The Life
Serutunai was an ardent Shaiva of the Thanjavur region who could not endure any disrespect toward what belonged to Shiva. When the Pallava king Kazharsinga came with his queen to worship in a Shiva temple, the queen, in the hall where flowers were being made into the Lord's garlands, picked up a fallen bloom and smelled it, enjoying for herself what was meant for God. Seeing this defilement of the Lord's offering, Serutunai was seized with holy anger and at once cut off the queen's nose. When the king arrived and heard the truth, he approved the deed and himself severed the hand that had taken the flower. Sekkizhar honours Serutunai's fierce, uncompromising devotion, through which he reached Shiva's feet. His guru puja is kept in Avani under Pusam.