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		"I am a servitor of Neelanakkar of Satthamangkai
		girt with resounding waters."

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

1. 	In the ponds of Satthamangkai carps leap over blown lotuses;
	The town is girt with fields rich in ripe paddy crops;
	It is in the land fed by the Cauvery and is world-famous;
	It is the queen of towns where reside auspicious Brahmins.	(1828)

2. 	In that goodly town of foison, women of fragrant foreheads
	Bathe in the tanks of soft-petalled flowers;
	With the damsels dance the swans in the fords;
	A good many starlings chant the Sama Veda
	With the throngs of boys who chant the Vedas
	And even instruct them.						(1829)

3. 	They concluded after due spiritual investigation
	That the true import of Truth is the holy ash;
	They fostered it and thrived under its protection;
	These were the twice-born who tended the triple fire
	In that town;
	To the triple fire like unto dharma that helped one
	Cross the sea of transmigration
	Their women added a fourth -- their chastity,
	And tended the fourfold fire.					(1830)

4. 	In that ancient town where Brahmins thrived
	Unswerving from the great and righteous way of life,
	Flourished Neelanakkar whose life was
	A living commentary of the four Vedas
	Which indeed excel the greatness of earth itself.
	He was a loving servitor of the Lord
	Whose throat holds the poison.					(1831)

5. 	He was blessed with the certain knowledge
	That the true import of the Vedas
	Was the adoration of the Lord in whose matted hair
	Courses the flood, and the performance in love,
	Of pada-pooja and worship to His servitors.
	He was poised in this thought which bade him
	Perform these two acts only, in devotion. 			(1832)



6. 	Duly would he daily perform the pooja unto the Lord-Author
	Of the Vedas, as prescribed by the truthful Agamas;
	Then would he undertake to do all service
	For the servitors of the Lord, right from feeding them.		(1833)

7. 	As he thus lived, on an Adirai-Day
	When he had duly completed his pooja to the Lord
	The holy servitor desired to perform archana
	For the Lord enshrined in hoary Ayavanti.			(1834)

8. 	Taking with him, from his house, in integrating love
	And without lack, all that is needed for the pooja
	The servitor of limitless tapas fared forth
	With his wife and reached the Lord’s temple.			(1835)

9. 	He entered the temple, adored the twin feet
	Of the nectarean Lord of Ayavanti and commenced the pooja;
	His wife helped him with needed service;
	The spiritually great one thus performed the pooja.		(1836)

10.	The pooja came to an end, but not his love;
	He went round the prakara encircling the Lord,
	Fell prostrate, rose up, and standing
	In His presence hailed Him, casting looks profound
	On the Ens still searched by the Vedas;
	Then he chanted before Him the mystic pentad
	As ordained, conscientiously.					(1837)

11. 	When the servitor of boundless askesis
	Chanted as ordained the Panchakshara
	The gloried truth of which is explicated
	By the Vedas and all other scriptures,
	A spider slipped from its web and fell down
	On the divine frame of the Lord
	Who bent the huge and auric Meru into a bow.			(1838)

12. 	When thus the spider fell down,
	The wife that stood nearby,
	Like a fear-borne mother
	Who with her lips would blow away
	A spider that had fallen on her tender child,
	In overflowing love blew away that spider.			(1839)

13. 	The wife did so as her heart was sorely agitated.
	When the Brahmin whose tapas would quell bondage,
	Witnessed this, he closed his eyes and said:
	“What is it, oh senseless one, you have done?”
	(Thus questioned) she said: “As the white spider
	Fell on Him, I blew it away.”					(1840)

14. 	He would not consider the love
	That impelled his wife to act thus;
	The wearer of the sacred thread but thought
	That such an act had polluted his pooja;
	He resolved to forsake her.					(1841)

15. 	“Instead of getting rid of the spider that fell
	On the divine person of the Pure One whose matted hair
	Dazzles like the lightning, by some other means,
	You blew over Him polluting Him with saliva;
	I hereby forsake you.” Thus he spake.				(1842)

16. 	It was evening and the sun sank
	Behind the western mountain;
	The wife stepped aside as commanded;
	He performed the expiatory rites
	And completed the pooja.
	Then the servitor of the Lord of the matted hair
	Fared forth and entered his protected house.			(1843)

17. 	Her heart was with fear fraught;
	She dared not go near her husband;
	She abode within the Temple of the Lord who ate the poison;
	Tiruneelanakkar versed in the well-worded Vedas
	Slept that night on the soft cotton mattress.			(1844)

18. 	As he thus slumbered, the Lord of Ayavanti
	With His crest where the Ganga rests, appearing
	In his dream, revealed to him His divine frame,
	And said in grace: “Barring this side over which
	She blew in love, behold here the other side
	Full of boils and blisters by the spider caused.”		(1845)

19. 	He thought it not to be a dream but as that
	Which took place in the wakeful state;
	With hands folded above his head he woke up
	Having had the mystical tremendum.
	The servitor danced in adoration,
	Sang hymns and worshipped Him.
	He hailed the mercy of the Lord
	Of the universe and wept.					(1846)

