Ramalinga Adigal

Ramalinga Adigal who is commonly known as Vallalar  was born on  05.10.1823 at Marudhur, a village 20 kms from Chidambaram in Tamilnadu.  He was the youngest of the five children of Ramiah pillai, who was a teacher in the local school and an ardent devotee of Lord Siva.  He was named Ramalingam.  The year after his birth, his father passed away and his mother Chinnammaiar shifted with children to her mother’s place near Ponneri.  After two years she again shifted the family to Chennai to stay with her eldest son, Sabapthy, who was working as a teacher there. When Ramalingam was five years old, Sabapathy put him to school.  But Ramalingam had no interest in formal education and he preferred to spend his time in the precincts of local Murugan temple known as Kandakottam.  Being a teacher himself, Sabapthy was upset with what he considered as the self-destructive behaviour of his younger brother and as a punitive measure he instructed his wife, Parvathi, not to give him any food. Parvathi being a compassionate person secretly fed him and gently prevailed upon him to pursue his studies at home. Ramalingam relented on condition that he is given a separate room which was agreed to.

Now in the solitary confines of the room Ramalingam set up a mirror and in front of it lit a small lamp and started mediating before it.   Unlike the other children of his age, he was totally disinterested in the usual games and pleasures of childhood.  He was proficient in Tamil language and his inclination was totally towards God.  He could compose wonderful devotional songs from a very early age of nine. Sitting before a mirror and meditating and composing poems and visiting the Kandakottam temple became the daily routine. He felt intensely devotional and poured out his devotion in the form of poems like Deiva Mani Malai, Kandar Sarana Pathu etc. One day Sabapathy who used to give religious discourses could not attend one engagement due to ill-health and he requested Ramalingam to convey the message of his inability to perform to the organisers.  As the organisers could not make alternative arrangements they requested Ramalingam to take up the role of his brother. A reluctant Ramalingam took the stage. His brilliant exposition and uninterrupted flow of words while enunciating a verse from the `Periyapuranam', and his brilliant exposition of Saiva Siddhantha kept the audience spell bound and awestruck.  “No ordinary person can perform a divine discourse as effortlessly and magnificently as Ramaligam” was the remark from the audience. Sabhapathy on coming to know of this felt proud of him and also ashamed that he could not recognize the greatness of his own brother.

Now his brother recognized that Ramalingam was a precocious child genius and let him carry on his routines undisturbed. The family also tried to anchor him to worldly life by getting him married.  Due to their insistence he married Danammal, his sister’s daughter. But he had no heart in the marriage and on the night he was supposed to consummate the marriage, Ramalingam recited his favourite work, Manickavasagar’s Tiruvachakam, to the bride. Marriage was no distraction from his spiritual yearning and religious activities and he did not lead an active married life. 

In 1858, Ramalingam accompanied by a few spiritually oriented friends and a disciple, journeyed southwards towards his birthplace. After worshipping in temples in places like Vaitheeswarankoil, Tiruvaarur, Seerkazhi and Chidambaram, he settled at Karunguzhi, near Chidambaram, where the village official of Karunguzhi, Venkata Reddiar, placed his house at his disposal. During his stay there Ramalingam used to be writing poems day and night.  On one day the people of the house had gone out to a nearby village and stayed there itself that night.  Ramalingam, whom we shall refer to as Adigal hereafter, was alone and writing.  As he was writing the lamp ran out of oil and absorbed in writing, he poured the contents of the vessel left by his side without looking into it, into the lamp and continued writing the whole night. The vessel had contained only water for his use which he had not noticed.  Yet the lamp continued burning on water.  Next day when the family members returned home they found the vessel empty and the lamp filled with water and burning.  After this miracle the people who were revering him as saint started to look upon him as God. 

