. A devotee and poet who lived in तमिल्नाडु . He is believed to have lived during the period between the eighth and ninth centuries A.D. He was born in तिरुवादवूर् in an आदिशैव brahmin family. तिरुवादवूर् was a village near Madura, the capital of पाण्ड्य kingdom. His father was शम्भुपादाश्रित and mother शिवज्ञानवती . The name given by his parents to माणिक्यवाचकर् is still unknown. Because he was born in तिरुवादवूर् everybody called him तिरुवादवूरार् . He became a scholar in his sixteenth year. The पाण्ड्य king called him to his palace and appointed him as his minister. He gave him the honour of the title 'Tennavar Brahmarāyar'. माणिक्यवाचकर् showed more interest in devotional matters than in matters of the state

Once when the King was holding his durbar he got information that in one of the eastern ports had landed a set of good war-horses for sale. He sent तिरुवादवूरार् to that place. The minister, when near the port of तिरुप्पेरुन्दुरै , heard a sound of Vedic utterances and he immediately went to the place from where the sound came. He saw Lord शिव sitting under a tree in the guise of a Guru. Forgetting all state affairs he became engrossed in the meditation of शिव . Suddenly he developed a talent for poetry and music and sweet attractive poems in praise of शिव started flowing from his tongue. शिव was immensely pleased and gave him the name माणिक्यवाचकर् meaning that every वाचक (sentence) coming out of his tongue was equal in value to a माणिक्य (Ruby). The guru gave him a ruby too. माणिक्यवाचकर् in the garb of a mendicant joined a troop of शिव devotees and spent all the money he had for the service of the devotees of शिव and also for the reconstruction of a dilapidated शिव temple in तिरुप्पेरुन्दुरै .

माणिक्यवाचकर् reached Madura and informed the King that the horses would arrive at the palace on the day आवणि-मूल ( मूल star in the month of श्रावण ) and presented the king with the ruby which his Guru had given him. The king was not satisfied and he imprisoned him. On the आवणि-मूल day at the stipulated time the horses arrived at the palace. The horses were led by strange foreigners. It was श्री परमेश्वर himself who had come as the chief of the horsemen. माणिक्यवाचकर् was released from jail and he also came to see the horses. The King gave the leader of the troopers a silk shawl as present. The head of the troopers received it by the end of his whip. The King resented this but the troopers went back without any trouble. The horses were put in stables and माणिक्यवाचकर् went to his आश्रम .

At midnight all the new horses in the stables turned into jackals and roamed about in the streets howling loudly and disturbing everyone. After some time they all disappeared. The anger of the king knew no bounds. He imprisoned माणिक्यवाचकर् again. The servants of the king took him to river वैगै . That day there was an unusual flood in the river and the city of मदुर was submerged in waters. The king then realised his mistake and begged pardon of माणिक्यवाचकर् . माणिक्यवाचकर् asked the king to repair the dam in the वैगै . The king assented to the proposal but to save money the work was entrusted to the citizens of मदुर .

At that time there was an old woman in मदुर called वन्ती . She earned her livelihood by selling sweetmeats. The servants of the king ordered her also to join the work of the dam. She prayed to परमशिव and then a young man came to the old woman and offered to work for her in her stead. The young man representing वन्ती went to वैगै and started to work for her. When the king came to inspect the work he found the young man not doing his work satisfactorily and struck him on his back with a whip. A basketful of sand the young man was carrying fell down and the work of the dam was instantly completed. Not only that; all the persons including the king felt as though they were struck. वन्ती attained स्वर्ग and माणिक्यवाचकर् went to चिदम्बरम् . The king repented.

माणिक्यवाचकर् saw शिव in person several times. Many wonderful events happened at the चिदम्बरम् temple after the arrival of माणिक्यवाचकर् there. The King of लङ्का hearing about the greatness of माणिक्यवाचकर् brought his dumb daughter to him and she gained the power of speech. The Buddhist saints of लङ्का came to माणिक्यवाचकर् and entered into philosophical discourse with him. They became dumb. The king of लङ्का and his followers became devotees of शिव .

माणिक्यवाचकर् sat in his आश्रम and composed divine songs. Once शिव in the guise of a ब्रह्मिन् came there and copied the songs written by him. Even while he was reciting his divine songs to the devotees his soul left his body and merged with that of शिव .

The divine songs in praise of शिव by माणिक्यवाचकर् constitute the eighth खण्ड of शैविते hymns by name " तिरुमुरै ". They include " तिरुवाचकम् " and " तिरुक्कोवैयार् ". The तिरुवाचकम् contains 654 verses in 51 hymns and the तिरुक्कोवैयार् contains 400 verses. All these are songs in praise of शिव sung on different occasions. (Divyacaritam)