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The Puranam of Kannappa Nayanar
(kaNNappa nAyanAr purANam - Periyapuranam as English poetry)
"I am a servitor of Kannappar, the glorious polymath"
- The Tiru-th-Tonda-th-Tokai
1. The country of Kannappar who attained beatification
By the grace of the Lord of Kalatthi who is the Protector
Of the Gospels and the Rider of the Bull and who burnt
The triple cities of the hostile foes is Potthappi-Nadu
Of ever-during foison, dight with flowery tanks
And gardens, hailed by bards of renown. (650)
2. His town is hoary Uduppoor girt with a huge fortress
-- An impregnable fence reared on the buried tusks
Of inchorous tuskers --, and guarded by tall hills
From the slopes of which roll cascades with pearls. (651)
3. The dwellers of this town were foresters;
To the branches of wood-apple trees were tethered
Their setters of bent ears; over these trees
Were thrown their nets which lay dangling;
Thither were many trained animals:
Hogs, tigers, bears and antelopes of many types.
They dried their wild rice on mounds and monticules. (652)
4. With strong tiger-cubs and victorious elephant-cubs
The curly-headed infants would thither sport;
With lovely roes, sweet and endearing,
The little daughters of the hunters would romp and play. (653)
5. From the hordes of stout-hearted hunters
Of violent words wielded victorious weapons,
Were heard the words: “Kill, throw, punch.”
Apart from such noise were also heard
The resounding of small-grained tudis,
Bugles and small-eyed little drums
And the shrill noise of gushing cataracts. (654)
6. Thither were huge-seized kine and cattle
Lifted from various places by the dacoit-hunters;
Also were there herds of musty elephants
Which trumpeted aloud whenever clouds
Winged with lightning rumbled in the skies. (655)
7. The foresters were inky dark in complexion;
Violent were they and knew neither dread nor mercy;
They were clad in thick hides; they ate rice minced with meat
And quaffed wild honey; they wielded poisonous darts fiery;
The leader of these hunters was called Nakan. (656)
8. Though he had of yore wrought askesis,
By reason of his birth, he did only evil
And deemed it good; he reveled in cruelty.
He was a mighty bowman who was like an angry lion;
His housewife was called Thatthai. (657)
9. She hailed from a great and hoary family
Of a warrior race; her taali-cord was set with
The teeth of tigers and beads of shells,
And it dangled down the nape of her neck.
She wore a flowery wreath stuck with the feathers
Of peacocks and tender shoots buzzed over by bees,
On her coiffure, and she looked a dreadful lionees. (658)
10. All did declare that this peerless couple
Would not be blessed with a child at all;
But their desire to have a child waxed great;
So they daily adored at the shrine of Muruka,
The wearer of fragrant wreaths of flowers
And the holder of the ruddy spear.
Thus they dedicated themselves to Him on purpose. (659)
11. They offered him chanticleers and speckled peacocks;
They planted festoons and hung thereon bells;
They wove beauteous garlands of katampa blooms
Buzzed over by bees, as votive offering to Him;
Again for Lord Muruka of the long spear
They arranged the festival of grand Ananku-dance
Where his glories were hymned in melody. (660)
12. The grace of victorious and glorious Muruka
-- The long-armed wielder of the spear, who rode
The majestic peacock and smote the Krauncha hill,
The very son of our Lord Siva who smote the triple cities --,
Visited Nakan the leader of the hunters
Whose bodies were intrenched with deep scars. (661)
13. For the flourishing of the clan of hunters, Thatthai
Became gravid; flawless sacrifices were offered;
The ritual-dance was performed; months passed by;
By reason of the limitless askesis wrought of yore,
Even as the briny sea gave birth to the full-moon,
Unto Thatthai a son was born. (662)
14. The tusks of elephants rained pearls;
The bamboos too showered their pearls;
The foresters too showered their gems;
The hills also rained their dazzling gems;
These apart the heavens too showered flowers,
As speckled bees and beetles wheeled their flight;
Not only the small-grained tudis but celestial tuntupis also
Resounded great from the ethereal realms. (663)
15. The throng of people who lived in the little town
And who hailed from the race of rare foresters
Held a jubilant jamboree; like a black hill
Bearing on its crest the dark and huge nimbus
Nakan, the father, upbore on his hill-like shoulders
His son, in delight great. (664)
16. The beauteous child, dark and dazzling
Grew like a tiger-cub, hailed by the hunters;
He also showed signs that his glory could not be
Measured by the whole world; even thus he grew. (665)
17. The great child could not be lifted with hands;
So mighty and weighty was he;
His father therefore said: “Call him Thinnan.”
Loud was the hunters’ uproar when he was thus christened.
With beauteous jewels, they that day, decked the child
Whose form was a peerless wonder of splendour
And an incarnation of piety. (666)
18. They invoked their sylvan tutelary deity
And performed unflawed the traditional rites
In keeping with their custom and usage.
They decked him with tender shoots and adorned him
With a waist-cord set with the seeds of jungle neem
And beads of chanks; thus he grew up pretty well. (667)
19. For his each parva, they sacrificed fittingly
To their sylvan gods, in festive worship.
Auspicious organs were played, and the hunters
That gathered there sported in great glee.
Thus took place many a celebration. (668)
20. At the end of the first year, when the child
Ceased to toddle and started walking gently
They decked his head of soft hair with chutti
Wrought of tiger’s claws; him they garlanded
With a string set with the teeth of tigers
And severed quills of porcupines. (669)
21. His feet were decked with resounding chalankai
Set with bright gems and pretty tintinnabula;
His waist was adorned with a cord set with
Tiny coins and lovely jewels; his hands were
Decked with bracelets wrought of ivory;
Gemmy kutampais dazzled from his ear-lobes;
Thus he glowed flawless when he played
As a little child in the street. (670)
22. To the great delight of his parents
He walked forth in pretty little gait;
His lovely words of prattle were soaked in his saliva
Of sheer nectar, holier than the water of the Ganga
And fell from his roseate lips enchantingly. (671)
23. When a trained tiger oped its mouth agape
He deemed it a cave and into it inserted his golden hand;
His father in love brandished a green twig
At which his two beauteous eyes which can cure
The harm to be suffered by the sun and the moon,
Were suffused with tears; when these tear-drops
Rolled down his cheeks, Thatthai kissed them away. (672)
24. He plied the go-cart shaped like a small tudi;
He caught hold of the tethering leash of a dog,
Tugged at it and snapped it; he kicked away
With his pretty feet – tender as shoot --, the toy-houses
Built by the little girls of the hunting clan;
He played with the infants of the bowmen
And thus sported in great fun in all the huts. (673)
25. Varied were his sport and pastime, and he was now
Six summers old; with catapults and traps
He played with heroic hunter-boys in flowery gardens;
His play-field extended into the nearby jungle
Beyond the ivory fence set with Uzhuvais. (674)
26. He chased the young rabbits swift, cubs of jungle hogs
And striped tigers and also the pups of red ferocious dogs,
Captured them and tethered them to the trees
That grew aloft in the foreyard of his house. (675)
27. At dusk a matron of the hunting tribe would
Twirl round him a platter of smoking mustard,
Feed him and put him to bed in the place assigned;
At dawn she would feed him with meat
And leave him to pursue his sport.