There are also many other miracles attributed to him here and elsewhere. People now started seeing him not only as a saint and a poet but also as a mystic who can perform miracles to help them.   Adigal was not against performing miracles, as they formed the powers and plays of the Divine. However he was not for miracle mongering. But many started flocking to him not attracted by his teachings but only by his miracles and for deriving benefit from his power of Siddhis. So he later remarked regretfully towards the end of his life “கடை விரித்தேன், கொள்வாரில்லை” (I opened the shop, only to find there were no buyers). 

Adigal  gave beautiful expression to his devotion and his teachings through his poems. He composed many poems and 5818 of them divided into six Thirumurais were published under the title ‘திருவருட்பா”(Thiruvarutpa) i.e. Divine song of Grace, in 1867 by his first disciple, Velayutha Mudaliar, with his permission.  Thiruvarutpa is considered as an outstanding work of literature and of soul-stirring devotion, like Thiruvachakam, the work Adigal admired most.  Disciples thronged to hear these poems and drew immense inspiration from them.  There is an interesting incident connected with the name ‘Arutpa’.  Arumuga Navalar of Jaffna, Sri Lanka, an eminent Saiva Siddhanta scholar, filed a suit against Adigal in the court of the District munsif at Manjakuppam praying for a decree for the withdrawal of the name ‘Arutpa’ by the defendant, contending that it is ‘Marutpa’ (hymns of illusion) only.  On the day of hearing, Navalar was present in the court before time. Soon the Munsif resumed his chair and the defendant was called by name. Adigal entered the hall and the plaintiff, Navalar, stood in reverence and greeted Adigal with folded hands.  Munsif himself got up from the chair and paid reverence to Adigal automatically. After hearing the arguments from both sides, Navalar was asked why he stood up for Adigal and he admitted that Adigal was a nice and noble person blessed with mystic powers. The court in its judgement held that ‘Arutpa’ was a valuable treasure to the world of Tamil devotional literature and it is an outcome entirely based on Divine inspiration and also cited Navalar’s opinion of Adigal and his reverence to Adigal.  The court also held that in as much as it is admitted that Adigal is a wise spiritual soul, it cannot be argued that his renderings were of a worldly nature. So it decreed the case in favour of the defendant. The district munsif is the one who later became an eminent judge of Chennai High court, Justice Muthuswami Iyer. 

 In 1865, Adigal formed the ‘Sanmarga Sangh’ to preach his principles of one God, compassion towards fellow beings, jeeva karunyam, and adherence to vegetarianism, annadhanam etc.  In 1867, Vallalar established Dharmasala at Vadalur as a centre to give hospitality to the fatigued travellers, food to the indigent elders and medical aid to the patients without resources.  This Dharmasala continues to feed the poor every day since then and the kitchen fire has not been put out since it was first lit. As people started thronging the place at Vadalur, Adigal in search of solitude shifted to Mettukuppam, a village 5 kms from Vadalur. The hut where he stayed was named by him as ‘Siddhi Valagam’ which means ‘Place of Attainment’. Here he continued his long fasts and meditation and he also used to disappear and reappear without anybody knowing his whereabouts.

One day Adigal declared his wish to build a temple according to a design made by him. The devotees started work on it. It was inaugurated on January 25. 1872, and was called Sathya Jnana Sabhai.  This is not a temple in the usual sense as no offerings of fruits or flowers could be made, and no blessings were given. It was open to people of all castes except for those who ate meat, who can only worship from outside.  It was hexagonal shaped and had a lamp in its main altar. Daily pujas were performed for this lamp only. Puja consisted of one ritual only i.e. Deepa aradhana. There is a mirror in front of the lamp and the altar is behind curtains of black, blue, green, red, golden and white and multi colours, representing the veils of ignorance. When the curtains were removed, the Jyothi could be seen through the mirror.  Adigal lit the lamp on the inaugural day and it continues to burn to this day. There are no other rituals inside this Jnana Sabhai except the simple burning of camphor. There is a board restricting entry to vegetarians only.  The அருட்பெருஞ்ஜோதி அகவல் (Arutperunjothi Agaval) of Adigal is engraved here. 

