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		"I am a servitor of the servitors of Naminandi,
		the rarest of men."

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

1. 	In the Cauvery land of the Cholas who wield
	The unique sceptre to guard the world,
	Is Yema-p-peroor, rich in vast fields
	Full of red-lotuses, and spacious tanks.
	The glory of the righteous men that thither thrive
	Ever adhering to the rare and true Vedas
	Which do away with falsity,
	Fills all the eight directions.					(1866)

2.	Beside the beauteous streets are festoons
	Decked with dangling garlands;
	Over the mansions float the clouds that have
	Drunk deep from the ocean-stream;
	The gardens are cool and dark with bowers;
	The areca trees are buzzed over by bees;
	It is the Vedas that resound there in the morn;
	Its watery fields are thick with lotus-flowers.			(1867)

3. 	The lotuses of soft and red petals that rose above
	The white paddy crops in the fields, were like
	The red flames fostered by the wearers of white
	Sacred threads, on the white sands strewn on vetikais.		(1868)

4. 	In that town of renown, from the lofty clan
	Of Brahmins who, in integrated devotion,
	Fostered the Saivite way which was established
	In the Holy Ash, hailed Naminandi Adikal.
	For his life here and hereafter he was blessed
	With the tapas of over blessing and adoring
	The feet of the Lord.						(1869)



5. 	He could be verily called the pure, red flame
	Fostered by the Vedic splendour of true piety;
	He knew that the supreme truth of life
	Was to be established in the hly ash;
	He adored the roseate feet of the Lord --
	The Singer of the Sama Veda --,
	Night and day, and was steeped in joy.				(1870)

6. 	Convinced that the adoration of the fragrant
	And flower-like feet of the Lord, that do away with
	All the evil troubles of the devotees,
	Is truly all the gain one could come by,
	He would leave his town and reach Tiruvaroor;
	He hailed there for many days the hallowed feet of the Lord
	The Wielder of the mountain-bow
	Who destroyed the triple cities of the foes.			(1871)

7. 	Deeming the performance of adoration
	In the presence of the Lord who is verily
	A ruby-flame enshrined in the auric Ant-hill
	To be the righteous way of life, he came there,
	Fell prostrate before Him and adored Him.
	Gaining thus the life he sought, he came out
	To the prakaram and entered the temple
	Of Ara-Neri situate close
	To the beauteous forted wall, to adore the deity there.		(1872)

8. 	He hailed Him duly; love in him welled up;
	He adored Him again and again; then by the grace
	Of Grace he could divine what he should do then;
	He engaged himself in manifold acts of service;
	A desire to light many a lamp possessed him;
	He rose up to do this.						(1873)

9. 	When he thus rose up, the day had spent itself
	And the hour of dusk had come;
	He thought that the propitious hour would pass away
	Should he go to his house of foison (to fulfil his desire).
	He entered a nearby house to secure ghee,
	And that house happened to be that of the Samanas
	Who were ever remote from truth;
	They spoke to him thus:						(1874)

10. 	“Lamps are a needless excess for the Lord
	Who sports the fire in the palm of his hand;
	We will not spare you any ghee; if you are
	Bent upon lighting lamps, do it with water.”
	Thus they spoke to the servitor,
	They that hold one and the same thing
	To be both true and false,
	The pursuers of the flawed way.					(1875)

11. 	He could not bear the words spoken
	So slightly by the Samanas;
	He quit that place at once sorely grieved;
	He came to the temple of the Lord who wears on His crest
	The crescent and the fragrant flowers of konrai
	And, in melting love, fell prostrate on the ground.
	Then spake an unbodied voice from the heavens.			(1876)

12. 	“Be freed from sorrow; to engage yourself
	In the ceaseless service of lighting lamps
	You may use the water from the nearby tank.”
	When he heard the divine voice caused by the grace
	Of the Lord, the Wearer of the crepuscular crescent,
	His mind reveled in joy and he stood (happily) perplexed.	(1877)

13. 	Thinking on the grace of the Lord in whose crest
	The Ganga flows, he rose up,
	Entered the tank of goodly water
	Came to its very center, chanted the Lord’s name,
	Took water by dipping, reached the temple,
	Poured over the twisted wicks and into the lamp-bowls
	The water, to the wonderment
	Of the men of this sea-girt earth.				(1878)

14. 	When he lit a lamp, it blazed up in splendour;
	Beholding this, he lit all the lamps in the temple
	Of the Primal God, the Lord of Ara-Neri.
	In the presence of the Samanas who for ever
	Brooded evil and spoke blasphemously,
	It great joy he lit the lamps by the Lord’s grace.
	He caused them to burn with water
	And the whole country witnessed this.				(1879)

15. 	To keep all the beauteous lamps burning till dawn
	He would duly pour water into the bowls of lamps
	That began to dry up.
	The to adore the Lord -- the true import of the Vedas --,
	In his house, as was his wont, from which
	He would never once swerve,
	He took leave of the Lord of Ara-Neri
	And left for his town that very night.				(1880)

16. 	He turned home that night and duly
	Performed the pooja for the Pure One as usual;
	Then he ate his meal and went to bed;
	He woke up at day-break and duly performed
	The pooja for the Lord whose jewels are snakes,
	And then left for Tiruvaroor.					(1881)

17. 	Arriving thither he adored Him;
	He went round the temple of Ara-Neri
	Where the Lord abides in joy;
	Delighted he prostrated before the Lord,
	Rose up and duly performed all service
	Within and without the temple during the day;
	When it was evening, he lit the lamps everywhere
	And adored the feet of the Lord.				(1882)

