukha killed the demon and the prisoners were saved.

6. Which famous Shaivaite saint walked to Mount Kailash by using the head?

Karaikkal Ammaiyar. She is one of the three women amongst the 63 Shaivaite Nayanmars. She was born Punithavathi and was an ardent devotee of Lord Shiva. Gradually, she renounced her marriage and even her physical form started roaming in the form of a ghost. She once travelled to Mount Kailash, the abode of Lord Shiva. Unwilling to put her feet on the abode of the Almighty she climbed with her head instead. She is one of the few women devotees who have a place in temples in the form of a deity.

7. Which Azhwar mentioned that he knew no other God than his own guru (preceptor)?

Madhurakavi Azhwar. He was an ardent disciple of Nammazhwar and is the only Azhwar who didn’t sing in praise of any of the 108 Divadesams of the Lord. In his work Kanninun Siruthambu he mentions thus ‘thevu matru ariyen‘ meaning ‘I don’t know any other God than you’, about his Guru Nammazhwar.

8. Which saint/poet wrote ‘Paayoji maine Ram Ratan dhan paayo’?

Meerabai. This is a very popular devotional song by Meerabai who is a biggest devotee of Lord Krishna. In this song she talks about receiving the most valuable wealth – the wealth of the name of the Lord.

9. Which famous Shaivaite nayanar was originally known as ‘Thinnan’ and offered his own eye to the Lord?

Kannappa Nayanar. He was a staunch devotee of Shiva who became one of the 63 Nayanmars or holy Saivite saints. Being a hunter, he offered Lord Shiva whatever animal he hunted. Lord Shiva accepted his offerings since he was pure at heart. Once, Lord Shiva wanted to test his unshakable devotion. Thinnan suddenly noticed that one of the eyes of the Shiva linga was oozing blood. At once, he proceeded to pluck his own eye out with one of his arrows and placed it in the spot of the bleeding eye. Though the bleeding stopped, the other eye of the linga started oozing blood. So Thinnan proceeded to pluck his other eye and placed his great toe on the linga to mark the spot of the bleeding second eye. Moved by this extreme devotion, the Lord appeared before him and restored both of his eyes. For his unselfish act, he came to be known as Kannappan or Kannappa Nayanar.

10. In which Vaishnavite Divyadesha temple did the Lord manifest with hair (‘Thirumudi’) to save his devotee from the wrath of the king?

Thirukkannapuram Sowriraja Temple. In this temple, once the temple priest presented a garland worn by the Lord to a women he favored. As luck would have it, a Chola king unexpectedly visited the temple. As tradition dictated that the garland had to be offered to the king, the priest managed to get the garland given to the women and presented the same to the king. The king noticed a strand of hair in the garland, became furious. He asked the priest to whom did the strand of hair belonged to and priest lied and mentioned that it belonged to the Lord himself. When the king gave the priest a day to prove this, the priest rushed into the sanctum and prayed to the Lord for protection. The next day, to everyone’s surprise the Lord gave darshan with a tuft of hair (‘sowri’). From that day on, the deity came to be known as ‘Sowriraja Perumal’.