In 1873 he started the movement Samarasa Suddha Sanmarga Sathya Sangam, giving collectively to those present the "அருட்பெரும் ஜோதி” (ArutPerum Jothi) Mahamantra.  He said God is "அருட்பெரும் ஜோதி" and He is personification of mercy and knowledge. He said the path of compassion and mercy is the only path to God. He explained Samarasam as the the concept that encompasses all religious thoughts and respects all faiths and religions; Suddham as standing for purity and sublimity that is achieved through Indriya Ozhukkam, Karana Ozhukkam, Jeeva Ozhukkam, and Athma Ozhukkam;  Sanmargam standing for right and truthful path i.e. the one where there is no distinctions between humans. He underlined the principles which formed the foundation of Samarasa Suddha Sanmargam as:

1)  God is one. He is ArutPerum Jyothi, the Vast Grace of Light.

  2) All are children of one God and there is no caste, religious or regional differences.

  3) One should recognize the divinity in every soul, respect it and live in peace and prosperity, in a spirit of love and unity.

  4) Compassion towards all fellow beings and compassion towards all lives such as animals, birds etc. should form the basis of all actions.

  5) To reach God, tread the path of simplicity and humility and not through rituals or extravagant ways of worship. 

  The essence of his teachings he outlined as “பசித்திரு, தனித்திரு, விழித்திரு” (Pasithiru, Thanithiru Vizhithiru);  பசித்திரு representing the hunger for Moksha, தனித்திரு the freedom from delusions and விழித்திரு watchfulness over senses.

  On Thursday the 30^th January, 1874 he told his disciples that he would be leaving his body and entering all the bodies of creation and asked them to continue the lamp worship as laid down by him leading a life of compassion, purity and simplicity.  After taking leave of all those present he locked himself inside the room in the Siddhi Valagam.  The news that Adigal had locked himself up in his room became known widely and it gave rise to all sorts of rumours necessitating Government intervention.  When the officials broke open the door there was not any trace of Ramalinga Adigal in the room. The police examined Siddhi Valagam and its surroundings extensively and later the collector and Revenue Member conducted an enquiry and it was finally concluded that there was no evidence to suspect any foul play as nothing could be found ‘’to lend the least support for any sort of suspicion’’. His disappearance was gazetted in Government records. His disciples concluded that he had merged with the Great Light of Grace, changing his body into subtle, invisible deathless body or as we would put it, realized total union with God.

  

   Ramalinga Adigal was a revolutionary bhaktha who took the role of a reformer seeing the many ills plaguing the society. Steeped in ignorance, people were following certain outmoded customs, dogmas, beliefs and practices. He felt the need of the hour was transformation in socio-religious practices changing wrong concepts. He wanted everyone to live in the spirit of universal brother-hood, showing compassion towards all lives. He was opposed to superstitions and rituals. He perceived God not as an identifiable image, not necessarily in the form of an idol or form restricted to a class or religion. He perceived God as all-pervading Divine Power. So he introduced the universal and uniform concept of Jyothi worship and Suddha Sanmarga besides advocating a casteless society and preaching that path to Moksha was through service to mankind only.  He says in one of his songs:

  சாதியிலே மதங்களிலே சமயநெறி களிலே

சாத்திரச்சந் தடிகளிலே கோத்திரச்சண் டையிலே
ஆதியிலே அபிமானித் தலைகின்ற உலகீர்
அலைந்தலைந்து வீணேநீர் அழிதல்அழ கலவே
நீதியிலே சன்மார்க்க நிலைதனிலே நிறுத்த
நிருத்தமிடும் தனித்தலைவர் ஒருத்தர்அவர் தாமே
வீதியிலே அருட்சோதி விளையாடல் புரிய
மேவுகின்ற தருணம்இது கூவுகின்றேன் உமையே

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