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		"I am a servitor of Pukazhcchozhar who passed away
		At Karur girt with gardens."
		
						- The Tiru-th-Tonda-th-Tokai.

1. 	The glorious and generous Chola Tamil monarchs
	Imprinted on the crest of the Himavant their signum
	Of the tiger-banner; abiding under the white-rayed
	And moon-like parasol, they sweetly fostered the vast earth;
	Uraiyoor, the great hoary city--verily the abode of all
	The multitudinous pulchritudes of the world--,
	Was of the Chola realm.						(3942)

2. 	In that beautiful city of great and endless glory
	The pencil of rays like unto those of the young sun’s,
	Issuing from beatuous gems chased away the murk
	Of night; at the sides of the streets stood rows
	Of effulgent mansions from whose tops flags wafted,
	Touching the celestial river.					(3943)

3. 	This peerless and bountiful realm was the abode
	Of all bhogas of well-being of not only this world
	But also the worlds above and beneath it;
	It was also rich in many goods pilled up sky-high
	In its endless sea-like commercial streets.			(3944)

4. 	From the fierce and martial elephants poured down
	The musty ichor which drenched the earth;
	Their trumpeting rumbled through the cool sky;
	Indistinguishable were the clouds that came near
	Unto them where they were tethered in rows,
	Looking like similar herds and endowed with the ichor
	Of dripping rain and the flashy
	Forehead-vestment of lightning.					(3945)

5. 	Their bells tinkled and they neighed aloud pridefully;
	The foam at the mouths of the rows of grass-eating
	And radiant steeds was like unto the foam
	At the tip of the (serried) waves; their bright saddles
	Were like clouds resting on hills; their stables
	Were vast as the (excavated) sea.				(3946)



6. 	It looked as though that the flowery moat that girt
	The fortess there, was like the sorrowing sea of milk
	Which was bent upon repossessing at least one of its
	Treasures--the tusker Airaavatam with a hollow proboscis,
	Ucchaisravas the king of steeds, Lakshmi-
	The Goddess of Wealth churned out of nectar, the tree Karpaka
	And the Chintaamani--, wrenched from it y the celestials.	(3947)

7. 	It is well-nigh impossible to describe the foison
	Of Uranthai whose radiant glory pervades
	The whole world; the city abounded in cloud-capped
	Towers, gardens reaching the sun and the moon,
	Beautiful streets where cars plied, flawless beauty
	Scaling the very directions and women of lovely breasts
	Cinctured with breasts-bands, whose hips
	Were the target of Manmata’s flowery darts.			(3948)

8. 	The puissant king that ruled the world from this city
	For his capital, hailed from the ancestral line of Anapaayan--
	The performer of divine service to the beauteous streets
	Of aeviternal Tillai-city; this fosterer of the Ponni’s realm
	Was known by the renowned name Pukazhcchozhar.			(3949)

9. 	The whole earth rested under the benign shade of his peerless
	White parasol; the princes on earth obeyed him by reason
	Of his victorious and hill-like shoulders; the whole world
	Richly thriving, was under the righteous sway of his sceptre;
	He so ruled that Saivism of the rare Vedas flourished.		(3950)

10. 	During his reign, he caused the splendorous and great
	Performance of pooja in all Siva temples where is
	Enshrined, in joy, the Lord whose ruddy matted hair sports
	The crescent; he met all the needs of the servitors
	Of ever-abiding renown by ascertaining them from them
	And by divining them; thus poised in piety, he fostered
	The supreme way of the Holy Ash.				(3951)

11. 	As he thus flourished, his feet hailed by the princes,
	On an auspicious day he proceeded to Karur, the great
	And peerless city of his race, with his ministers
	And retinue, to receive the tributes from Kongkars
	And other princes of the western realms.			(3952)

12. 	Like Indra’s coming to his Amaraavati with the celestials
	He came near Karur girt with a beautiful fortress
	And proceeded to the temple of Lord Hara who is happily
	Enshrined in Aanilaikkoyil, and adored it; thence
	He came to his palace of lovely radiance.			(3953)

