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		"A servitor am I to the servitors of Lord Sambandhan
		Who would worship nought but the feet
		Of Him who wears the goodly and honied flowers
		Of Konari buzzed by the speckled bees."

						- The Tiru-th-Tonda-th-Tokai

1. 	For the ways of the Vedas to flourish
	For superb Saivism to shine in splendour
	And for the excellence of the human race
	He oped his holy and flowery lips and cried;
	He is Tirugnaanasambandhar of Pukali which is
	Girt with cool and fecund fields.
	We wear his flower-feet on our head
	To hail his divine servitorship.			(1899)

2. 	The great Cholas of the ancient Saivite stock
	Hail the ankleted and roseate feet of the Lord
	Who wears on His crest the crescent.
	Their country is made rich by the Cauvery
	And it thrives in great splendour.
	It is here hoary Kazhumalam
	With cloud-capped and impregnable walls
	Is situate.						(1900)

3. 	In that city bounded by the areca-groves
	The Brahmin-boys chant the Vedas as ordained, in groups;
	As the city rises aloft peerless, not only
	On the day of the Great Deluge, but for ever,
	It is like a perpetual float on the ocean-stream.	(1901)

4. 	The floods that drown even Vishnu and Brahma
	With their mountainous billow,
	Dash against the shining, gem-set buildings
	And leave spirals of watermarks
	On the walls of the fortified city;
	These are like the twinings of the Serpent
	On Mount Mandara when the Milky Ocean was churned.	(1902)

5. 	It is but a single sun that rises
	From the dark ocean; but in this city,
	From the leafy greenery of the tanks that lie
	Amidst the fragrant and fertile fields,
	Burgeon very many petalled lotuses, all red;
	It looks as though that a myriad
	Young suns have risen.					(1903)

6. 	The smoke that issues from the homas
	Performed by the Brahmins poised in the Vedic way of life
	Mantles the city in darkness like night;
	Bright stripes of the holy ash dazzle like day-light;
	This is so, for numberless aeons;
	The hoary city therefore is in need
	Of neither natural day nor night.			(1904)

7. 	Into the fire of the blown lotuses that grow
	In the vast and crop-filled fields of that city,
	Drip continuously from the tips of the leaves,
	The ghee of honey from the burst fruit
	Of the mango-trees that grow on the ridges;
	Thus in that city, from time immemorial
	The trees too are performing Yagas.			(1905)

8. 	As the sun dips into the western main
	The white moon rises in the night
	And skims through the groves and  gardens
	Tinct with pollen and laden with honey.
	So, the moon in that city for ever looks ruddy
	When it rises incarnadine in the evening.		(1906)

9. 	In that beauteous city, like the Brahmins,
	The fragrant and petalled lotuses are endowed
	With the sacred thread, their stems;
	Their holy ash is their pollen;
	They are also tear-bedewed;
	They chant Sama hymns through the humming bees.		(1907)

10. 	With golden ear-pendants dangling
	And saree-ends tucked behind
	They coast with cow-dung the sacred pit of fire
	And draw comely kolam;
	Their hair is dark like the raincloud
	And they are constant as the Northern star.
	The mansions in that city are therefore
	Passing rich with the peerless helpmeets.		(1908)

11. 	Even in the muddy play-field they imitate
	The rituals of the Yaga;
	Their golden anklets tinkle as they ply through dust
	Their tintinnabular toy-cars;
	Thus thrive the Brahmin-children in the serried streets.(1909)

12. 	The white-washed mansions of the gem-paved streets
	Unfurl into the clouds their pennants from the poles;
	Above these at night the stars of the sky twinkle;
	These are like the many-hued flowers that unpetal
	During the day.						(1910)

13.	The sluiced streams teem with heaps of gems;
	The fields abound in schools of carp;
	By their sides are seen heaps of flowers;
	Beyond them is beheld the splendour of Yagas;
	The rapture of scriptures fills the schools;
	The golden bees hum in ease;
	Bright are the gardens with the presence of saints;
	Towers and turrets are shrouded in clouds.		(1911)

