Kumaraguru Paramaswamigal was a great devotee of
Lord Muruga of
Tiruchendur. His childless parents undertook arduous penance at Tiruchendur to obtain him. As the child remained mute till the age of five, the parents resorted to penance at Tiruchendur again. Despairing many months after, the parents decided to drown themselves along with the child. As they were about to sink, a human form with a flower in his hand appeared and asked what the matter was. The child Kumaraguru broke out into the now famous Kantarakalivempâ, in praise of Lord Muruga.
Kumaraguru took sanyas later in life. Many legends abound about him. It is said that when he was court poet at the court of Tirumalai Nayaka at Madurai, the Goddess Meenakshi herself put a necklace of pearls around his neck as he was reciting a poem in praise of her.
Kumaraguru established a monastery at Benares, on land given to him by the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb and lived there till the end of his days.
