While the original account of the Periya Puranam focuses on the saint's observance of caste norms, Dalit retellings emphasize his exploitation and superior religiosity.

In the eleventh century, Nambiyandar Nambi devotes a stanza to Nandanar in his Tiruttondar Tiruvandhadhi while recalling the lives of the Nayanars.

Thinking about how he can see Nataraja's dancing icon, the Nayanar circumambulated the town numerous times and finally succumbed to fatigue and slept.

While Sekkizhar exalts Nandanar's devotion to Shiva, Bharati presents the grim reality of ostracization that the Nayanar suffered.

The opera Nandanar Charitam was embedded with the social message that Shiva grants emancipation irrespective of caste.

[1][3] The play starts with the term "May I come", a warning to higher-caste people that Dalits had to cry out before entering any street, so as to not pollute the higher caste members.

The Dalit elders — headed by Pariyakilavan — define his duties as a pariah and advise him to not confront caste rules.

The Dalits also feel that Nandanar needs to abide by the social norms and give up his taboo idea of entering a temple.

Vetiyar sees Nandanar's bhakti and desire to enter a temple "not only as undesirable and irreligious, but also as a serious threat to his social status."

After much persuasion, the Brahmin relents on the condition that the saint do an impossible task of cultivating and harvesting the field in one night.

Other tales focus on his strict adherence to caste norms, his obedience of his Brahmin master and his refusal to enter the holy temple as an untouchable.

[10] Another variant tells that Ganesha dug up the tank in the night so that Nandanar can bathe in its sacred waters before seeing Shiva in the temple.

[2] The short story Puthiya Nandan by Pudhumaipithan (1906-1948) places the classical tale of the Nayanar in a contemporary setting.

Unlike earlier narratives, Indira's tale is devoid of miracles and is a story of how Nandanar falls prey to a conspiracy.

They make Nandanar believe that God harvested crop from the field, an allusion to the miracle of Vediyar's impossible task in Bharati's work.

Finally, in the climax, Nandanar agrees to undergo a fire-trial, reassured by the earlier miracle, but he and Abhirami burn in the flames.

[2] Nandanar is specially worshipped in the Tamil month of Purattasi, when the moon enters the Rohini nakshatra (lunar mansion).

He is depicted with a shaved head, folded hands (see Anjali mudra) with a kamandalu and a danda (staff), like a seer.

A "recently built" (as mentioned in the 1992 book) small shrine dedicated to the Nayanar, exists in south-west part of the town, whose name means 'Nandanar has become the temple'.

[2] Sundarar venerates Nandanar in the Tiruthonda Thogai, a hymn to Nayanar saints, calling him "Nalaippovan", the "holy pilgrim" who will go tomorrow.

The Sthala Purana of the Nataraja temple called Chidambara Mahatmya praises the god as served by Nandan.

Scenes of Bharati's opera and the local legend of Nandanar and Ganesha digging the temple tank are seen on the shrine.

[7] The "Adi Dravida" (Dalit) leaders of the Self-Respect Movement used Nandanar as an exemplar to prove that social superiority originates not from birth, but the qualities and deeds of people.

Thus, it  — contented that the veracity of Nandanar's tale and its connection to the walled Gate, cannot be ascertained and thus, refused the protesters' demands.

[18] P.Sampath, president of the Tamil Nadu Untouchability Eradication Front (TNUEF) and an office-bearer politician from the Tamil Nadu unit of Communist Party of India (Marxist) (known as CPI (M)), calls the Chidambaram fire-trail as Brahmin propaganda to conceal the truth that Nandanar was burnt at the stake.

[3] In speech in Chidambaram, Mahatma Gandhi called Nandanar, a true practitioner of Satyagraha, a means of Nonviolent resistance.

The 1942 film, starring Dandapani Desikar in the lead, courted controversy for its overly Brahmin overtones and was banned in Kolar Gold Fields after protests by Dalits, however the ban was lifted after Desikar met and personally apologized to the Dalits for being part of the climax, which featured the fire-purification.

N. S. Krishnan presented the story as a "narrative art form", while A. Padmanabhan released a small booklet on the saint's life for children.

[3][22][23] C. T. Indra says that Nandanar was made immortal in legend and remembered over the years "as a strategy of public management of anxiety.