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		"I am also a servitor of Moorti who ruled the world with a triad."

						- The Tiru-th-Tonda-th-Tokai.

1. 	The Pantiya land flourishes, stablished in the greatness
	Of its glorious citizens; it is rich in many mansions
	-- Bright and gemmy --, on whose lofty crests clouds abide;
	Its city is endowed with hoary glory ever-during on earth
	Hailed by men of loving-kindness
	Belonging to various walks of life.				(968)

2. 	Pearls are there found in the ruddy mouths of damsels
	Who articulate tuneful words of melodious music,
	Whose waists are reclining lianas of tender shoots,
	Whose eyes are broad and whose shoulders are bamboos;
	Eke are they found in the sea into which merges
	The cool river whose waves break against the sandy banks.	(969)

3. 	The gentle southerly that blows from the Patiyil
	Where bees hum in swarms in the gardens
	Of sandal trees on whose tops crawl clouds,
	Confers Tamil divine whose loftiness is ubiquitous,
	And also the fragrant coolth f loving-kindness.			(970)

4. 	There dwells Lakshmi, fadless and peerless,
	As on the petalled lotus-flower; there dwell women	
	Like unto her; in their yazh-like speech and koontals 
	Flourish sweet music and bees that hum;
	The city goes by the name Maturapuri.				(971)

5. 	Academies are there where poetical works are tested
	Before they are allowed to pass muster; in that city,
	-- Vast and hoary and beauteous --, where ever abides
	Tamil threefold of sublime loftiness, are schools
	For learning; there are also fields toward which 
	Chanks crawl; there are pools, rich in leaping kendai,
	Into which rush buffaloes from whose udder flows
	Milk profuse and streams on honied lotuses. 			(972)



6. 	Chains of pearls are on the sandal-pasted breasts
	Borne by the roseate hands of damsels whose pastime
	Is to play with balls in the pandals of foreyards
	Where southerly wafts gently; pearls of dewy sweat
	Are on their lotus-faces bright with dangling ear-rings.	(973)

7. 	He would explicate graciously the sublime meaning
	Of the Tamil works rich in truth; even He who is
	Enshrined at Tiruvalavai and He who will redeem us
	From the cycle of transmigration, presided over the Sankam;
	Such was the hoary city, the greatest in the triple worlds.	(974)

8.	He came to be born as a result of the holy askesis
	Wrought by a hoary, glorious family, ever to be lauded,
	Which hailed from the mercantile clan of the golden city;
	He quelled every type of desire and held fast,
	In ever-growing love, to the sole desire true of hailing
	The feet of the Lord whose mount is the Bull.			(975)

9. 	Quotidian grew his great love and into passion bloomed;
	He rated not kith and kin and friends as aught of worth;
	Neither did he hanker after even flawless beatitudes;
	His sole concern was the pair of the Lord’s lotus-feet;
	He was a moorti of love and Moortiar was he called.		(976)

10. 	Unto our Father of Alavai, the Lord who wears
	On His ruddy matted hair the crescent of eventide,
	He daily and without fail ground sandal-powder
	For besmearing its paste on Him; he dedicated himself
	To this sacred service to the delight great of devotees.	(977)

11. 	The king of Vaduka-Karnataka girt with forests
	As fortress, and endowed with a vast army,
	To annex forcibly this city, marched southwards
	With elephants, horses, chariots and infantry
	Comprising strong-shouldered soldiers.				(978)

12. 	He caused his army spread and fill every inch
	Of the city and undid the heroic glory of the Pantiya,
	The ruler of Tamil Nadu of the Potiyil girt with gardens
	Of sandal trees, and vanquished him;
	He made Madurai of fragrant gardens, his capital
	Whence he wielded his sceptre. 					(979)

13. 	By force of arms he conquered the bounteous land
	Of the Tamils, but would not duly foster it;
	By lack of knowledge he would not be established
	In the devotee’s way of the holy as of the Lord
	Who bent the Mount Meru into a bow; he chose to
	Get sunk in the way of the Samanas.				(980)

14. 	He took to the (pseudo-) tapaswic way of the Samanas as true;
	Not content with that (downfall), the cruel one started
	Oppressing the servitors of the Lord whose matted hair
	Sports the crescent; sure it was the working of dreadful Fate.	(981)

15. 	The dark-minded and flint-hearted cruel king,
	To subject Moortiyar, the great devotee
	Of the ruddy-haired Lord -- the Rider of the Bull,
	The triple-eyed who is enshrined in Tiruvalavai --,
	Began to indulge in shameful acts.				(982)

16. 	Nathless the endless cruelties caused by the king,
	The servitor, as was this wont, pursued his service, without fail,
	To the Lord; who can prevent the doings of the great
	Who are firm-poised in their own gloried palladium?		(983)