Thus rolled on a few years, and he now reached
The parva when he could be taught to wield the bow. (676)
28. His father felt glad that he reached the proper age;
He hugged him close with his strong shoulders;
Desiring to train him well in archery
He gathered the old and veteran bowmen;
After due consultation with them all, he fixed
An auspicious day and proclaimed it to his tribesmen. (677)
29. All the heroic leaders of the hills in the neighbourhood
Heard the loud announcement through beat of tudi
That Thinnan -- the son of the hunters’ king Nakan,
Whose deeds proclaim him to be greater than
Men of great intellect, the one born on earth
By the grace of Lord Kandan --, is about to be
Initiated in the art of archery. (678)
30. From all directions came the practicing bowmen
With gems of the hills, gold and pearls,
And also hides of tigers, tusks of murderous tuskers,
Heaps of peacock feathers, (wild) honey,
And countless jars of liquor, varieties of meat
Fruits and tubers too. (679)
31. They filled the little town with such wealth;
The bournes of the peerless town could not contain
What they brought with them in such abundance.
The King of hunters, Nakan then announced:
“Perform all the rituals of worship to the gods
To the delectation of the multifoliate kith and kin
For the initiatory ceremony of archery.” (680)
32. The craftsmen who had duly wrought a bow
For the occasion, held it; the bow of Siva who wears
Honied konrai -- the hill of Meru – did excel Mt. Mantara
Which but churned poison out of the main;
On the bow like unto Mt. Meru, which would
For Siva procure fitting victuals from jungle
They wound the raksha. (681)
33. With the selfsame gut of the fierce tiger
Which was used as raksha for the bow,
At the hour propitious they wound the beauteous wrist
Of hill-like Thinnan, the son of Nakan
And the scion of the hunters’ tribe.
All the foresters loud proclaimed their benediction. (682)
34. The expert cooks of the hunting clan cooked
Wild rice and other grains and also millet soft
Along with the hard grains of bamboos.
These were minced with tubers and meat;
The food-heap looked like a hill;
The wielders of angry bows gathered there to eat. (683)
35. Some feasted on the powder of red millet and honey;
Some ate cooked flesh soaked in honey;
Some took wood-apples mixed with honey;
Some gorged winged white-ants well-cooked;
Thus the hunters gormandised varius dishes. (684)
36. The visitors from adjoining hills and the local people
Ate exceedingly well; as the sun crossed the meridian
The hunters and huntresses started bibing
Limitless liquor of various types.
Thus were they all happily inebriate during the fete. (685)
37. Thy wore wreaths of green leaves and many types
Of garlands and also jeweled leathern girdles;
They decked themselves with beads of shells;
They also wore flawless vetchi garlands
And other chaplets befitting them.
Then they came near the dreadful bow of the blemishless master. (686)
38. Tondaka-drum, bugles, tudis and flutes of bamboo
Resounded and filled all the directions;
Coupled with this, rose the din of heroic hunters
Rumbling through the heavens; in such festal spree
They circumambulated the little town. (687)
39. The hunters danced the vari-dance; the huntresses
The tunankai-dance; with joy danced
The awesome women divine; thus did they daily
Spend their days of the bow-festival
And on the seventh day, doubled their celebrations. (688)
40. At the hour when the sun stood midmost in the sky
Benedictions resounded from everywhere and mingled
With the orchestration of many organs;
Through the master of archery of their hoary tribe
They caused Tinnan, the bright and dark bull,
To hold the martial bow. (689)
41. All the rites and rituals were duly performed
In the slope of the beauteous mountain;
From the day when he first held the bow
Each day he practiced the art of archery;
The skill of him – the lion of foresters,
And my own deity --, was crowned with consummation. (690)
42. He who was like ‘the congregation of splendorous piety ever-growing’
Became a great master of the bow and other weapons;
With ever-crescent beauty he shone a full moon;
He was now sixteen years old. (691)
43. As Thinnan throve thus, the chief
Of the Sylvan town where dwelt fierce hill-men
-- The dark strong-shouldered Nakan --,
For countless days through hills and forests
Hunted with his beauteous bow, quelled foes,
Lifted cattle and kept watch over his hill ranges.
He grew old and was enfeebled;
He was no longer the master of his bow. (692)
44. When fierce forest boars, tigers, bears, kadamai,
Jungle-cows, angry-eyed marai and other wild animals
Thronged thick and laid waste the fields and gardens
In the great slopes of the beauteous hills
The hunters assembled, and as a body
Called on Nakan, the chief of their clan,
-- The wearer of cool wreath of flowers --,
And said: “Lack of periodical hunting
Has caused havoc.” (693)
45. When Nakan heard them, he considered
His ageing plight and addressed them thus:
“On account of my old age I am unable
To indulge in hunting as before; may you all
Accept the leadership of my son.”
When he spake thus, they felt sad
And eventually grew glad; they hailed
His feet and addressed him thus: (694)
46. “All these years we abode under your bow;
We ate and flourished trouble-free;
Father, we’ll follow the way indicated by
Your mandate; no other path will we pursue;
Moreover you have blessed us with your son,
Thinnan who is the great scion of your line;
Call your son who is an expert archer and invest
Him with the right to rule the hills.”
Thus they spake in delight great. (695)
47. When they spake thus, Nakan sent for his son
And uttered these words: “My son is to pursue
His maiden-hunting in the hilly forests;
Call the chief priestess of my clan to offer
Sacrifices pleasing to the sylvan deities.”
When hunters apprised her of his words
The old matron hastened in joy to Nakan. (696)
48. The priestess wore a chaplet of speckled jungle shoots;
Her ears were adorned with rings cut from antler;
On her forehead was a tilaka of musk;
She wore a garland made of small chowries
Painted blue like the peacock’s neck;
Her shrunken breasts were sagging;
She wore a garment of bark into which
Were stuck the feathers of peacock.
She blessed him with flowers and wild rice
And stood hailing the martial king of hunters. (697)
49. Addressing the aged matron -- a huntress --, he said:
“Mother, are you free from indigence?
