Thresholds of History

Sirumanavur Munisawmy Mudaliar (Photo Courtesy: Mr D.Moorthy, Chinna Mandali) The first time I heard about Sirumanavur Munisawmy Mudaliar (yes, you read it right! This is how he spelt his name) was during the cultural mapping of the Cooum riverside temples which I undertook between 2014-16. We were at the Niranjeeswarar Temple, in a non-descript village called Chinna Mandali, that had earlier been known by various names such as Sezhumanavai, Sirumanavur and Sirimavur, that we heard about Munisawmy Mudaliar and the famous hymn he had penned on Lord Nataraja, called the Nataraja Paththu.  While Nataraja Paththu is commonly sung by devotees of Lord Shiva during events such as Arudhara Darisanam, I had not been aware that the catchy hymn had been composed by a person called Munisawmy Mudaliar. As our focus then was on documenting the temples on the banks of the Cooum river, and the Niranjeeswarar temple has ancient antiquities such as a Kotravai with a deer mount, dating back to