14. 	Bhiramapuram, Venupuram, Pukali,
	Great Venguru, beauteous and peerless Tonipuram,
	Poontharaai, Sirapuram, Puravam,
	Sanbai city, ever-growing Kaazhi, Kocchaivayam,
	Adorable and beauteous Kazhumalam:
	These are the twelve names of the city.			(1912)

15. 	And in that city was a holy man,
	The very first of the Brahmin-clan;
	He hailed from the Kauniya-gotra
	Sanctified by the Vedas
	To add lustre thereunto;
	Sivapaada Hridaya was his name whose life
	Was verily a tapas for this world to prosper.		(1913)

16. 	His divine helpmeet also hailed from the Vedic clan;
	Her greatness could gain for her all the worlds;
	This beautiful woman was called Bhagavati;
	Chaste and submissive, her life was married harmony.	(1914)

17. 	Both were from the ancient clans of Saivism;
	They knew nought but the feet of the Lord
	Whose matted hair is decked with serpents;
	Fostering an adoring love for the holy ash
	And poised in the Vedas they lived exemplarily.		(1915)

18. 	While so, the world at large teemed with the falsity
	Of the Samanas and the Saakyas;
	The righteous Vedic way of life was on the wane;
	The glory of the holy ash even amidst the devotees 
	Of Siva shone but dimly: witnessing these,
	The flawless Sivapaada Hridaya was sunk in misery.	(1916)

19. 	He desired that he should get a son
	To gladden his righteous domestic life;
	On the dancing feet of the Lord he set this thought
	And wrought tapas to come by a divine son--
	Who decked with beauteous jewels--,
	Would do away with the alien religions
	And re-establish the glory of the Holy Ash.		(1917)

20. 	With ever-increasing love, he adored the feet
	Of the Lord and His Great Consort enshrined in Tonipuram;
	In fulfillment of his wish his beloved wife
	Grew visibly gravid with a child
	That would redeem all the world.			(1918)

21. 	Hailing the grace of the Lord and His Consort
	Enshrined in Tonipuram,
	They performed in great joy all the rites
	Prescribed by the Vedas,
	In the presence of their kin, during the ten months,
	To usher in great well-being.
	Thus their days rolled on in bliss.			(1919)

22. 	Now came the time when the sun and the signs of the zodiac
	Were at their beauteous zenith in their in their utmost strength;
	The hour was propitious; the bright star Aadirai
	Invested all the directions with its splendour;
	Alien religions stood denuded of their pride;
	Saivism and Vaidikam began to flourish again;		(1920)

23. 	The minds of the devotees overflowed with joy;
	The way of the _oly Ash held unique sway
	Over the eight directions;
	The yagas of the Brahmins began to prosper;
	The tapas of munificent Tamil met with fulfillment;
	The deeds of the seers were crowned with fruition;	(1921)

24. 	The South vanquished all other directions
	And its fame began to soar aloft;
	The earth conquered the Heaven and all other worlds;
	The imperishable ways of the opulent Tamil
	Triumphed over all other ways which were alien;
	In the modes and music of Tamil
	True wisdom sat enthroned;				(1922)

25. 	Creation the first of the (five) acts
	Came to be reckoned as the chiefest;
	Time--past, present and future--,
	Stood cure of its flaw;
	Ever-glorious and bright Kaazhi city
	With its gem-paved streets gained eternality;
	The grace of the Lord of Tonipuram
	Began to pour all the more.				(1923)

26. 	Sin-breeding Jainism of sheer folly
	And other religions of evil ways which cause
	Unending transmigration, were to be blasted;
	All lives in all the flawless worlds were to gain SIVAM;
	Thus, even thus,
	In Sanbai which ever fosters tapas
	He, the divine child, made his avatar.			(1924)

27. 	Then the citizens of beauteous Kazhumalam,
	One and all, felt thrilled;
	The hair on their bodies, in every pore, stood erect;
	Unknown to them a joy possessed them
	And they spake thus:					(1925)

28. 	"How is it that our minds feel a growing gladness
	Like unto the waxing grace of Lord Siva?"
	To this, others struck with wonder, replied thus:
	"This day, a scion of the Kauniya clan is
	Taking birth and this, his harbinger."			(1926)