Do you live well?” Hearing this, she blessed him
And said: “As you have allotted of yore,
I get goodly meat soft, winged white ants,
Honey, products of hills and other products too;
Abundant is the provision. Well, what for did you call me?” (698)
50. “Thinnan, my flawless son, is to be invested by me with
The chieftainship of our clan and is to become
The leader of hunters who wield strung bows;
He should excel me as a hunter and should be
Successful in annexing the realms of foes;
So, perform sacrifices to the sylvan deities
That they may with joy relish the offerings.”
Thus spake he, relieved of all his worries. (699)
51. The priestess who heard him speak thus, said:
“When I came here borne by love in joy, I espied
Such good omens which I have never witnessed;
Surely your son Thinnan, the wielder of the victorious bow,
Will prove to be far greater than you.”
She blessed him once again and went away with
A surfeit of things required by way of offerings
To gladden the woodland gods. (700)
52. When the priestess departed, Thinnan came to call on
His hunter-father at his bidding;
His tuft of hair was decked with a fragrant chaplet
And he looked like a blue gemmy hill;
Bowmen came with him, admiring him.
When he hailed his father’s ankleted feet
He embraced him with his strong shoulders
And bade him be seated on a tiger-skin. (701)
53. Addressing his son who was before him
He said: “I think not to pursue hunting
As before, since I am now grown old;
Be invested with the right to rule and protect
The foresters and flourish greater than I;
May you annex the realms of foes and be
Victorious in all your hunting expeditions;
May you nobly bear the office of your forebears.”
This said, he gave him his Belt and Sword. (702)
54. He reckoned the true plight of his father
And felt sad; he also knew that the ancient right
Of chieftainship had to be perpetuated;
So, he wouldn’t say ‘no’ to his father’s wish.
He fell at his ankleted feet and hailed him;
Then he received the Belt and the Sword, the insignia
Of his office; unto Thinnan whose mind
Unfailingly accepted the responsibility of rulership
The great father in joy addressed these words: (703)
55. “May you ever do good to the hunters
Of our clan and to our kith and kin;
May you foster them even better than I;
May you live in great foison as the conqueror
Of hostile realms; you will meet with
Many an opportunity to go a-hunting;
May you even now rise for the hunt
With these fierce bowmen.” Thus spake he,
The one poised in his true nature, and gave leave to Thinnan. (704)
56. Thinnan the strong who was like a victorious lion
Of ruddy eyes, prostrated at his father’s feet,
The courageous one of fierce eyes and great askesis.
He took leave of him, and with the hunters moved away;
He bathed in the auspicious water of the spa
And rested in his abode; when day broke
He went to the armoury in joy with hunters
Who were experts in adorning him with arms. (705)
57. They straightened his dense curly hair and wound it;
They decked it with chaplets of shoots.
They stuck therein bright feathers of peacock;
They also decked him with garlands of kurinji
And jasmine, buzzed over by bees. (706)
58. Round his forehead they fastened a band of wool
Set with peacock quills and beans of kunri;
They adorned his ear with ear-rings wrought
Of white lustrous shells bright like the full-moon. (707)
59. His neck was adorned with a white necklace
Wrought of lustrous beads of chanks and gems;
Into these were stuck crescent-shaped teeth of hogs;
He wore sannaveeram, the triumphal garland
Which was wrought of tiger-skin studded with gems. (708)
60. On his chest dangled a garland of ivory beads;
On his shoulders bahu-valayas were set;
His forearms bore bracelets and his hands
That would ply darts with the loud noise
Matching the rumbling of clouds, were with
Small wreaths decked. (709)
61. On his waist he wore a tiger-skin set with
Peacock-feathers; white beads of shells were sewn
On its border, he wore a long garment of hide;
A belt girdled him; the sword with the leathern scabbard
Was fastened to his waist with a leathern strap
Dyed ruddy with deodorant stuff. (710)
62. On his foot he wore the heroic anklet;
On the soles of his feet he fastened fitting footwear;
He bowed before the bow – mighty and weighty --,
And duly circumambulated it; he held the bow
Pressing it with his foot and strung it;
He invoked the deity as he bore the bow thus. (711)
63. With his roseate fingers he strummed
The bow, the twang of which was like that of
The rumbling of the huge and dark nimbus;
He twanged the bow that the world might be
Rid of its misery, and red-eyed animals
-- Huge and angry --, might flee away. (712)
64. Thinnan who was like unto a valiant lion
Filled his quiver with a good many choice arrows;
He commanded reconnoitrers to accompany him;
Thus he came to the place where resounded
The small tudis of hunting throngs;
The blessings of these filled all the directions;
Thither he stood and his darts examined. (713)
65. When the bowmen ready for the chase
Neared him, unto Thinnan of blue hue,
From whom blazed lustre as from relumbo,
Came the priestess who had sacrified to the gods,
With the remains of the offerings of honey,
Goodly flesh, toddy, Charu, puffed rice and the like. (714)
66. The swarming hunters drew aside, as she came there;
She went near Thinnan and sprinkled Akshata
On his forehead, and said: “Even your father’s father
Wasn’t blessed like you; great is your might;
It is not to be measured even by us.” (715)
67. He duly honoured the priestess who thus blessed him
And gave her leave to depart; he who was like a huge cloud
Of the rainy season held the mighty bow;
Bent on hunt in all its splendour, he plied his steps. (716)
68. Before glorious Thinnan who rose for the chase, lion-like,
Innumerable valiant bowmen wearing footwear
And long garments of hide and holding
Bows and arrows, marched in strong groups. (717)
69. The hunters held the long leashes of hounds
By their fierce hands; with their red tongues hanging
Setters ran before them, not in any proper order;
It was like the treading of the roseate feet
Of Dame Victory who abode in the bows of heroes. (718)
70. The cynegetic hordes advanced with huge nets and bows;
Thinnan, the great one, who was to snap all bonds,
Followed them; many were they who walked, carrying
Leather-straps and nets into the forests
And hills on whose crests clouds did rest. (719)
71. The great Vedas for ever pursue, but behold not, the Lord,
Who on His matted hair sports the cool crescent,
Adampu and konrai flowers; it was Thinnan
Who was endowed with the Eye to behold Him.
