Yenathinathar

Yenathinathar Nayanar was a master of arms from Eyinanur in the Chola country — a teacher of swordsmanship whose skill brought him wealth, all of it, the tradition notes, spent on the devotees of Shiva. His place among the sixty-three Nayanars rests on the manner of his death.

The duel

A rival master, Atisuran, envious of his standing, forced a quarrel and was beaten with his followers in open fight. Unable to win by skill, the Periya Puranam relates, he challenged Yenathinathar to single combat — and came to the duelling ground with sacred ash smeared on his brow. The fight began; and then Yenathinathar saw the white mark of Shiva on his enemy’s forehead. To him the man before him was no longer an enemy but a devotee, and against a devotee his sword could not be raised. He did not retreat and did not plead; he simply ceased to defend himself, keeping his stance so that his opponent should not know, and took the death-blow from a hand he would not harm. Tradition holds that Shiva appeared and gathered his servant to himself.

The point of the story

The hagiography’s irony is deliberate: the ash was worn as a trick, and the trick succeeded only because the victim’s reverence was real. As with Meiporul, the king slain by a false ascetic, the tradition’s judgement falls entirely one way — the emblem of the god is honoured absolutely, and the deceit is the deceiver’s burden. The swordsman who would not strike died, in the canon’s eyes, undefeated.