Yogi And Siddhar Bogar Who Installed Navapashana Idol Of God Muruga At Palani Hill, Tamil Nadu

Bogar who installed navapashana idol, Palani temple
Siddha dvashram.com

Bogar Jeeva Samadhi, Plani temple, palani. youtube.com

Palani Murugan temple in Palani, 60 km from Dindugul city Tamil Nadu has the rare distinction of  having a moolavar made of  an amalgam of herbal paste called  Navapashanam (nava+pashanam. Nava means ‘nine’ and pashanam means ‘poisonous substance’). It was specially made by a popular Yogi and Siddhar Bhogar who, it is said lived more than 2000 years ago. He used the herbs with medicinal prosperities growing on the hilly area. That why he chose the top of of the wooded hill at Palani (part of Palani Hills in the Eastern Ghat close to Kodikanal hills) and why he used the navapashanam to make the small idol is  a mystery.

winch services  to the hill top.Palani selvaganapathy-temple.blogspot.com

Palani Hill temple, TN tripadvisor.com 

One among the seven disciples of Nandi Devar,  Bogar was  conversant with countless herbs available on the hills there and their medicinal values, etc and  it is said, he classified 64 types of poisons out of which 32 were  naturally occurring  and  the other 32 were  just artificial.  

Agasthiyar Left, Bogar (right) shrine. members.tripod.com

Believed to have lived sometime between 550 and 300 BC, it is said, he went  to China to  teach yoga  and enlightenment. It is  mentioned in his book Bogar 7000. At the Panali temple he said to be in "Nirvigalpa Samadhi" below the garbhagriha/sanctum  of Palani Murugan hill temple.  

A disciple of great sage  Agastya,   Bogar himself taught meditation, alchemy, yantric designs and Kriya yoga at the Kataragama Murugan shrine, Sri Lanka  inscribing a yantric geometric design etched onto a metallic plate and installing it in the the sanctum  of the Kataragama complex. 

According to legends and the temple scriptures of Palani temple, Bogar  created the Navapashana idol of Murugan and consecrated it atop the Palani hill (roughly about 766 ft tall)facing West direction.  He also established a Murugan temple in Poombarai-  Kuzhanthai Velappar temple Kodaikanal Tamilnadu, India.  In the bygone days the milk that was poured on this idol during anointing  was said to get mixed with some of the herbs thereby proving to be an effective cure for the diseases Bogar, It is said to be an elixir of immortality he took notes on yoga and archery, and a glossary of medicine. He came to Palani after his long stay in the Meru hills in Kumari Kandam where he had  spent hid time meditating on God. (from en. wikipedia. org) 

Boggar chose  nine poisonous herbs to  make navapashanam. The nine  available poisonous substances  that were normally used to make the beads, malai and idols were  Veeram, Pooram, Rasam, Jathilingam, Kandagam, Gauri pasanam, Vellai Pasanam, Mridharsingh and Silasat. The nine poisons represent nine planets  and nine openings in our body. Siddha medicinal potion  may be called a ''panacea!! 

 Bogar using his knowledge of Tantric tradition, carefully removed the poison as much as possible enough for humans to keep them alive. Now, it is said to be a powerful  Siddha cure for  some  diseases.  

So, the moovalar idol in saintly posture with a thandam (pole) in his hand is made of hardened wax-like paste of various herbs - navapashanam. It was so tough, anointing (ritual washing of Hindu idols)  for  long period of time won't cause any wear and tear. The anointed water, milk, etc on the moolavar idol used to be safely collected to be given to the devotees as remedy for many ailments.

 Unaffected by the  effect of abhishekams/ anointing  for centuries. Bhogar, long ago, created a scientific wonder that may defy our imagination for, it has withstood the test of time beyond our imagination.  comprehension. God Karthikaya himself advised Bogar to make the idol in a particular fashion and he revolved it  to the sage in his dream. An interesting fact is the temple  priests (Sivacharyas) of Palani Murugan temple were said to have been the descendants of Pulipani, one of Bogar's students, until the sixteenth century.

 Sri Ganapathi Sthapathi, former principal of the Tamil Nadu College of Sculpture, told "Hinduism Today, "The icon  is made of a peculiar and shastric cement called katusarkara, made out of limestone with certain medical herbs. When prepared according to directions, the resulting form is like artificial stone." He explained that this was applied to a wooden frame. "I was able to see the wooden frame in the composition of the image. There is a vertical wood rod anchored into the floor through the pedestal for stability. Shifting the idol is fraught with danger, even a small vibration is likely to cause damages. 

In the 2010s fraud was committed on the Navapashana idol.With court interference the culprits were arrested and jailed. Nowadays only puja rituals including anointing / abhiseka  are done only to the processional brass/bronze idol and the Navapashana idol, I understand, is  kept safely in a strong room to avoid mischief by miscreants. 

https://www.navrangindia.in/2019/07/the-navapashana-idol-of-palani-murugan.html

...http://palani.org/navabhasana.html
https://www.hinduismtoday.com/modules/smartsection/item.
http://palani.org/navabhasana.html
https://navrangindia.blogspot.com/2018/06/25-interesting-facts-of-yogi-bogars.html
http://palani.org/navabhasana.htm