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		"I am a servitor of the servitors
		Of Aiyatikal Kaatavarkon."
		
					- The Tiru-th-Tonda-th-Tokai.

1. 	He hailed from the dynasty of the world-renowned
	Pallavas; quelling cruel Kali and enmity and all troubles
	Which sprang from them, he ruled, poised
	In the divine way of Saivism of the Lord
	Of ruddy matted hair; he was Aiyatikal who brought
	His subjects under his feet by the justice
	Of his righteous sceptre.					(4046)




2. 	Under his rule, opulent glory flourished; all lives
	In this vast world were sweetly poised in greatness;
	The way of dharma thrived; the ways of Saivism
	And of the rare Vedas glowed with splendour;
	It was thus he ruled subjugating his enemies
	And making them abide under his feet.				(4047)

3. 	Kings obeyed him; northern Sanskrit and southern
	Tamil with all their wealth of scripture, came under
	His mastery; even when he so ruled, he resolved thus: 
	“Kingship indeed is misery.” He quit it in utter
	Contempt, having had his beauteous son crowned.
	He then willingly performed service divine,
	Firmly established in the goodly way of Saivism.		(4048)

4.	The fosterer of the right of servitor ship fared forth
	To all the shrines in this sea-girt world, where the Lord
	Of gods willingly abides, beheld and adored
	The Deity; he performed such acts of service as became
	His dutiful servitor ship; at each shrine he composed a venpaa
	In bountiful Tamil and hailed the Lord.				(4049)

5. 	Adoring the Lord in great spiraling love, he came
	To the presence of the Lord-Dancer of ruddy, matted
	Hair, who enacts the Dance divine at Tirucchitrambalam
	Of Perumpatrappuliyoor, and worshipped there;
	The great one adorned the Lord with a soft flower--
	A venpa in splendorous Tamil.					(4050)

6. 	There he was blessed with the grace of the Lord
	And there he sojourned; then he fared forth to all
	The temples in this world where the Lord
	Abides in joy, adored Him in redeeming love, 
	Performed fitting service and sang the sweet
	And dulcet venpaa-s hailed by all the worlds.			(4051)

7. 	Thus Aiyatikal Kaatavarkon of Kaanchi girt
	With an impregnable fortress, performed for many
	Many days, in this way, his becoming service
	Which pleased the Lord’s servitors, and then
	Reached the holy company of the ever-during
	Devotees who in aeviternal Siva-loka abide
	Under the hallowed feet of the Supreme Lord.			(4052)

8. 	Adoring the lotus-feet of Aiyatikal Kaatavanaar
	Who adorned with beauteous garlands of hymns
	The Lord who adorns Himself with snakes of poisonous sacs,
	We proceed to narrate the servitor ship
	Of Kanampullar whose chinta ever performed
	The tapas of adoration to the feet of the Lord
	Whose hands sport the fawn and the mazhu.			(4053)

9. 	He cast into the river the gold given by the Lord
	Of Muthukunru who blued His throat by eating
	The poison for the deliverance of the worlds,
	And took it out from the great and bountiful tank
	Of Tiruvaaroor hailed by the seven worlds;
	We suffer not from the least of mental perturbances
	As he has lifted us straight from the Karmic pit.		(4054)

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NOTES

Verse No.

   3.	Kingship indeed is misery: Cf. ‘Uneasy lies the head that wears the 
	crown.” - Shakespeare.

   4.	The life of this kingly servitor was one continuous holy pilgrimage.

   5.	Venpa: A Tamil quatrain which effectively conveys the intended message.


		Here ends the Puranam of Ai Atikal Kaadavarkon Naayanaar.
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Sincere thanks to Sri. T N Ramachandran of thanjavur, for permitting his English rendering of the holy text periyapurANam be published here.