Before him from all sides marched the hunters
With the pack of their trained animals. (720)
72. Trumpets taratantaraed in the front ranks;
From the sides resounded kettle-drums;
Pampais were played; hands clapped keeping time;
Thus hied the hunters in great hullabaloo. (721)
73. The march of the long-armed and fierce hunters
Into the vast and green boscage was like unto
The tumultuous flowing of black-waved Kalindi
Into the billowy main immense. (722)
74. When reconnoitrers tracking the foot-prints,
Returned and announced that in the southard jungle
Of the hill-range, herds of deer, boars strong, marais
And other animals had gathered,
With straps and nets rushed the hunters in all sides. (723)
75. They cleared the branches and fastened with straps
The whole jungle, a yojna square; huge strong nets
Were hung everywhere; it was dreadful to behold;
When they completed their work, the hunters
Of dumose hair came before Thinnan. (724)
76. Thinnan the fierce bowman joined the hunters;
The animals were roused from their lairs
In the slopes of the cloud-capped mountain;
Hounds were unleashed to seize them;
With arrows, long and sharp, he went into the jungle
Where nets were spread to trap the animals. (725)
77. Hunting dogs were set on the beasts;
Hunters advanced with well-chosen darts;
Tudis and pampais resounded everywhere;
With hands and mouths they clapped and shouted;
The hiding animals were ferreted out thus
From their hides-out in the woodland. (726)
78. Jungle hogs, deer of many types, bears,
Herds of strong stags, bisons, tusker, fierce tigers,
Marais and wild animals were roused.
When they leaped in spiraling wrath, the hunters
Smote them all with their arrows. (727)
79. Severed were the legs, the haunches and the heads of stags;
With their intestines ripped open, died a few marais;
With their bodies rent by darts, down fell
The wild cattle of the jungle; split by darts
Many antelopes jumped and fell and died. (728)
80. When the napes of necks of boars were slit
By darts, fiery blood gushed forth from the wounds;
More and more darts were rained on them
And they sped piercing and dragging their heads
And stood stuck between the teeth of tigers
Which came running with their mouths agape.
It looked as though the tigers came thither
To prey upon the fierce hogs. (729)
81. The arrows of heroes that plied their darts
From behind the stags, pierced through them
From behind and passed out through their heads
And again whizzed piercing through the heads
Of stags that came running from the opposite direction.
It looked like a fight between opposing stags. (730)
82. The arrows of Thinnan who looked like
A black hill rushing with a bow,
Smote and killed the animals that came
Fronting him; the darts further whizzed
And smote warring elephants and angry lions.
It looked as though day merged with night
When bright lions and black elephants
Fell side by side by his ceaseless arrows. (731)
83. The stags that jumped and touched the great clouds
Were pursued by the arrows of ankleted heroes;
This was like unto the pursuit of Rakhu of the deer
That slipped from the lustrous Chandra-mandala;
Thus did jump may a deer. (732)
84. As the darts got stuck in their bodies, they could not
Stand firm in the slopes of the mountains;
They twirled and fell on the thick leafy shrubs.
This was like unto the resting of clouds on sea
To suck the water thereof; thus fell on the jingle sward
Black marais, boars and bisons galore. (733)
85. When in dread the animals rushed tearing the nets
The hounds blocked in wrath their escape
And seized them; this was like unto the act
Of the five senses which blocked the escape
Of mind which in its effort to gain the righteous path
Tried to tear and slip away from the toils
Of the resultants of the two-fold deeds. (734)
86. The murderous hunters who faced the wild beasts
And slaughtered them in abundance
Would not hunt elephant-cubs whose legs
Were like tudis and whose ears were bent.
Neither would they hunt the young ones that romped
And ran making noise; nor would they harm
Toddling animals gravid. (735)
87. While thus the murderous chase was pursued,
A boar rushed forth in great tumult; to fright
It put, even the tuskers; the jungle itself trembled;
It thundered like the huge and dark nimbus;
Its jutting eyes spat fire. (736)
88. Thinnan who was a lion among the hunters
That pursued the boar to down it,
Chased with great speed the fleeing boar;
Other hunters lost track of the beast;
He alone pursued it in its solitary flight;
There were indeed two who would not from him part. (737)
89. Nanan and Kadan were they, mighty heroes;
They anon joined Thinnan, the ruler of the hills;
The boar escaped from their darts and dogs,
And took to its heels in the long umbrageous slope of the hill. (738)
90. The eyes of the boar which were jutting out
Fiercely blazed with fire, and were like the beans of kunri;
Its roar was truly like the rumbling of clouds;
The huge boar after covering a great distance
By constant running eventually stood
At the foot of the hill amidst the boscage. (739)
91. Thinnan, the chieftain of murderous hunters
Gauging the plight of the beast that stood amidst
The trees, didn’t think of slaying it with choise darts;
He opted for a straight encounter with it;
He drew out his flashing blade and felled it. (740)
92. Beholding the boar cut into two by Thinnan,
The red-eyed master-archer of the hunting tribe,
Nanan said: “Kada! We chased the beast
For many a league and became fatigued;
Ha, the he-man slew it.” Then both fell at his feet. (741)
93. They addressed Thinnan thus: “By reason of the chase
We are esurient; we will now fry this;
You may eat a little of it; we too will eat it
And drink some water and then we’ll gently walk back
To the forest of the triumphant hunt.” (742)
94. When they so spake, Thinnan addressed them thus:
“Is potable water available even in this jungle?”
Nanan answered him thus: “Beyond this grove
Of teak, near the hill rang courses the cool Ponmukali. (743)
95. When Nanan the wielder of the angry bow spake thus
Thinnan said: “Let us go there; carry this boar
With you. “He moved on and after crossing half a league
He beheld the garden of the divine mountain
Where abides Siva, the Rider of the red-eyed Bull. (744)
96. Thinnan said: “Nana! We’ll go to the hill
That appears before us.” Nanan in reply said:
“If you go there, you’ll behold a splendid sight;
On the top of this sky-high Tirukkalatthi Hill
Abides in splendour the Lord of the Tufted Crest, the Remover
Of all kinks; Him we can adore.” (745)
97. “What else is there to do? As I near this, the burden
Of my life gets decreased, love wells up in me:
My heart filled with a different longing, flies to it;
Where indeed is the Lord? Proceed.” Thus Thinnan. (746)
98. Thinnan then moved fast and him followed the two;
They reached the beauteous river Mukali on whose
Either bank were shored up pearls from lofty bamboos,
Logs of agalloch and sandal, gems from hills,
Gold and diamond, heaped into the sand-dunes. (747)
99. He had the boar unloaded in the cool shade
Of a tree near the bank of that river;
He bade Kadan -- the wielder of the bent bow --, thus:
“Make two sticks to churn out fire; we’ll
Go up the hill, behold (Him) and return.”
Thus spake Thinnan, and went with Nanan. (748)
100. In the pellucid water of the cool Mukali which bore
The flowers of the gardens studding its bank
And buzzed over by bees, Thinnan whose chinta
Was getting clarified, entered; he went through
The river in joy and was filled with delight great.
Thus, even thus, he arrived at the foot of the hill. (749)
101. The sun was in the mid-most heavens;
On the top of the divine hill were resounded
The five celestial tuntupis; they roared like sea.