13. 	He sat in the gem-inlaid throne wrought of gold
	In the durbar-hall of the palace where he surveyed
	The tributes thither brought by the princes
	Of the west in the forms of throngs of tuskers
	Unending rows of steeds, heaps of weighty gold,
	Gems flashing their brilliance to great distance
	And other limitless goods.					(3954)

14. 	He reinvested the princes that came with tributes
	With the right to rule, and queried his ministers endowed
	With the wisdom of government, thus: “Are there princes
	Who obey not our sovereign and unique rule, and abide
	Sheltered? Tell me after investigation.				(3955)

15. 	One day, his royal elephant plucked the flowers intended
	For pooja and brought by Sivakaami Aandaar,
	And scattered them; when Yeri Patthar killed the tusker
	And its mahouts, the king saying: “(This is not enough;)
	Be pleased to kill me too,” gave his victorious sword
	Of steel, and even thus thrived in divine servitorship.		(3956)

16. 	Unto the King of a long and bright crown that ruled
	The earth, enthroned under the radiant and rich
	And moon-like umbrella, the ministers well-versed
	In the ancient laws, customs and usages, said:
	“There is still a prince who has not paid the tribute
	Due to you.” Hearing this the king smiled his wonder.		(3957)

17. 	When he asked them; “Who is he?”, they said:
	“He is Atikan that abides nearby in his place girt
	With a lofty hill of fortress.” Thereupon the king said:
	“Is there a fortress impregnable even unto you?
	Go, wage a war and pulverize his fortress and Palladium.”	(3958)

18. 	As commanded by the puissant Chola the ministers
	Marched on with great and vast armies like unto the sea;
	With their strong, great and fourfold armies they waged
	A fierce war that would reduce to powder the interfluent
	Jungles, lofty hills and well-built and guarded forts.		(3959)

19. 	The great armies of the Chola wore garlands of vanji
	To give battle to the puissant armies of Atikan;
	The prince endowed with endless fortresses,
	Plucked, in wrath, the lofty flowers of kaanchi
	And wore them to meet the opposing hosts in battle;
	The rival armies rose up against each other
	Like two noisy and opposing oceans.				(3960)

20. 	Tuskers against tuskers, steeds facing steeds
	In might, footmen opposing footmen:
	Punched, dashed and fought; thus was
	Waged a great war on the vast earth.				(3961)

21. 	Like hills fighting aginst hills fought the tuskers
	Of cascading and billowy must; with a force greater
	Than that of the bowmen-riders with which they were
	Plied, the murderous tuskers fought and got killed.		(3962)

22. 	The opposing heroes of the dashing cavalry
	Like unto a hurricane fought, in opposite rows
	In exceeding wrath and killed each other.			(3963)

23. 	The warriors who could slice away their foes
	So fought that their enemies were cut to pieces;
	Thus discharging the debt of gratitude, these too
	Gave up their lives in the field of battle			(3964)

24. 	The blood gushing from fighters
	Who were slaughtered, ran like
	A river; the piles of corpses rose up
	Huge like mountains.						(3965)

25. 	The black crows that winged the sky,
	The vulture-thong that circled above them
	And the flock of huge eagles, rose up
	With large chunks of flesh--their big fare.			(3966)

26.	In that field of battle, well-strung bows,
	Maces, mucundis, swords, short spears, javelins
	Long spears, fiery tridents, Kappanams
	And flashing darts opposed each other, broke
	And fell down in pieces.					(3967)

27. 	When the armies of the spear-wielding Atikan
	Were slaughtered, the armies of Pukazhcchozhar,
	The crowned king, razed to the ground the hilly
	Towers and turrets and their passes, and encircled his city
	(Once) girt with a great wall whence flags wafted aloft.	(3968)

28. 	By the besieging army of the Chola, the vigil over the city
	Girt with a hardy and hilly fortress was destroyed.
	Thereupon the besieging warriors forged ahead
	And pulled down--ha, pathetic to behold--,
	The city’s fort and all.					(3969)

29. 	With the destruction of his great armies--now merely
	Heaps of flesh--, the sword-wielding Atikan
	Of the (once) strong and hostile army, fled away
	From his citadel of utterly breached walls,
	And hid himself in a huge jungle.				(3970)

