was much pleased to see the dhobi and getting down from the elephant greeted him. The dhobi becoming perplexed said that he was after all his slave a dhobi. The king replying that he was the devotee of the Lord, said that he reminded him of the loving sacred guise of the devotees of Siva and that he might go unembarrassed.
There was a minstrel-a lute player called Pana Bhadra at Madurai and he went to Cheraman with an epistle beginning with "Mathimalipurisai" composed by Lord Siva at Madurai. On receiving the letter of introduction in verse, Cheraman gave him abundant wealth and the minstrel returned to Madurai. To meet Sunthara moorthi Swamigal, Cheraman went to the Chola country, sang a minor poem "Pon Vannaththu Anthathi" at Chidambaram and "Thiru Arur Mummanikkovai" at Thiru Arur. He was the guest of Suntharar for some time and visited many shrines in the Chola and Pandya countries. Suntharar paid a visit to Thiruvanjaikkalam, the city of the Cheraman and returned with bounteous wealth. While Suntharar visited the Chera capital for a second time, he mounted on a white elephant and proceeded to KAILAS and Cheraman mounting on a horse followed him. It was in the presence of the Lord that Cheraman presented his poem under the caption "Thirukkailaya Gnana Ula".
39. GANANATHA NAYANAR
In Sirkazhi there lived a Saint called Gananathar who was devoted to the Lord in the temple of Sirkazhi. He maintained flower gardens, and with the flowers he made various kinds of garlands and trained other devotees in this service. He supplied tools needed for this purpose. He used to worship with devotion the feet of Thirugnana Sambanthar. Finally he reached Kailas and became the chief of Siva ganas (Siva's hosts).