When Thinnan asked Nanan, what it was, he said:
“Perhaps, it is the loud buzzing of bees which circle
Round the great honey(-combs) in the hill, sip the nectar
Of flowers in swarms and fly
With the hiss of rustling wings.” (750)
102. Limitless love welled up in him by reason
Of the fruition of his askesis in his past incarnations;
Boundless longing transformed into devotion deep;
As he moved toward the hill, his bones melted
And a great yearning possessed him. (751)
103. His love and Nanan preceded him and Thinnan ascended
The cool hill; he climbed the immense flight of steps
-- All the graded tattwas (six and thirty) --, as though
He would attain Siva whose form is Sakti.
Thus he plied his steps on the straight path of the lofty hill. (752)
104. Even before he beheld the Lord whose matted hair
Sports the crescent, His looks of grace were cast on him;
All the fetters of his lie slipped away;
Under the shade of His lustrous light he was wrought
Into the form of very love. (753)
105. He beheld the unique deity that blazed like a shoot
On the crest of the sky-high Tirukkalatthi Mountain;
Great love spiraled in him and bore him up;
Swiftly and with speed he ran passionately;
He hugged Him; ha, he kissed Him. (754)
106. Sighs he heaved for a long time the hair
On his body stood erect as he felt thrilled
In every pore of his; his eyes rained tears.
“Ha! I, the servitor, have here found my Lord!”
It was as though peerless love assumed his form. (755)
107. “Like tribesmen of fierce and relentless hunters
You abide here alone and with help none,
In the jungle infested with elephants, bears,
Tigers, lions and other wild beasts.
Woe’s me!” Thus he cried and grieved sore. (756)
108. He knew not that his bow had slipped from his hand;
Thinnan who was like unto a bull of prowess, said:
“Who has done this good deed of strewing these leaves
And flowers too, and poured water?” When thus questioned
Nanan who stood near him said: “I have known of this.” (757)
109. “Your father of skilled puissance and I, after a great hunt
Came to this hill once; the deity was bathed in cool water;
Strewn with fitting leaves and flowers and also fed
By a Brahmin then, who also muttered a few words.
It is he who should have done this.” Thus he. (758)
110. When great love welled up inly and uninterruptedly
And wouldn’t be contained within,
Thinnan thought: “These are perhaps good deeds
Esteemed by the Lord of Tirukkalatthi.”
He resolved to hold fast to this service; his love so swelled
That he was unable to part from the Supreme One. (759)
111. “I have found Him; but He abides alone;
There are none to feed Him with meat; neither can I
From him part; what am I to do? Him must I get
The needed meat.” Thus he resolved. (760)
112. He would move away but would come back at once;
He would hug Him and move away again;
He would eye Him in love; he became like unto
The cow parted from its young one, newly delivered;
He would say: “O Lord, for your feeding, I’ll myself
Secure delicious and soft and flawless meat
And be here eftsoon.” (761)
113. “Who would remain here as help for you?
This thought prevents my parting for you;
Neither can I suffer you to be hungry”
Thus he spake and his eyes showered tears.
He somewhat grew resolute and with his long bow
Moved away after hailing Him with his flowery hand. (762)
114. Parting from the divine presence in reluctance
Down he descended from the hill that stretched afar;
Him followed Nanan; all other longings of Thinnan
Were gone; he was borne on by sheer love;
Through the beauteous bank of Ponmukali he crossed
The river and reached the other bank and thence
Moved into the garden laden with fresh flowers. (763)
115. Kadan came before him and addressed him thus:
“I churned out fire; you can verify for yourself
That the parts of the tusked-boar are there intact;
We have to return; why were you so much delayed?”
When he spake thus, Nanan who stood nearby said: (764)
116. “There in the hill beholding the Lord he hugged Him close;
Like the iguana holding fast to the curved cavern hollow
He would not lose his grip; he but came here
To secure meat and flesh for the Lord to eat;
He had forsaken the chieftainship of our race;
He is possessed by the Lord.” (765)
117. “What have you done Thinna? What bewilderment is this?
Aren’t you the hereditary chief of us, the hunters?”
When he spake thus he wouldn’t even cast a glance on him;
He fried the huge boar in the fire and gathered
The delicious flesh with various darts. (766)
118. The flesh stuck to the darts, was fried in fire;
The flesh was thus cooked rich; he chewed the flesh
To find out how it tasted, and gathered
The delicious morsels in a cup of teak-leaves. (767)
119. The two that stood beside him, exclaimed thus:
“Ha, his bewilderment has grown apace; he fries
The rare boar-flesh and spits it back;
Sure is he esurient; but he eats not; he keeps mum;
Neither does he bother to feed us with this;
He throws away the rejected pieces.” (768)
120. “This Thinnan is sure possessed; him to disenchant
We know not; we must hie to our town and come back
With the priestess and Nakan, to cure him;
Let us fare forth to that forest and with our servants
Proceed to our town.” (769)
121. Thinnan knew not of the departure of the hunters;
He swiftly made ready the cup of flesh for carrying;
For the ablutions of the deity he filled his hallowed mouth
With the pure water of the river; he also stuck to his hair
Many flowers and leaves, all fresh. (770)
122. He took the bow and fierce darts in one hand;
In the other he bore the cup of soft and savoury flesh.
"My sweet Lord will sure be hungry” he thought feelingly,
And reached the Lord’s hill in great swiftness. (771)
123. He felt that the Lord was languishing in hunger;
He rushed and beheld the Swayampu Lord;
He removed the strewn flowers on His crown
With his beauteous slippered foot; he besprinkled
The deity with the water stored in his mouth.
Lo, it was his love that he let flow on the crown
Of the Lord – the Purifier. (772)
124. The fresh flowers and leaves that he bore on his hair
He lovingly placed on the crown of the Lord
Of Kalatthi Hill; Thinnan who roseate palm
Held the bow, then placed before the Lord, the cup
Of woven leaves which held the nectarean offering. (773)
125. “I have chosen the daintiest portions of flesh and fat
And fried them on the points of arrows;
They are well-cooked and roasted; I have crushed them
With my teeth, tasted them and gathered
The toothsome morsels; these are delicious indeed;
Be pleased to partake of them.” Thus he. (774)
126. Having fed the Lord inducing Him with endearing words
The prince of hunters desired to feed the God
Of Thiru-k-Kalatthi Hill with still more savoury flesh;
Sensing his swelling love, the sun hailed him
Folding his myriad rays and into the mountain descended. (775)
127. Now came still evening on; into night melted twilight;
Dreading the traffic of wild beasts, and poised in true love,
He who was like a dark hill, held fast his bow
And stood firm beside the Lord. (776)
128. Even by achieving the well-nigh impossible askesis,
Even by abiding in forests of cloud-capped hills
Munis and celestials could seldom behold the Lord.
