Murkha

Murkha Nāyanār — the name means the fierce, or the obstinate — is one of the more disreputable saints of the sixty-three, and the tradition is unembarrassed by him. Tradition associates him with Tiruverkadu, near present-day Chennai, and gives him a single consuming vow: to feed the devotees of Shiva every day.

The story

The Periya Puranam tells that he spent his inheritance on this hospitality until nothing remained. Rather than let the feeding lapse, he turned to what he was good at: dice. He travelled to the gaming houses of other towns, staked what little he had, and won — skilfully and steadily. Every coin went to the feeding of devotees; he claimed nothing for himself, eating only after his guests had eaten. His name records his manner at the board: quick to violence with cheats and slow to be crossed, a hard man at play and a servant at home.

What the tale carries

The canon does not launder him into respectability; his sainthood rests precisely on the tension. The winnings of the gaming table, ordinarily tainted wealth, are purified by their destination, and a temperament the lawbooks would condemn is sanctified by its object. Among the Nāyanārs — who include kings, priests, washermen and hunters — Murkha marks the far edge of the tradition's claim: that Shiva reckons only the love, and keeps no other accounts.