Agnipureeswarar Temple, Tiruppugalur

01Appar’s last days

Appar spent his last days at Tiruppugalur, weeding the temple courtyard with his small hoe, the uzhavarappadai, as he had done in temples all his life. The Periya Puranam says the Lord tested him here: as he scraped the earth, gold and gems turned up among the stones, and he threw them into the tank like pebbles; celestial women came to dance before him, and he did not lift his eyes. On the day of Sadayam in Chittirai he sang his last hymn and merged into the Lord. Each year that day is kept with the Appar Sadhaya festival. Sambandar too came here, meeting Appar and Muruga Nayanar, and Sundarar sang the shrine.

02Agni’s Lord

Agni, the fire god, worshipped Shiva here, the temple says, so the Lord is Agnipureeswarar and the tank Agni tirtham, which surrounds the temple on three sides like a moat. Muruga Nayanar, one of the sixty-three, lived in this village and gathered flowers for the Lord at dawn every day; he later attained the Lord at Sambandar’s wedding at Nallur Perumanam. Sundarar, the temple’s katha says, slept here on bricks for a pillow, and woke to find them turned to gold.