With growing longing and love unabated, he eyed
The Lord and stood straight before Him;
Thus he stood till the dense darkness dissolved. (777)
129. As on one side shone with the moon’s lustre
The heap of bright-rayed pearls of bamboos,
And on the other issued the brilliance
Of gems in caves, spat out by serpents,
It looked as though that the moon and the sun
Blending their rays came thither on the new-moon day
To adore the Hill of the ear-ringed Lord. (778)
130. Thither swelled the rays of good many gems;
Emeralds and sapphires also blazed black-rayed.
It looked as though night and darkness besieged by
The sun and the moon, fled away in fright.
(Such was the war of rays -- black and white.) (779)
131. By reason of the blaze of the Jyoti Vrikshas,
The lustre of pearls kept in caves by monkeys
To serve as lamps thither at night,
And the rare effulgence immense that issues
From holy men who have quelled the senses five,
There is nought as night in the hallowed Hill
Of our Father, the Lord of Tiru-k-Kalatthi. (780)
132. With the passing of the watches of night, murk faded away;
He, the sleepless hero who was like a black sea,
Heard the pipe of the half-awakened birds
And was impelled by a desire to secure food for the Lord. (781)
133. He was an adept in hunting the big-bellied
And short-legged boars, huge stage, grazing deer
And other varieties of wild beasts; he contemplated
The hour to hunt them, and fared forth in that
Dim hour when forms appeared indistinct.
With his bow he marched on, after adoring
The munificent Lord. (782)
134. Chasing away the dense darkness, the sun
Rode his chariot revealing his visage;
As Thinnan whose form was that of true love
Was bent on his hunt unique, in the jungle,
As if to reveal the woodland beasts, he drew away
The black curtain and rose on high with his rays;
It looked as though he waved his hand to Thinnan. (783)
135. In unison with the laws expounded in the Agamas,
To perform his regular ritual worship,
With, duly gathered flowers, holy water and other
Articles of Pooja, thither came Sivagochariar,
The Muni of sacerdocy, blessed with the askesis
To adore the dark-throated Lord of the Hill
-- The Panacea great of all ills. (784)
136. Having arrived at the Hill, as he neared
Poised in spiritual discipline, the Lord of gods,
He saw scattered pieces of bones and cooked flesh.
He jumped and leaped, and bounced
Away from them, and cried: “Woe is me!
What rank pollution! Who did this?” He wilted. (785)
137. “The dare-devil hunters have wrought this;
O Lord of gods, could You suffer their trespass?
How could You permit this contamination?”
He cried and quaked and fell down grief-struck. (786)
138. “What is it that I do here delaying the pooja
Of the Lord, the shoot of lustre on the crest of this hill?”
Thus spake he, and swept away with the holy broom
The pieces of flesh, bones, leaves, prints of slippers,
And the foot-prints of a dog; then in love he hied
To the divine Mukali, performed his ablutions
And hastened back to the adytum. (787)
139. He performed the expiatory rites of cleansing,
And bowed before the Lord; then with the articles of pooja
He commenced his holy ritual-worship as is his wont;
He completed in order the flawless ablutions of the Lord,
The recitation of mantras and the other rites of pooja.
At the end he hailed the feet of the First One. (788)
140. He hailed the Lord with the mantras of the Vedas
That affirm thus: “Lord Siva is the Ens Entium!”
He then took leave of the Lord whose matted hair
Sports the splendorous moon, and with a mind pacified
He repaired to the woods where he performed askesis. (789)
141. Thus departed the great muni; I will now narrate
The peerless hunting of the prince of hunters,
The one of beauteous tuft, dazzling inky dark;
I will narrate how he bent his bow and displayed
His skill in the forest; thus will I rid me of evil. (790)
142. The huge hogs that grazed in the fields
On the slopes of craggy hills, were downed by Thinnan
Who thither came as he left the Holy Hill.
He ambushed at a vantage-point by which
Should pass the antelopes in a single file
On a narrow path, and he killed them whereby
He but conferred on them grace divine. (791)
143. He would imitate the call o a stag;
When deer came responding to the call,
He smote them all, with his sharp darts;
He would track the foot-prints of antelopes
Reach their slumbering habitat and kill them.
He also hunted many a katama;
Thus would he complete his hunt as the rays
Of the sun grew fierce. (792)
144. He gathered all the hunted animals in one place;
He drew out his sword and chopped off arani sticks;
He broke several twigs laden with the hives of honey-bees;
He wove broad-based cups of teak leaves. (793)
145. He chopped off fuel-wood and piled them up;
He churned out fire and kept it ablaze;
With sharp darts he severed the fat and the flesh;
He then fried what ought to be fried. (794)
146. With sharp darts he tore and carved the flesh;
He gathered into a different cup the fleshy parts
Of animals; on points of arrows he fried them fittingly;
To make a holy offering, he desired to taste it. (795)
147. Like placing in the ruddy mouth of Agni
The offerings that are to be conveyed to the celestials,
Into his holy mouth he put the fried flesh to taste it
For making an offering to the Lord of Kalatthi. (796)
148. He gathered into a cup the tasted food cooked fittingly;
He poured honey into it and mashed it;
He fared forth swift, gathering flowers, leaves
And water for holy ablutions as before;
Thus toward his deity he hastened. (797)
149. The Lord of the hunters ascended Tiru-k-Kalatthi Hill
And reached the presence of the Lord of gods;
As before he removed the Brahmin’s offerings
And performed the pooja after his fashion. (798)
150. He placed before Him the cup of nectarean food
And implored Him thus: “This is even more delicious
Than what I offered earlier; with the flesh of hog
I have cooked the daintiest portions of stag,
Antelope and katama; I too have tasted it;
It is mixed with honey; it’ll taste sweet; (eat).” (799)
151. Thus he feasted the Lord and performed His pooja
Poised in the Godly way peerless; love swelled
More and more in him; he would not slumber
At night; during day he would go a hunting. (800)
152. The great Muni came every day; great was
His grief when he witnessed the remains
Of the pooja performed by the prince of the jungle;
He would clear them, perform purificatory rites
And do pooja as ordained in the Agamas
Poised in his righteous way. (801)
153. Nanan and Kadan broke the intelligence
To Nakan who grieved forsaking food and sleep;
He came with the priestess, and in manifold ways
Essayed to cure his son, but in vain.
Abandoning hope, they hied back to their place. (802)
154. As the Lord of Kalatthi had cast on him
His looks of Grace, like iron getting transmuted
By the sweet alchemic touch, his two-fold karma
And triple mala were totally done away with;
His body had come to be wrought of ethereal fire;
He moved about as love embodied.