18. 	When as usual he plied himself in the acts of service
	For many days, the base Samanas that were
	Confounded by Dandi Adikal perished;
	In Tiruvaroor where the Devas hailed the feet
	Of the servitors of their Lord Siva,
	Glory came to abide, praised by the seven worlds.		(1883)

19. 	As a result of the servitorship of Naminandi
	Who was poised in the Vedas -- the very form of Nada --,
	For providing all that is needed right from
	The daily nectarean offerings and pooja,
	To the Lord of all lives, the hallowed One
	Enshrined at the Ant-hill,
	Many endowments were made that the way
	Of the Vedas and the Agamas might thrive,
	By the Chola-King who reigned
	From the throne of justice.					(1884)

20. 	The Lord Veethivitangka who wears the crescent
	In His matted hair and rides the Victorious Bull
	For ever rules Tiruvaroor and performs His acts
	Playful and divine at once;
	Pangkuni Uttara festival too marks His glory;
	Naminandi prayed to the Lord that he be
	Blessed to witness these; (his prayer was heard). 		(1885)

21. 	As he performed manifold act of service,
	The Lord of Tiruvaroor whose glory fills
	The seven worlds, and who for ever
	Is poised in the love of His devotees,
	Graced the festivities as prayed by Naminandi;
	The servitor adored Him;
	Weal and welfare increased;
	We too stand redeemed.						(1886)

22. 	During the festival, the Lord of the Devas
	Graced Manali by His visit;
	All devotees, without distinction of class or clan
	Thronged there and Naminandi who joined them
	Adored the Lord thither;
	As he had the darshan of the Lord,
	The Protector of the Devas, in all His splendour
	Of regal festivity, he felt delighted.				(1887)

23. 	He adored the Lord the live-long day;
	When the Lord came back to His temple,
	He hailed Him there and taking leave of Him
	Repaired to his town through the inky-dark night.
	He would not enter his house, pure and holy,
	And slumbered on the pial.
	His wife who is his helpmate in all his dharma and karma,
	Thither came and requested him to come in.			(1888)

24. 	She said: “Be pleased to perform the pooja
	For the Lord who wears the crescent on His crown
	And also the Agni-rites; thereafter you may
	Be pleased to eat and slumber.”
	He replied her thus: “This day our Lord
	Visited Manali; I adored Him with all and sundry;
	I am afraid I am polluted.”					(1889)

25. 	"So I should first have the purificatory both;
	I will then enter the hose to commence the pooja;
	Secure for me, here, cool water and things needed."
	Thus bidden, the loving wife hastened
	Into the house to secure them.					(1890)

26. 	Then, we know not, if it was by the Lord’s grace
	Or by the fatigue he suffered, he fell asleep
	All at once; he slept, his mind fixed
	On the feet of the Lord of the Devas;
	He then dreamt a dream.						(1891)

27. 	As if to accept the pooja of the great servitor
	Lord Veethivitangka of ever-glorious Tiruvaroor
	Appeared there and said: “All men born in
	Tiruvaroor are blessed with the wisdom of the Vedas;
	They form Our Hosts; this is their beatitude;
	We will reveal this to you and you shall witness this.”
	Thus spake the Lord in grace and vanished.			(1892)

28. 	As the Lord disappeared, he came to himself.
	“What is it I have done, entertaining
	A sinful thought instead of doing the pooja?”
	Thus he mused, fear-driven; he rushed
	Into the house and performed the pooja;
	He also told his wife of the happening;
	At dawn he woke up and hastened
	To Tiruvaroor which he sighted ere long.			(1893)

29. 	All that took birth and flourished in Tiruvaroor --,
	The city of the Lord of the celestials --,
	Were like the blue-throated Lord Himself;
	Their forms glowed in growing splendour like the Lord’s;
	Witnessing this he folded his hands above his head
	In sacred dread, fell prostrate on the ground
	And felt exceedingly happy.					(1894)

30. 	The new forms vanished and the servitor
	Saw them all as they were before;
	He bowed to the Lord and prayed thus:
	“Forgive my fault, Oh Lord, in grace.”
	Then by the Lord’s grace he settled in Tiruvaroor,
	Performed many an act of divine service
	That would ever flourish in the worlds,
	And thus thrived.						(1895)

31. 	As he daily served dutifully the devotees
	Of the Lord, the Wearer of the Holy Ash, 
	For a long time in manifold ways
	Meeting their several requirements
	He came to be invested with the glory
	Of being hailed as “The linch-pin of the servitors”
	By Saint Tirunavukkarasar.					(1896)

32. 	Naminandi Adikal who caused all good to thrive
	Did many deeds of service, adored by all the worlds;
	Eventually he attained the feet of the Lord 
	Of Tiruvaroor who sports on His crown
	The crescent and the Ganga,
	And comes out in festive procession
	In the goodly streets of Tiruvaroor.
	He is established for ever in the beauteous lustre
	That glows beneath the feet of the Lord.			(1897)

	In Praise of Sundaramoorthi Nayanar:

		“I, Arooran am a servitor
		Of the Lord of Aroor.”

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

33. 	In the past, as men of that town here witness,
	He called back to life, on an auspicious day,
	The little Brahmin-boy decked with aimpadai --
	The one that was dead and gone --,
	From the mouth of the huge and unique crocodile
	In Pukkoliyoor’s tank of burgeoning lotuses;
	His hallowed feet would redeem them that think on them
	From the irredeemable cycle of birth and death.			(1898)

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