17. 	Even when the king indulged in act to shame him endlessly
	The servitor swerved not from his path of service;
	Then the misruler saw to it that he could in no way
	Secure sandalwood for the service of the Lord on whose crest
	The Ganga rests; sore grew his heart.				(984)

18. 	“O for the day when the sinner, the exceedingly cruel one
	Who companying with the Samana evil-doers fritteres away
	His time, would perish and the world would come to be 
	Ruled by a sovereign who would uphold the goodly way
	Of the holy ash which yields the weal,
	As assured by the true Vedas!” Thus he mused.			(985)

19. 	As the evil on whose wrath was fired by hatred
	Had blocked all the ways whence sandal could be had,
	Even when he went in search of it till sun-set
	He could not come by goodly sandalwood anywhere;
	With a wilted mind, he hied to the Lord’s temple.		(986)

20. 	“Unto the service of grinding sandal with the sweet paste
	Of which the Lord is to be smeared, an end hath
	Alas, come! But nothing can stop my grinding hand.”
	Thus he resolved and on the rotund stone whereon
	Sandalwood is ground, he rested his elbow, and ha,
	Ground it so vigorously that the outer skin, nerves
	And bones were clean ground away.				(987)

21. 	Blood gushed out from the forearm thus ground
	On the stone; the bones opened and spilled out marrow;
	The Lord could no longer endure this; His ethereal words
	In that dark hour proclaimed thus:				(988)

22. 	“Dear one, do not do this impelled by resolute love;
	You will rule all the land, forcibly annexed by the one
	Who made you suffer in violent cruelty; total rid
	Of all the former evils may you rule benignly the realm,
	Pursue your wonted service, and in the end
	Join Us in Our great and grand world.”				(989)

23. 	He heard the unbodied voice and stood up in dread;
	He stopped what he did; his wounds total healed;
	His hand regained all its formal glory to which
	Was added a sweet aroma; Moortiyar glowed
	With a lustre rare which was a splendour of wonder.		(990)

24. 	“Lightning flashes and anon vanishes; even so
	Is embodiment; to those whose refuge is not Sankara,
	It does not even last that much!” In proof
	Of this dictum, that night, ended the life
	Of the warring Vaduka-karnataka king
	Who took to the way of the Samanas.				(991)

25. 	In this world when lofty and sublime devotees pass away
	They pass quick into the World of Truth;
	But the evil on that tormented the servitors
	Perished only to fall into the horrendous inferno.		(992)

26. 	When died the irretrievably evil one that only did
	Deeds of evil, his women who were like painted lianas
	And his sorrowing kin wailed and totally wilted;
	The dark night like unto him also ended;
	The sun rose up in red-rayed splendour.				(993)

27. 	Thither gathered the ministers and duty bund
	Performed the obsequies befitting their differing religion;
	The spear-wielding king had no son; so they deliberated
	On the ways and means to fill the throne.			(994)

28. 	“The country must have a king; it brooks not delay;
	Though a country be blessed with land, people
	And the like, without a strong-shouldered king
	Who knows well to reign endowed with a mighty army
	It cannot thrive.” Thus they spake.				(995)

29. 	They added: “In ways manifold he protects all lives;
	Under his spreading parasol he makes them all
	Pursue their respective walks of life; so does he reign,
	The sovereign; if you conceive of a world
	Without a monarch, verily it’ll be like unto
	A body bereft of its life.”					(996)

30. 	Pondering over many things they concluded thus:
	“The king is no more; we should do that only
	Which is meet in the context.” Solaced and clarified
	They said: “Let us blindfold the tusker which is like
	A dark hill; whosoever is secured by its hill-like trunk,
	Shall be invested with the right to rule this world.”		(997)

31. 	They performed pooja in union with the sublime rites
	Prescribed  in the sastras; they hoodwinked
	The tusker with a clean band; it was decked with
	A plate of gold on its forehead; from it poured
	Like rain, ichor; they charged him thus:
	“To bear on his strong shoulders the reign
	Of this vast land, bear on your hand a worthy man.”		(998)

32. 	The blindfolded tusker moved away in joy and roamed
	Through the hoary fortressed city; it passed through
	The streets ad reached the sky-high tower
	Of Tiruvalavai girt with forted walls,
	Great and strong and beauteous.					(999)

33. 	The servitor who was blessed the night before,
	Thought thus: “If it be the grace of our Lord,
	I’ll sure take on myself the kingship of this land.”
	Freed of his mental depression he came out and stood
	Without the temple of the Lord, the wearer of konrai blooms.	(1000)

34. 	The royal tusker walked swift thither and bowed
	Before the great patron who came to be born on earth
	By reason of the cumulative tapas of the cosmos,
	And, so bending that its lustrous gems serene
	Inlaid on its plate of gold, touched the earth,
	Lifted him and had him seated on its neck.			(1001)