Is he within the ken of any one’s comprehension? (803)
155. He performed pooja for the Lord in the way
Known to him; the great muni who did pooja
As ordained in the ever-abiding Agamas
Implored Him thus: “O my Lord, I could not find him
Who had wrought this; I pray that You be pleased
To put an end to this by Your divine grace.” (804)
156. That night, the Lord-Brahmin whose matted hair
Flashes fulgurously, appeared in the somnium
Of the great muni, and spake thus in grace:
“Rate him not as a mere hunter fierce;
Hearken to his deed which We unfold to you. (805)
157. “His for entire is all love for Us solely;
All his knowledge is Gnosis that truly cons Us;
Every one of his acts is endearing to Us;
Know him to be thus, even thus,” Thus He. (806)
158. “I will demonstrate his acts to you; if to-morrow
You watch concealed, you will sure witness
His love and loving-kindness, all for Me;
Be rid of your mental torment.” Thus He spake
In grace to the great muni and anon
The Lord of matted hair where courses the flood
Took to His form invisible. (807)
159. He woke up from his dream, the great muni of tapas;
He wouldn’t sleep during the rest of the night;
It was his night of mystical tremendum.
At dawn Aruna rose up in his car unique
Yoked to a single swift steed. (808)
160. He had his bath in the divine Mukali
As on the day before, and he contemplated the grace
Of the lord in multifoliate ways.
He ascended the Hill of Tiru-k-Kalatthi
And did his pooja to Pinggnakan as is his wont
And then stood in hiding, behind the Lord. (809)
161. At the end of night, when day broke
On the sixth day of his servitorship,
Before the arrival of the great muni versed in the Gospels,
He, the sleepless bowman like unto a dark nimbus,
Had set out for his hunt unique, as before. (810)
162. Peerless food of flesh, water for holy ablutions
And fresh flowers stuck into his hair
He took with him in ways differing from the known;
He proceeded to the presence of the Lord of Tiru-k-Kalatthi
Who sports on His matted hair the river,
And who is the Lord of nectarean wealth to those
Who are with clarified intellect endowed. (811)
163. Before him who deemed himself a cunctator
And moved on swiftly, ill omens auguring illth occurred;
“Ominous portents throng thick to reveal blood-mark;
What hath betid my Father? Woe’s me!”
Thus he cried and as he neared Him… (812)
164. The glorious Lord of Tiru-k-Kalatthi desiring to
Demonstrate unto the muni, the great love
Of Thinnan, made one of his beauteous eyne
Bleed with sudden spurts of blood; he, the bowman
That beheld it even at a distance
Came dashing in terrific speed. (813)
165. He beheld the streaming blood; he was bewildered;
The goodly water from his mouth spilled; from his hands
The cup of flesh and the bow, alike slipped down;
The fresh flowers that would burgeon in bunches,
From his tuft trembled and tossed and fell down.
He quaked in agony, and down he fell crashing. (814)
166. He that fell down, rose up and wiped out the blood;
The gush would not cease; he was dazed;
Deep sighs he heaved and again fell down;
Somewhat revived he pondered thus: “Who had done this?”
Up he rose, cast his look in all directions
And seized his bow. (815)
167. Picking out choice darts, he thought aloud:
“Are there hunters, fierce and cruel, and hostile to me,
Who could have done this? Or was it wrought by
Wild beasts like the lion? I know not!”
To the slope of the huge hill, he fared forth
Sleuthing a great stretch. (816)
168. There were no hunters; neither were anywhere
Wild beasts, though he searched for them.
He came back to his deity; gripped by grief
He held fast to the flowery feet of the Lord;
He hugged them close and cried bitterly;
His eyes rained tears. (817)
169. “This sinner beholds a ghastly sight!
What hath happened to the Supreme One?
What hath betid our Father, dearer than life?
What hath befallen the Pure One, from whom
Loving ones will never, never part?
I’m bewildered; what can I do at all?”
Thus he cried and again he spake thus: (818)
170. “What can end this? (I know not.)
I cannot find those who had wrought this evil
To my Lord; I’ll go, search and fetch the herbs
From the golden foot-hills, which heal the wounds
Of ankleted hunters, caused by long and shiny darts.” (819)
171. His mental eye surveyed the various herbaries
Situate in the dense jungles variform;
Like a red-eyed bull parted from its herd
He darted out in dread, and gathered herbs
And returned with a speed excelling that of his mind
Dedicated to the Lord of the Bhootas;
He squeezed the herbs and poured the demulcent juice
Into the bleeding eye. (820)
172. The herbal juice distilled into the eye
Of the Lord of Tiru-k-Kalatthi, was of no avail,
Blood continued to stream, as before.
“What shall I, alas, do for this plight?” he thought.
Then he remembered the saying: “Flesh is
By flesh cured.” (821)
173. “For this, the remedy is to scoop out my eye
With an arrow and transplant it;
The blood will peradventure cease to flow.”
Thus he resolved and rejoicing in his heart
He stood before Him and in joy, gouged
His eye and holding it with care, in his hand
He fixed it in the eye of the First One. (822)
174. The blood ceased to gush forth; up he jumped
In delight great; he stroked his hill-like shoulders,
He danced for joy. “This, my intelligent act
Is great indeed!” So he spake and smiled.
Excessive joy threw him into a fine frenzy. (823)
175. The Lord of Kalatthi, the more to demonstrate
The greatness of the munificent devotee
Who grafted his right eye on His right eye,
Made red blood flow ceaselessly from his other eye;
Thinnan who is far superior to all the celestials
And who came to be born by reason
Of the immense askesis of the hunting clan,
Witnessed this. (824)
176. “Woe’s me!” he shrieked, and spake thus:
“The blood that streamed from one of the eyes
Of our Lord of Kalatthi had ceased to flow;
But blood gushes forth from the other;
I’ll not be daunted; I’ve known of the cure;
I am still left with an eye; I’ll scoop it out
And graft it on His and thus cure Him.” (825)
177. If he should scoop out his eye to graft it
On the eye of the Lord -- the forehead-eyed --,
He should precisely know where to fix it.
So, he planted his left foot on the divine eye
Of the Lord and when with love inly welling up
Thinnani took out an arrow non-pareil
And applied it to his eye, the Lord of gods
Could endure it no longer. (826)
178. The Rider of the red-eyed, white-hued Bull
-- The merciful Lord, the Ruler of Thinnan,
The Marvellous One of Thiru-k-Kalatthi --,
Stuck out His hand and stayed his hand
That was about to gouge his eye.
