GIVING A MEASURING POT

The divine playa performed by Lord Somasundarar was innumerable. One will get abundant joy in one’s mind on hearing them. There was a man by the name Adiyaarkku Nallan living in Madurai. He was living with his wife Dharma seelai. Both of them were  very rich. They paid one sixth of their income as tax to the government. The balance amount was spent by them to feed the devotees of Lord Shiva. There was no deficiency in the income for e Nallan who is an incarnation of righteousness. One will get food in their house at any point of time on the whole day. Lord Soma sundarar wanted to show the fame of good people to the whole world by putting them into tests. He made the family to suffer by bestowing poverty in that family. The paddy field and garden of Adiyaarkku Nallan became dry and started withering. The food stock also got reduced. Nallan got loan and did charity. At once stage every one refused to give loans also to them. They had no means for their living itself and was suffering by hunger. They felt very sad that they are not able to offer any food to the devotees of Lord Shiva. They did not mind their suffering in hunger. But what hurt their mind was the fact that they are not able to offer food to the visiting devotees of Shiva. They decided to end their lives. With this thought in mind they went to to the shrine of Lord Sundareswarar. They shed tears by explaining their present state of affairs. They cried before the lord “Please take our lives who are not able to serve the shiva devotees.”The Lord did not want to test them further. A divine voice was heard saying “ My children, Go back to your house. There you will find a Ulavakkottai(A measuring pot). The food grains will come out of it uninterrupted. With that you do annadhanam(feeding) to all my devotees.” They returned to their home. As told by God there was a ulavakkottai. Ulavakottai means twenty four measures of marakkal(a marakkal is a  measure of capacity{ of olden days} equal to eight standard measures) They performed pooja for that and resumed their feeding of Shiva Bhakthas. They continued the same without any break or interruption till the end of their lives and then reached the lotus feet of the god.