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		"I am a servitor of Tiruneelakantatthuppaananaar."
		
						- The Tiru-th-Tonda-th-Tokai.

1. 	He was a resident of Erukkatthampuliyur; he would
	Ever play on the proper yaazh the glory of the Lord;
	Adoring all the grace-abounding shrines in the fecund
	Chola realm, he proceeded to Naanmaadakkoodal
	To hail the Lord whose bow is the mountain, at Aalavaai.	(4215)

2. 	Reaching the temple where the Lord of Aalavaai is enshrined,
	He stood at its entrance and tightened the strings of his
	Yaazh which stood ready to yield the fourteen-fold
	Panns of Paalai; among the panns he chose the one befitting
	The hour and touched the strings again and again
	To produce it in absolute harmony; then he played on his
	Yazzh the melodious hymns of the Lord concorporate
	With His Consort of fragrant and long hair.			(4216)

3. 	The King Soundara Paandya who presided over
	The aeviternal Aalavaai at Madurai, was pleased
	With his instrumental rendering;
	As commanded by Him that night in their dream,
	All the servitors conducted the great Paanar who was
	Graced by Siva, to the presence of the Lord,
	Who, of yore, smote the hostile citadels.			(4217)

4. 	When thus conducted before the Lord Partner of Uma
	The great Paanar became aware of the truth that it was
	By the behest of the Lord; so the immortal Paanar
	Who was before Him-- the Singer of Vedic Hymns--,
	Began to hail the Primordial Lord of Kootal
	With the hymns that he played on his yaazh.			(4218)

5. 	He sang of the Lord’s burning of the triple citadels,
	Of His standing posture on the car for smiting the citadels,
	Of His peeling the hide of the tusker, of His gutting
	With fire Kaama, of His inaccessibility to Vishnu
	And Brahma and of His easy accessibility to the devotees;
	The Lord hearkened to him in grace and blessed him.		(4219)



6. 	An ethereal voice then spake thus: “The melodious yaazh
	Played by Paanar, in love and devotion, will get affected
	By its contact with the cool and moist ground; so, place
	Beneath it a beauteous plank.” Thus commanded, the servitors
	Did so; thus, even thus, was Paanar of splendorous
	And redemptive Tamil blessed with the divine grace of the Lord.	(4220)

7. 	Seated on the seat of gold, he played the yaazh; he so hailed
	In hymns the bounty of the Lord concorporate with His
	Consort Uma, that the whole world came to know of it
	And celebrated it; he then left the shrine even as the Devas
	Hailed him, and adored the Lord in His innumerable shrines;
	This done, he came to Aaroor for ruling which the Lord
	Forsook His reign over the celestial world.			(4221)

8. 	Standing before the entrance of the temple, he played
	Fittingly on his yaazh, of the Lord’s great puissance
	Of kicking Death to death, of His great mercy excelling
	Even mother’s and of his serene grace meted out to His Devotees.
	When the Lord who was pleased to listen to him
	Created for him a new entrance at the north
	He moved into the temple through that entrance
	And adored the Lord.						(4222)

9. 	He worshipped the Primordial Lord Enshrined
	At the Moolattaanam; there he remained a long time;
	Then with the leave of the Lord he departed from Tiruvaaroor
	Whence the holy ones never part, an moved on
	Adoring the Lord whose neck sports the stain of venom,
	At His many shrines where He is joyously enshrined.		(4223)

10. 	Having adored the Lord at His many shrines
	He moved on to adore the lotus-feet of our lord--
	The Prince of Kauniyas of Kaazhi city, who by the grace
	Of the Lord enshrined in the Ark afloat
	On the encircling ocean, was fed with Gnosis by Uma
	Whose words are tuneful as that of the yaazh--;
	Thus Paanar, the player of the melodious yaazh
	Arrived at Pukali, the city of beatific Brahmins.		(4224)

11. 	When the Partaker of Gnosis heard of his arrival
	He duly honoured the great Paanar of wondrous music;
	Abiding with him, Paanar played on his yaazh
	The lofty decades of the godly child; ever in his company
	He reached the feet of the blue-throated Lord
	At Tirunalloor-p-Peru Manam along with him.			(4225)

12. 	Adoring the flower-feet of the great Paanar, born in the clan
	Of Paanars and blessed to attain deliverance,
	We proceed to narrate the glory of Sataiyanaar--
	The wearer of a garland buzzed by chafers,
	The recipient of grace from Siva who wears
	The burgeoning crescent and the serpent on His crest,
	The Siva Brahmin well-versed in the scriptures
	Who hailed from Tirunaavaloor abounding in fields
	Rich in sugarcanes and paddy crops.				(4226)

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NOTES

Verse No.

	This Naayanaar and his wife sang their way toSiva.  He and his wife were 
	expert musicians.

 5-6.	Lord Siva blessed our Naayanaar and his instrument too.  Our Naayanaar is 
	hailed as the Master of Sakota-yaazh by St. Sekkizhar.

   8.	This Naayanaar, an untouchable by birth, was very dear to Siva.  More than 
	once Lord Siva proclaimed his glory.

  11.	Our Naayanaar made it the mission in his life to accompany St. Sambandhar, 
	both literally and figuratively.  Ever in his company, he reached the feet 
	of Siva at the wedding of St. Sambandhar.


		Here ends the Puranam of Tiruneelakanta Yaazhppaana Naayanaar

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