The ambrosial words of the Lord who wears
As jewels the serpents, announced thus thrice:
“Stop! Oh Kannappa!” (827)
179. The great muni of wisdom beheld the act
Of the prince of the hunters who gouged his eye
And applied it to that of the Lord’s and the act
Of the Lord -- the Relisher of the ambrosial food
Offered to him --, who with His own hand prevented
His hand from scooping out his eye; all the celestial
From Brahma onwards showered fresh flowers
Whilst the Vedas great resounded. (828)
180. Can there he a greater beatitude? The Lord
Of the Bull held with His hand the hand of him
Who was to scoop out his eye and graft it
On the Lord’s eye when he beheld His injured eye,
And said: “O peerless one! Be at My Right for ever!”
Thus, even thus, He graced him. (829)
181. I wear on my head the feet of the lord
Who grafted his eye on that of the Lord’s,
Of cloud-capped Tiru-k-Kalatthi and thus
Stopped the streaming of blood from His eye,
And proceed to chronicle the divine service
Of Kalayanar of excelling fame, who hailed
From Kadavur where the Lord on whose matted hair
Courses the Ganga, is ehshrined. (830)
----------------
Stanza Line
5 Tudi : A little drum, shaped like
an hour-glass.
9 Tali : “Tali n. gold ornament on
thread tied round the neck
of Hindu bride in Southern
India at time of marriage”.
- Common Indian Words In English
O.U.P., 1984.
13 5 It is the salt-sea which gave birth to the
moon, the amrita etc., according to the
anonymous commentator of
Takkayaka-p-Parani also.
23 3 Chutti : An ornament like Feronie’re
which is a jewel worn on the
forehead, suspended by a
gold chain or band.
23 The sun and the moon are Siva’s eyes. Ere long
they are to bleed. The bleeding would be cured by
Kannappar by the transplantation of his eye.
25 Uzhuvai is a cross-beam.
27 2 This was done to avert jettatura.
7 The parva : A hunter boy is taught to
wield the bow when he is
twelve years old.
32 Mantara and Meru are both mountains. Mantara was
used to churn the ocean from which the dreaded
venom first emerged. But with Mt. Meru, bent into
a bow, Siva smote the three evil, flying-cities of
the Asuras. Extirpation of evil is indeed a nectarean
deed. So, St. Sekkizhar says, Mt. Meru excelled
Mt. Mantara.
The bow made for the occasion was like Mt. Meru. Again it
was with this bow, Kannappar was to hunt and procure
delicious and toothsome venison and the like to please the
palate of Siva.
Raksha : The auspicious protective cord
tied round the bow with the
Chanting of mantras. The ensuing
stanza informs us that guts of
tigers served as raksha for the
hunter.
37 4 Vetchi : Ixora coccinea.
38 Tondaka-drum : The drum of the Kurinji region.
39 Vari-dance : A dance similar to morrice.
Tunankai Dance : A dance akin to the dance of devils.
48 Aritharam gathered from the maw of a special type of
deer is musk. Aritharam is also obtained from stones.
This is called Manosilai and is inferior to musk.
Aritharam also means yellow orpiment.
49 Kamban’s Rama is equally soliciatous.
57 Kurinji : Strobilanthus.
58 Kunri : Abrus precatorious.
65 Charu : An oblation of rice, pulse, etc.,
boiled with ghee and milk.
66 Akshata : Rice mixed with turmeric powder
and made holy with the chanting
of mantras.
71 Adampu : A running flower-plant.
73 Kalindi : The river Jamuna.
75 One Yojna : 3,80,000 inches of 6 miles.
83 Inidan mythology has it that the lunar eclipse takes place
when the dragon Rakhu (the ascending node) devours the
moon. The black shape in the moon, called “The Old man
of the Moon” by Westerners, is regarded as an antelope
(or hare) by Indians.
The antelope, according to the description of St. Sekkizhar,
sensing the approach of the dragon to devour Chandra, slips
from it to effect an escape. The dragon will not suffer its
escape and pursues it.
92 Katham : “An Indian league, a distance
of about ten miles.”
- Winslow.
96 Nanan calls the Lord ‘Kudumi-th-Thevar’. Kudumi
means ‘tuft of hair’. It also means ‘top’. On the top
of the hill is enshrined the Lord.
The last of the Vedas is Atharva. Its end is called
Atharva Sikai. Sikai like ‘kudumi’ means, ‘tuft of
hair’ or ‘top’, Atharva Sikai says: “Giving up all,
Lord Siva alone -- the Doer of good --, is to be
contemplated.” Attainment of the feet of the Lord
is truly the consummation devoutly to be wished.
100 Chinta : The heart as the seat of affection.
101 Only Thinnan was blessed to hear the celestial instruments
which were inaudible to Nannan. His answer is therefore
a mere guess.
116 Iguana : Lacerta iguana.
123 Swayampu : Self-born.
131 Jyoti Vriksha : This is supposed to flourish in the
interior woodland and is considered
divine. During day time it is like any
other tree. It begins to coruscate after
dusk. Mention is also made of Jyoti
grass and Jyoti liana in literature. Tiru
Philo Hrudayanath has seen a tree of
this genre.
138 5 The foot-prints
of a dog : They were those of Kannappar’s hunting dog’s.
The inseparable companion of the bowman,
had obviously followed Kannappar. Poet
Nakkirar has recorded this event in his
divine poem, “Tiru Kannappa-th-Tevar Tiru
Maram”.
- Eleventh Tirumurai.
141 The hunting of Nayanar is no wanton destruction
of wild-life. It was out and out holy and divine.
Its sole purpose was to secure an offering to the
supreme Lord. Even to chronicle the hunting is
a beatitude.
142 The hunting done by Kannappar was truly the
performance of a holy sacrifice. The animals which
served as offerings truly gained the eternal beatitude.
144 Arani sticks : Sticks for churning out fire.
147 Oblations are thrown into the fire-pit of a sacrifice.
The fire-pit is symbolic of Lord Agni, the god of Fire.
He carries them to the gods.
Five stanzas after stanza 157 which are included in several
editions of the Periyapuranam, are omitted here, as they are
interpolations, according to Sivakkavimani C.K. Subramania
Mudaliar whose text is followed in this edition.
159 Aruna is the charioteer of the Sun-god. The car is
single-wheeled and is on His hair. Some say that the
hair woven into a crown, is pinggnakam.
6 Sivakkavi says that according to Mazhavai Mahalinga
Iyer, Sivagochariar concealed himself behind the cluster
of trees that grew behind the Lord’s idol.
162 3 This has reference to the atypical ways of the great
devotee.
Sincere thanks to Sri. T N Ramachandran of thanjavur, for permitting his English rendering of the holy text periyapurANam be published here.
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