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Viralminda Nayanar was born in Sengundru, a hilly place. He was a Vellala by caste. To him worship of Shiva devotees was equal, if not even superior to the worship of Lord Shiva Himself. He felt that no one could get Shiva’s grace without first worshipping his devotees. Daily he used to visit the templeand before worshipping the Lord, he used to worship the Shiva devotees who might be found there.
One day he left Sengundru on a pilgrimage and came to Thiruvarur. when he was worshipping the Lord in a shiva temple, Sundaramurthi nayanar (Sundarar) came to the temple. Sundarar by-passed all the devotees who were waiting for the prayer in the temple and went into the shrine to worship the Lord. This made Viralmindar irritated. He could not tolerate this insult to His Devotees. He started to shout at sundarar that he had insulted the Shiva Devotees by this act and he said sundarar is unfit to remain in the holy circle of Shiva Devotees.
No one can control viralmindar and he was very furious. Sundarar immediately understood Viralmindar’s inner feelings towards the Devotees as well as towards Lord Shiva, and prostrated before him. He then sang a Padigam(poem) praising him. The Padigam(poem) melted Viralmindar’s heart so much that he greeted Sundarar and praised him for his service to shiva and Shiva Devotees.
Lord Shiva was greatly pleased with Viralmindar’s great steadfastness in his devotion to Shiva Devotees. Viralminda nayanar was blessed and then elevated to the sacred plane of the Shiva Ganas where the Lord made him leader of the Ganas.