29. 	The burgeoning blooms filled the gardens
	With rare perfume;
	The honied pollen spread in all directions
	And blanketed the light;
	Then came gently the southerly from the Potiyil
	And sifted dusty pollen, revealing thereby
	The lovely rays of pure lustre.				(1927)

30. 	The celestial lords in all love and without stint,
	Rained on earth the flowers of Paradise;
	They came to this world, joined the Brahmins
	Of Kaazhi city and with them performed homas.		(1928)

31. 	Witnessing the gracious act of Siva that caused
	The world to flourish, the Chiefs of His Hosts
	Engaged themselves in goodly service;
	When the Brahmins, the reciters of the Vedas,
	Spoke other things, they too emerged as 
	Ceaseless Vedic mantras.				(1929)

32. 	The many trees and lianas yielded
	Their fruits and flowers;
	The muddy waters turned cool and crystalline;
	The heavens became bright and pellucid;
	The birds warbled their sweet ditties;
	Goodness ruled all the directions.			(1930)

33. 	There in Sanbai of great festivity
	Conch and chank, drum and lute,
	Bugle and trumpet, of themselves
	Resounded when none played them.
	Airs, auspicious airs, filled the city.			(1931)

34. 	Like Kaazhi the entire world rejoiced;
	The father of the divine child --
	The Chief of the Brahmin clan --,
	By the grace of the Lord,
	Began to perform such rites
	Befitting the birth of the child, 
	In great delight and wonder.				(1932)

35. 	His mind full of love was steeped in great joy;
	He reveled in the festive unguentary bath
	In exceeding joy;
	In keeping with the birth of the divine child
	Deeds were done in auspicious reboation;
	The casting of horoscope and other acts
	Were also duly performed.				(1933)

36. 	The Brahmin-women poised in piety
	Felt immensely delighted;
	In mien they were like the pea-fowl;
	Their ear-pendants and other jewellery dazzled;
	They carried with them beauteous lamps
	That burned with pure lustre;
	They decked the mansion which glowed
	With greater beauty.					(1934)

37. 	They scattered everywhere gold-dust
	Mixed with cool and suaveolent pollen
	And in joy announced the divine birth;
	They arranged paalikais whence sprouted white
	The grains, in pavilions;
	They filled the rows of golden pots
	With fragrant and holy water.				(1935)

38. 	Gifts of rufescent gold and the like were made;
	The feast of Siva's devotees was arranged;
	They wove the fresh-blown flowers into garlands
	Where beetles lay cradled;
	Margosa leaves were strung and stuck up as mascot;
	They also performed other protective acts_		(1936)

39. 	By the smoke that issued from the burning
	Of white mustard and incense,
	By the smoke that wafted from the burning
	Of eagle-wood and fragrant ghee
	And by the holy smoke that wafted
	From the sacrificial pits fed with oblations
	And by such other fumigation they caused the spreading
	Of divine fragrance everywhere.				(1937)

40. 	These various deeds they performed
	For the greater glory of the Lord of the Devas
	As ordained in the holy Vedas and other scriptures,
	For ten days since the child was born.			(1938)

41. 	The day proper for christening the child was duly fixed;
	The goodly babe shone like the young rising sun
	That does good to the whole world;
	Very like the Infant-God laid on lotus
	He was laid in a cradle with gems inlaid.		(1939)

42. 	Unto him who was to be fed with the breast-milk
	Mixed with the rare scriptural wisdom
	By the liana-like Daughter of Himavant,
	His mother gave suck in grace; this was indeed
	The sweet milk of devotion
	For the hallowed feet of the Lord.			(1940)

43. 	By the grace of the red-haired Lord
	On whose crest flows the river,
	The holy ash-- the one and only protection--,
	Was alone applied on the holy forehead of the child--
	The saviour of mankind whose birth
	Was verily a boon to the whole world--;
	He was not burdened with any talisman
	As it was but an unwanted excess.			(1941)