35. 	The ministers who had firm resolved to do way with evil,
	Beholding him seated by the tusker on its neck
	Fell at his feet and rose up; the whole city then
	Roared like an ocean rich in breakers.				(1002)

36. 	By his side who would rule the whole world,
	By the grace of the Lord concorporate with His Consort,
	-- Bejewelled and liana-like --, shells and tarais blared;
	With drums resounded everywhere every type
	Of musical organ; from all place issued benedictions.		(1003)

37. 	They humbly caused him descend from the tusker
	Of loving eyes; they led him through the mantapam
	Decked with honied wreaths and garlands of gems,
	Where the king is crowned and had him enthroned 
	Under the moon-like parasol, and commenced
	The rites relating to the coronation.				(1004)

38. 	Priests well-versed in mantras and yoga
	Fixed vetikais in the ever-abiding directions
	And reared blazing fire in the auspicious homa-pit;
	Golden vessels were strung with threefold threads
	And pots were filled with holy water.				(1005)

39. 	Moortiyar who was blessed with clarity of intellect
	By reason of his constant contemplation of Lord Siva
	Spoke to them of auspicious deeds, that came
	And hailed him, thus: “If Samanism
	Of recent origin would vanish and Saivism
	-- Whole and absolute --, would rise aloft,
	I would bear the world and sweetly reign.”			(1006)

40. 	When ministers and wise men well-versed in works
	Which confer true life on man, heard him speak thus,
	Falling at his feet they said: “O great one! we will
	Abide by what you are pleased to tell us;
	Who will dare disobey you?”					(1007)

41. 	Then he said: “Were I to rule the world, the holy ash
	Shall be my royal anointment; rudraksha beads,
	The insignia of the Lord, shall be my royal jewels;
	The regal crown that I wear shall be but the crown
	Of my dense and matted hair.”					(1008)

42. 	When they of limitless learning, and the ministers
	Of firm intellect, sound scholarship and trustfulness
	Ever-growing, heard him speak thus, they said:
	“The King’s message is great and grand indeed.”
	They performed all the rites which pleased his heart
	To invest the king of tapas with sceptre and crown.		(1009)

43. 	On all sides resounded auspicious blessings and organs;
	The monarch whose crown was that of matted hair
	Proceeded to Tiruvalavai where is enshrined
	The Lord whose feet were unknown to the Boar,
	And hailed Him, thence he rode in procession
	On the back of the royal tusker through the long streets.	(1010)

44. 	He descended from the tusker at the threshold
	Of the gemmy mansion, moved into the durbar
	And ascended the throne of gold; to the waving
	Of beauteous chamaras and under the white parasol
	He abode, and bore the reign of the world.			(1011)

45. 	The just ministers of manifold portfolios
	Shrewdly divined his wishes and implemented them;
	The bewildering fetters of Samanism stood broken;
	The ever-during way of the holy ash began to thrive
	For ever; ubiquitous Saivism soared aloft and flourished.	(1012)

46. 	For the spreading and flourishing of the true
	And subtle message of the brow-eyed Lord’s scriptures
	Moortiyar ruled the world with the triad,
	-- The means par excellence that confer salvation --,
	Namely, the holy ash that ends embodiment,
	The sublime garland sacred of rudraksha beads
	And the crown of matted hair.					(1013)

47. 	Poised in piety he cut away for ever all nexus
	With dames of perfumed locks; he quelled the five
	Hostile senses as well as all his foes; unique was his
	Sceptre’s reign; he fostered all good that would
	Endure till the end of the world, and protected lives
	From ills and troubles that would beset them.			(1014)

48. 	Many a monarch flocked round his feet
	And hailed him; he ruled this world, extirpating
	All ills; he also was blessed to reign, never swerving
	From his servitorship, the spiritual empire.
	Thus in the end, the great one reached the feet
	Of the Lord of heroic anklet.					(1015)

49. 	Having hailed the great servitor who on the huge stone
	Ground his elbow, and rode on the warring tusker,
	We proceed to historicise Murukanar,
	The great Brahmin of Pukaloor of vast, bright streets,
	Girt with fragrant gardens cloud-capped.			(1016)

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Stanza 	Line

   2	 6	The cool river.  The Tampraparani.

   5	 6	Kendai		: 	A type of fish; Cyprinus fimbriatus.  The poem ends 
					with a pun.  Ceyyul mikku Eru Sangam: Ceyyul means 
					poem; it also means “into the field(s).”  Sangam 
					means academy; it also means chank(s).

   9	 5	Moorti		: 	An embodiment; an idol.

  20	6-7	The servitor ground the outer skin, nerves, veins, olecranon, ulna and 
		ulnare into pulp.

Sincere thanks to Sri. T N Ramachandran of thanjavur, for permitting his English rendering of the holy text periyapurANam be published here.