He has the power to camouflage the scent of humans

The boy, just thirteen years old, didn’t know where to go when he left his house in anger. He didn’t have money to buy anything. He was standing near a tea shop with an empty stomach, feeling very hungry. The night was falling; he didn’t want to return home either. Gripped with fear, the boy lied down. It would be ten at night. A sage came near him. He woke him up, bought fruits and tea for the boy and asked him whether he would come with him to the mountain. The boy felt very happy when his hunger was satiated and agreed to go with that sage.

The sage took the boy to the Nambimalai temple, situated at the beginning of the Western Ghat in Thirunelveli. He made the boy sit under a tamarind tree and taught him a mantra and instructed him to keep repeating it till he returned. And, he gave a tablet to be taken when he felt hungry again and also told him that he could drink the water from the nearby Nambiaru fountain. When the boy asked the sage when he would return, the sage assured him that he would return soon. But he never returned. When it was getting dark, the boy was panicked as there were no human beings around; the roar of the animals from inside the forest heightened his fear. But, in the midst of his fear, the boy continued to chant the mantra and at one stage, he felt very courageous and enthusiastic. And, suddenly, there was a bright light before him. “From today onwards, you’ll be a siddha. You will be a protector of people against the wild animals. You’ll live for four hundred years as a siddha in this forest,” a voice told the boy. The voice came from Kalanginatha siddha. The boy came to be known as Nambi siddha from that day onwards. The boy realized that it was Kalanginathar who came as a sage to him.

Nambi siddha is wandering in that forest even today. He controls the wild animals. He protects the devotees who come to the temple from attack by the animals. He has the power to camouflage the scent of human beings so that the animals do not identify the same. Nambi Mountain remains very fertile with many falls due to the divine power of Nambi siddha. We feel enchanted when we look at the Nambimalai forest. Nambi siddha is always with the devotees and takes care of them till they reach the temple, worship and return.

Human beings are being benefited by the siddhas even in their day-to-day life. Siddhas live in the forests and are blessing us from their abodes.