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		I am a servitor to Rudra Pasupati also"

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

1. 	Great Tiru-th-Thalaiyoor among all towns, is
	Endowed with superior excellence; it is situate
	In the land of the Kaveri, and its fields and groves get
	Richly watered; here flourish flawless families galore,
	Well-endowed, and lacking nothing.				(1031)

2. 	The fire of the sacrificial pit tended by Brahmins
	Supplied them with rain; the dense gardens,
	Fragrant and flowery, supplied them with honey;
	The kine gave unto the Lord the Panchakavya;
	The town bestowed on men dharma, niti and salpu.		(1032)

3. 	In that grace-abounding town, from the family
	Of Brahmins firm-established in the truth of the Vedas,
	He, the pure one, came to be born; he was called Pasupatiyar;
	In love he served the Lord whose mount, the red-eyed Bull
	Is Vishnu, and whose Consort is the liana-like daughter
	Of rich and auric Himavant.					(1033)

4. 	Chanting Sri Rudram, this Brahmin hailed
	The flower-feet of the Lord, unknown to Vishnu;
	His heart poised in Vedic devotion, in love
	And without break, he was ever chanting Rudram
	Which is by the Vedas treasured; thus the throve
	In this way of life as a leader.				(1034)

5. 	To the endless din of birds’ twitter and the hum
	Of honey-bees, he would enter the pool where burgeon
	Fragrant red-lotuses like a blaze of flame on water
	And where dark varals leap and rows of carps roll.		(1035)



6. 	Thither would be stand neck-deep in the lucid water cool,
	Hold his hands above his head, folded in adoration
	And practice the purposive chanting of Sri Rudram
	In loving devotion of the Lord in whose matted hair
	The white-waved Ganga flows and overflows.			(1036)

7. 	He who was like unto Brahma throned on lotus
	Chanted Sri Rudram -- the very fruit of the true Vedas --, 
	During broad day and eventide, without fail;
	When he chanted thus for some days he attained
	At-one-ment; the Lord of Uma was pleased.			(1037)

8. 	The primal Lord approved of the loving devotee’s
	Glorious and rare askesis and his excelling mastery
	And regulation of the Vedic mantras, and in grace,
	Blessed him to abide in the blameless world of Siva.		(1038)

9. 	As he chanted Sri Rudram with ever-during love,
	He came to abide under the gracious dancing feet
	Of the Lord and came to be hailed by the world
	With the renowned name Rudra-Pasu-Patiyar.			(1039)

10. 	Having hailed the glory of Rudra-Pasu-Patiyar
	Who was blessed to abide near Him and hail Him
	Of the sharp trident, we now proceed to hymn
	The divine servitor, Nalai-p-povar who would
	Serve without the temple and without the precincts
	Of forted Tillai.						(1040)

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Stanza	Line

   2	 5	Niti		: 	It is the righteous way of life.

		Salpu		:	Salpu is Virtue resting on the five pillars of Love, 
					Modesty, Beneficence, Benignant Grace and Truth.

   5 	 4	Varal		:	A fish-Ophicephalus striatus.

   6	 3	Sri Rudram	: 	Read: 	“Rudra as an Embodiment of Divine Ambivalence 
					in the Satarudriya Stotram,” by Bruce Long.  Saiva 
					Siddhantam, Volume Two, Dharmapuram, 1988.

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