30. 	After despatching the innumerable severed heads
	Of Atikan’s warriors, the numberless Chola warriors
	Took hold of heaps and heaps of riches, women,
	Sturdy steeds and tuskers which would dash forth
	In wrath in the field of battle.				(3971)

31. 	The ministers who besieged and destroyed
	The fortresses ceased all their martial activites;
	Desiring to come under the shade of the ankleted feet
	Of the earth’s king, with all the glory of victory,
	They arrived at the city of Karur girt with great walls.	(3972)

32. 	Before the presence of the spear-wrelding Chola
	Of the great and bright-rayed crown,
	The warriors brought the heaps of black
	And severed heads already kept gathered
	At the entrance of the ever-during city of Karur.		(3973)

33. 	The monarch who was the life of the earth,
	Among the innumerable severed heads
	Brought to his view, beheld on the top of a head
	A little braid of matted hair.					(3974)

34. 	Even as he beheld it, he quaked; his mind grew
	Bewildered; he folded his hands in adoration;
	Borne by the great fear which possessed him, he moved
	Toward the head held by the valiant and hardy warrior
	And clearly beheld the matted hair;
	Tears cascaded from the beauteous lotus-eyes of the king.	(3975)

35. 	Then he burst out thus: “My eminent ministers
	Led strong armies to the beat of martial drums,
	Destroyed the foes and annexed glorious victory
	Celebrated by others; but behold my beauteous reign
	Of fostering the way of the Holy Ash in this world
	Girt with billowy main!” He wilted, he languished sore.		(3976)

36. 	“This person with matted hair wearing the garland
	That became the war, did hi duty to his king; he was
	Poised in the divine way of the Lord of matted hair
	Which sports the Ganga; even after beholding his severed
	Head of matted hair mantled in glory, brought
	To me, do I live to bear the burden of the earth?
	Am I not the bearer of blame?” Thus he spake.			(3977)

37. 	He resolved to expiate (his sin), and accordingly addressed
	His ministers who ever stood by his word and the Holy Writ;
	To reign in this vast earth and foster it, and to stand
	Firmly established in the traditional servitorship
	Of the Lord-Dancer of the Ambalam, you will invest
	My son with the victorious crown.” Thus he bade them.		(3978)

38. 	He consoled the ministers who stood bewildered,
	Hearing his words; the king who himself devised
	His expiation, standing firm in the redemptive way,
	Had the ruddy fire reared before him; then he decked
	Himself with the holy ash that would quell the false way;
	He stood wondrously resplendent.				(3979)

39. 	He placed that head of matted hair in a vessel
	Of gold set with gems and set it on his head;
	He circumambulated the blazing fire, chanted
	The Panchaakshara, the hallowed name of the Lord of Devas;
	In joy he entered the flames that spiraled up.			(3980)

40. 	When he entered the fire, celestial flowers showered
	On the whole earth; great and auspicious instruments
	Resounded from the heavens; thus, even thus,
	He reached the umbrage of the great and merciful
	And ankleted feet of the Lord of the ruddy
	Matted hair, there to abide in aeviternal bliss.		(3981)

41. 	He was the greatest of the three crowned kings endowed
	With resounding drums and sea-like, vast armies;
	By our propagation of the glory of Pukazhcchozhar--
	The service that we render unto him, the wearer
	Of a melliferous garland--, and by our adoration
	And hailing of his feet, we are now blessed to narrate
	The greatness of Narasingka Munaiyar as is known to us.		(3982)

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NOTES

Verse No.

   1.	Uraiyoor: For a long time this was the capital of the Chola country.

   3.	Commerce thrived well in Uraiyoor.

   8.	St. Sekkizhaar gratefully mentions the name of his patron (Anapaayan) in this verse.

  17.	Atikan.  He is also known as Atiyamaan.

  33.	A little braid of matted hair: The holy ash, the rudraaksha bead and the matted hair 
	are the three divine symbols of Saivism.

  34.	he quaked: The king shuddered to behold the little braid of matted hair on a severed 
	head.  He felt he had committed a most heinous sin.

  39.	This verse speaks of the expiation of the king.

  40.	The king underwent the prescribed agnipariksha to gain the umbrage of Siva’s 
	hallowed feet.


			Here ends the Puranam of Pukazhcchozha Naayanaar

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