From this edition onwards we will be dealing with a new series In each edition we will be publishing those stories from different legends of the world which have striking similarities which cannot be overlooked. Readers are earnestly requested to send their critical comments on these stories.
- And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am.
- And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Mori'ah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.
- And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him.
- Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off.
- And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.
- And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together.
- And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?
- And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.
- And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood.
- And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.
- And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I.
- And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from me.
- And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son.
- And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahji'reh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen.
- And the angel of the LORD called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time,
- and said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son,
- that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed Heb. 6.13, 14 as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the seashore; Heb. 11.12 and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;
- and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.
- So Abraham returned unto his young men, and they rose up and went together to Beersheba; and Abraham dwelt at Beersheba.
Lord Siva heard from Narada Rishi that he has never found any devotees more faithful than king Sriyal & his wife Changuna of the city of Kanti. The king was running a charitable institution for the last 1000 years and gives in charity any type of food desired by the guest. Lord Siva wanted to test his devotee. He came to the king in the form of a guest and asked for human flesh for food. Both king Sriyal and queen changuna said that they were ready to offer their own flesh. But the guest said If I accept y our flesh, the charitable institution you are running will stop functioning, hence offer me instead the flesh of your one and only beautiful, 5 year old son Chilya."
Both of them were dumbfounded but getting out of that satanic delusion king Sriyal said, I have offered him to you. You can take him. "
But the guest insisted that they should cook the food themselves without a drop of tears in their eyes.
Queen Changuna called her Son Chilya, who was playing outside and told him the facts. The boy showed his willingness to be offered as food for the revered guest.
The queen killed him and after keeping his head separately cooked the meat from the rest of the body. She then offered the food to the guest.
The guest became angry and said that The head is the most important part of the body and started to leave.
Changuna called him back, cooked the food with the head of the child and requested the guest to take the food. The guest ordered both of them to join him in eating the food. They obeyed and sat with him.
Now the guest said that he cannot partake food in a house where there are no children and started to leave.
Changuna started crying and pleaded to lord Siva to help her in this great hour of crisis.
Lord Siva, who was in the form of the guest, was terribly moved and asked Changuna to call her child's name loudly.
Though she herself had killed and cooked her child, the queen simply went out and called her child's name loudly.
Surprise of surprises, the child Chilaya came running towards his mother. The cooked food disappeared from the vessels and plates.
In the place of the guest Lord Siva appeared and embraced the child. The King and the Queen fell at his feet. They were given salvation.
There were 63 prime devotees of Siva as per Peria Puranam. They are called nayanars Chiru Thondu Nayanar is one among them. He along with his wife Thiruvenkattu Nangai and only Son Seeralan Lived in Thiruchengattan kudi in Tanjore District. He took a vow not to partake food without feeding at least one devotee of Siva. He was assisted in his charitable endeavour by his wife and maid servant Chandana thathi.
The rest of the story goes along the same lines as told in the Siva Leelamrutham. All the four of them obtained salvation by God's grace.
Thiruchengattankudi is the Mecca for the saivaites. The whole incident is enacted every year on Bharani Nakshatra of Chithirai Month.
[Readers may refer here for an image of Chiru Thonda Nayanar.]
We need not enter into any controversy regarding the correctness or falsity of any of the above events. Instead we may try to follow the moral of the Legends i.e. complete surrender to god's will keeping away from satanic illusions, absolute faith in God and his powers and readiness for the supreme sacrifice.