20. 	As the night melted and day broke
	He went into the temple, fell prostrate
	At the feet of the Primal Lord, the God of Ayavanti,
	Rose up and hailed Him,
	Then with the venerable woman he repaired to his house.		(1847)

21. 	His present joy far exceeded his former joy;
	In abiding delight, he rendered limitless pooja for the Lord;
	In love he willingly fulfilled as before the with
	Of all the loving servitors that came to him.			(1848)

22. 	When thus he joyously thrived, poised in love,
	He heard of the manifold glory of the Brahmin-child
	Of Poontharai, the eternal city.
	A great desire to bow at his feet grew apace in him.		(1849)

23. 	When he flourished in such great excellence,
	To grace the world with the fruit of its tapas
	The prince or Sanbai who was visiting the holy shrines
	Of the Lord whose matted hair sports the celestial Ganga,
	Arrived at Satthamangkai.					(1850)

24. 	With Tiruneelakanda Yazhppanar
	Of ever-growing renown, his wife
	Whose koonthal was decked with blooms
	And the great congregation of servitors
	The lord of Pukali was camping close by.
	Neelanakkar heard this news in delight great.			(1851)

25. 	Even as he heard this, he was happily thrilled;
	He had the town decorated with flower-garlands,
	Flags and festoons; he also set up
	An extensive pandal to walk beneath its umbrage;
	Then he rose up with his goodly kin to receive him.		(1852)

26. 	He joined the holy company of the divine child
	And bade them all a warm welcome.
	In manifold ways he danced and sang
	And made adorations as his joy knew no bounds.
	Then with the divine child and the holy company
	He came to his huge and auric mansion.				(1853)

27. 	In unison with the glory of the advent of the divine child
	Groups of holy men thronged to his house;
	In everglowing love and devotion, he feasted
	The patron of lofty-Seerkazhi in his house.			(1854)

28. 	After the feasting (as time passed on)
	The sun began to sink into the western main;
	Night came and the rays of the moon fell
	On the ponds where teemed kumuda-flowers;
	Neelanakkar made all arrangements in his house
	For the stay of the godly child that had in the past
	Drunk the breast-milk of Her, the daughter of Himavant.		(1855)

29. 	After supping with the servitors, the divine child
	That in the past cried, to cause the manifestation
	Of the Lord and Hid Consort, for the world’s redemption,
	Called Tiruneelanakkar and he forthwith rushed to him,
	Fell at his feet, rose up and stood before him.			(1856)

30. 	Addressing the standing devotee he said:
	“Be pleased to provide accommodation this day
	For Neelakandar the great Panar.”
	He heard this in joy and set apart the space
	Near vetikai, in the very center of his house.			(1857)

31.	In the ‘ vetikai’  where fire was for ever burning,
	The red flame began to spiral up and twirl right,
	Glowing more resplendent than ever in various ways.
	Witnessing this, the wearer of the sacred thread
	Felt immensely happy.
	The Lord of Sakota-Yazh with his wife beside him
	Slumbered in peace by the grace of the Lord.			(1858)

32. 	The Lord of Kauniyas after his stay there at night
	Fared forth to hymn the praise of the Lord of Ayavanti
	Upon whose crest rests the crescent;
	He praised Neelanakkar in his divine decad
	Surcharged with nectarean words of dulcet Tamil. 		(1859)

33. 	Decking the Lord with his fresh garlands of divine decads
	He made his adoration;
	He endowed Neelanakkar with his great friendship;
	The divine child that sang the hoary Vedas
	In ever-fresh Tamil, the fared forth to other shrines.		(1860)

34. 	When the Child ruled by God departed,
	Though the servitor was impelled by love and friendship
	To follow him, he would not transgress
	The mandate of the divine patron.
	He returned, plying his heart after him,
	And somehow managed to abide in his place.			(1861)

35. 	The Brahmin lived performing flawless pooja
	As before and as by the Vedas ordained, in great splendour;
	He cultivated an ardent love for the feet
	Of the Brahmin-child, the master of the sacred Vedas
	And the son of Him whose mount is the Bull.			(1862)

36. 	To spend many days in growing friendship
	He went to every shrine visited
	By the lion of Sanbai; Tiruneelanakkar,
	The mighty servitor, would sojourn
	With the munificent and glorious child
	And then repair to his town.					(1863)

37. 	Thus flourished the Brahmin of great tapas
	In ever-increasing love, for many days;
	As he was present at the holy wedding
	Of the peerless one of ever-prosperous Sirkazhi
	And as he hailed it, he reached Siva’s feet.			(1864)

38. 	Hailing the feet of Neelanakkar, the first
	Among the Brahmins of Satthamangkai --
	Celebrated for their performance of Vedic duties --,
	We will now narrate the servitorship
	Of Naminandi – a twice-born --,
	Who gained conscious at-one-ment
	With Him whose flag sports the Bull.				(1865)

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Stanza	Line

  16		Protected house	:	The house protected by God.

  30		Vetikai		: 	The platform whereon is tended the sacrificial fire.

  34	 4	The divine patron is Tirugnanasambandhar.

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