Sri Sambandar also known as Thirugnana Sambandar was a great shaivite saint of Tamil Nadu who lived during 7th century AD. He is one among the 63 Nayanmars. He also contributed some portions of verses in the holy text Tirumurai.
Sambandar was born to a holy shaivite Brahmin family in Sirkazhi at Tamil Nadu. It is believed that while he was a child and was hungry at a Shiva temple, Goddess Parvati appeared before him and given him milk. He told to his father, that he was being fed with milk by Mata Parvati and started singing beautiful song describing the greatness of Ma Parvati and those song is known as “GNANAPAL”, which means the enlightened milk, in order to express his gratitude over the divine mother Ma Parvati, and the contents of the song are as follows:
- The Holy Mother Ma Parvati who wears a beautiful ring on her ears, which appears like the beautiful earth.
- The Holy Goddess who comes on the holy Lion, Lord Simharaja.
- The Holy Goddess who wears the Marvellous Moon on her head.
- The Holy Goddess whose body produces good smell, even without applying any perfumes on her body.
- The Holy Goddess who is my heart and I am always thinking about her.
- The Holy Goddess who is very kind and gentle towards every one.
- The Holy Goddess beauty cannot be expressed in words.
- The Holy Goddess divine qualities cannot be expressed by anyone in the universe.
- The Holy Goddess who wears nice garments and golden ornaments on her body which glitters like that of the bright stars shining on the skies.
- The Holy Goddess who was appeared before me along with her consort Lord Shiva.
- The Holy Goddess Who is called by various names, and who looks very beautiful like the freshly blossomed lotus flower, and she is the daughter of king Himavan.
- The Holy Goddess who gives good knowledge, courage and wisdom to her devotees, who dwells in the four Vedas,
and the one who gives the creation powers to Lord Brahma. - When I first saw the holy mother, I have lost my worldly desires, since my main desire was to only notice the noble activities of my kind mother.
- When I suffered from hunger, the divine mother came to rescue me from hunger and thirst, and similar to giving milk to her son Lord Muruga, She has also considered me like her son Muruga, and given me the wonderful milk which tasted like the holy divine nectar (AMIRTHA).
- When I first started to sing this song, she has helped me by giving good knowledge and wisdom, and hence I was able to complete the “GNANAPAL” song without any difficulty.
“OM SRI GNANASUNDARI ANNAIYE NAMAHA”
WRITTEN BY
R.HARISHANKAR