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{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2019}}
{{Use Indian English|date=February 2019}}
{{Infobox Hindu leader
|name= Murthi Nayanar
|image= Murthi Nayanar.JPG
|caption =
| religion = [[Hinduism]]
|birth_place= [[Madurai]]
|birth_name=
|death_date=
|death_place=
|philosophy= [[Shaivism]], [[Bhakti]]
|honors= [[Nayanars|Nayanar]] saint,
|footnotes=
}}

'''Murthi Nayanar''', also spelt as '''Murthy Nayanar''', '''Moorthy Nayanar''' and '''Murti Nayanar''' and also known as '''Murtti''', is a [[Nayanars|Nayanar]] saint, venerated in the [[Hinduism|Hindu]] sect of [[Shaivism]]. He is generally counted as the fifteenth in the list of 63 Nayanars.<ref name="Dalal2011">{{cite book|author=Roshen Dalal|title=Hinduism: An Alphabetical Guide|date=2011|publisher=Penguin Books India|isbn=978-0-14-341421-6|page=281}}</ref>

==Life==
The life of Murthi Nayanar is described in the ''[[Periya Puranam]]'' by [[Sekkizhar]] (12th century), which is a hagiography of the 63 Nayanars.<ref name="Dalal2011"/> Murthi Nayanar was born in [[Madurai]], the capital of the [[Early Pandyan Kingdom|Pandyan Kingdom]]. Madurai is famous for [[Meenakshi Amman Temple]], dedicated to the god [[Shiva]] and his consort [[Meenakshi]]. Madurai is currently part of the Indian state of [[Tamil Nadu]]. Murthi Nayanar was a [[Vaishya]], the merchant [[caste]]. He was a merchant by profession. He was a great devotee of Shiva, the patron god of Shaivism. The merchant used to serve Shiva by offering fragrant [[sandalwood]] paste to anoint the icon of Shiva in the temple. An "Alien ruler" defeated the Pandyas and captured the kingdom. This foreign invader king is described as a follower of [[Jainism]]. He persecuted the Shaivas and tried to convert them to Jainism. However, Murthi Nayanar remained untouched by the mayhem and continued offering sandalwood paste to Shiva in the temple.<ref name="Dehejia1988"/><ref name="swami">{{cite book | author = Swami Sivananda | author-link = Swami Sivananda | title = Sixty-three Nayanar Saints | edition = 4 | publisher = The Divine Life Society | year = 1999 | location = Sivanandanagar }}</ref>

In order to forcibly convert Murthi, the Jain king blocked the supply of sandalwood to the capital so that Murthi's service is interrupted. However, Murthi used his elbow instead of sandalwood and started grinding it on stone to make a paste for anointing Shiva. His skin peeled and his bones started showing and blood bled. Pleased by his devotion, Shiva appeared before him and blessed him. Shiva assured him that the tyrant king would die soon and Murthi would replace him as king. As prophesied, the king died the next day, without an heir.<ref name="Dehejia1988"/><ref name="swami"/>

The ministers sent an elephant with a garland to choose the next king, in accordance to tradition. The blindfolded elephant roamed the city and finally reached the temple. Meanwhile, Murthi who did not long for kingship, accepted his fate as a divine order. He came outside the temple, when the elephant saluted him and garlanded the saint. The elephant then uplifted Murthi and placed him on its back and returned to the palace. The ministers pleaded Murthi to be the king. Murthi agreed on the condition that the kingdom accepts Shaivism as its way of life. Murthi ruled in a garb of a Shaiva devotee, smearing his body with [[vibhuti|sacred ash]] and wearing [[rudraksha]] ornaments and [[matted hair]], instead of a crown. He forwent the luxuries of the crown and ruled the kingdom justly and aimed at the spread of Shaivism. He reached the abode of Shiva, after his death.<ref name="swami"/>

[[Vidya Dehejia]] feels that his historicity is questionable, but probable.<ref name="Dehejia1988">{{cite book|author=Vidya Dehejia|title=Slaves of the Lord: The Path of the Tamil Saints|year=1988|publisher=Munshiram Manoharlal|isbn=978-81-215-0044-9|pages=161–2}}</ref> The invaders are interpreted as the Jain [[Kalabhra]]s, who conquered Madurai.<ref name="Dehejia1988"/> The ''Periya Puranam'' borrows descriptions from the inscriptions of the conquest of king [[Kharavela]] (193 BCE – after 170 BCE) of [[Kalinga (historical kingdom)|Kalinga]] over the Pandya king.<ref name="Lal2006">{{cite book|author=Mohan Lal|title=The Encyclopaedia Of Indian Literature (Volume Five (Sasay To Zorgot)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KnPoYxrRfc0C&pg=PA3905|date=1 January 2006|publisher=Sahitya Akademi|isbn=978-81-260-1221-3|pages=3905}}</ref>

==Remembrance==
[[File:Sri Kokarneshvarar Temple in Tirukokarnam.JPG|thumb|The images of the Nayanars are found in many Shiva temples in Tamil Nadu.]]

One of the most prominent Nayanars, [[Sundarar]] (8th century) mentions Murthi Nayanar (called Murtti) in hymn to various Nayanar saints. He is said to rule over the world, through the "three emblems of sovereignty".<ref name="Peterson2014">{{cite book|author=Indira Viswanathan Peterson|title=Poems to Siva: The Hymns of the Tamil Saints|date=2014|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-1-4008-6006-7|page=376}}</ref>

Murthi Nayanar is depicted wearing a crown, with folded hands (see [[Anjali mudra]]) and holding a club in the crook of his arm. A holy day in his honour is observed on the ninth day of the [[Tamil calendar|Tamil month]] of [[Ashadha|Adi]], generally coincides with 10 August.<ref name="Dehejia1988"/> He receives collective worship as part of the 63 Nayanars. Their icons and brief accounts of his deeds are found in many Shiva temples in [[Tamil Nadu]]. Their images are taken out in procession in festivals.<ref name="Dalal2011"/>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Nayanars}}

[[Category:Nayanars]]
[[Category:People from Madurai]]

Murthi Nayanar - Revision history

imported>Marcocapelle: removed parent categories of Category:Nayanars