The Life
Nedumaran was the Pandya king of Madurai, a poet and patron of the Tamil academy, who for a time had fallen under the sway of the Jains and been afflicted with a burning fever and a bent, hunched frame. His queen Mangaiyarkarasi and his minister Kulacchirai, steadfast in their devotion to Shiva, invited the young saint Sambandar to Madurai. Sambandar overcame the Jains in debate and miracle, and by his sacred hymn and the smearing of holy ash cured the king of his fever, so that his crooked back straightened and he stood tall and upright. From that day he was called Ninra Seer Nedumaran, 'Nedumaran of enduring glory.' Restored to the true faith, he re-established Shaivism throughout the Pandya land and worshipped the Lord at the Meenakshi-Sundareswarar temple.