44. 	The child was laid on the lap
	Of the nursing matrons, on gem-paved seats,
	On the cradle inlaid with gems of purest ray
	And again on the bed of flowers:
	The hero born to gain fresh honour and glory
	For the Vedas and the nectarean Tamil
	That confer on men the true meaning of life.		(1942)

45. 	The child of Pukali, in keeping with the parvas
	Grew well that the Vedas might flourish;
	He lifted his head and played senkeerai
	Gently swaying sideways his shapely head
	As if saying: "We serve none but Siva who is
	Decked with the great battle-axe."			(1943)

46. 	He clapped his hands as if to say: "Get away
	From us, you of alien faith! We know you not."
	With his roseate hands lotus-like keeping time,
	He clapped sappaani;
	It looked as though that he was even then
	Practising with his hands the art of sounding
	The cymbals that he would ere long receive
	From the Holy One.					(1944)

47. 	For the downfall of the faiths in their course
	As they drifted away from the Vedas,
	He was privileged to be blessed with Gnosis
	By Him in whose matted hair, the celestial Ganga,
	Immense and broad, flows;
	He began to crawl gently in the vestibule
	Mantled in the rays of the moon.			(1945)

48. 	Damsels fair as pea-fowl,
	Who formed his kith and kin,
	And his nurses, stood encircling him;
	They hailed him thus: "O rare wealth
	Of those of Kaazhi! O Karpaka
	Of the Kauniya clan! We bid you welcome!
	Do come to us."
	Thus they addressed him who took birth
	That the sevenfold music, multifarious arts
	And lives in all the worlds might flourish.		(1946)

49. 	By his smile he made the visages
	Of his callers bloom in joy;
	By his touch he caused their joy
	To grow more and more;
	By his embrace he caused their minds
	To melt and get tossed about in delight great.
	Thus the child that came to be born
	In great Kaazhi steeped them in sheer joy.		(1947)

50. 	Before he grew to be a child one year old
	He learnt to stand, and as he stood,
	His curly, dark and soft locks decked with flowers
	And buzzed by speckled bees, gently swayed;
	Then as he slowly plied his unsteady steps
	His anklets tinkled.
	Thus when he toddled, all the base religions
	Toddled, tottered and fell down.			(1948)

51. 	He held the hands of his nurses
	And learnt to walk straight;
	His flower-feet decked with anklets
	Filled with tinkling gems
	Softly pressed the ground.
	As a child barely more than a summer old
	He walked with ease and played with grace.		(1949)

52. 	He plied his tintinnabular toy-car;
	He frisked and ran; he smote 
	The tiny and sandy toy-houses built by
	The tender girls endowed with fragrant foreheads.
	His little frame besmeared with the holy ash
	Was filled with drops of sweat.
	Thus he grew and _iffused lustre everywhere.		(1950)

53. 	With His Grand Consort is He enshrined,
	The Lord at Tonipuram, and the crescent rests
	On His matted hair;
	To come by the fruit of His divine grace,
	Like the germinating seed of tapas, he grew
	And reached the age of three when through him
	The world and the rare Vedas were to flourish.		(1951)

54. 	I will now narrate what happened
	To the child of Sirapuram the flag of whose Lord
	Sports the Bull, when he was three years old.
	It caused the Vedas and other scriptures and also
	The Goddess of Learning to attain to greater glory;
	The Goddess on the Lotus too glowed
	In lustre invested with Siva-punya.			(1952)

55. 	To the Brahmin that had wrought great tapas
	The Lord gifted the child who took birth
	To prove the supremacy of servitorship;
	Whenever the child became aware of his parting
	From the Lord, he cried as if struck with sudden fear
	And none could know the real reason therefore.		(1953)

56. 	During these lofty days, on a particular day
	When the father fared forth for his bath
	After which he should duly perform the rites
	As ordained by the Vedas, the child
	Leaving the gem-bright vestibule, began to 
	Follow him crying, as the hour was ripe
	When the Lord would confer His grace on him.		(1954)

57. 	The great tapaswi noticed the son that followed;
	He tarried awhile and tried to prevent his coming;
	He even feigned anger; it was in vain;
	The child began to stamp the ground
	With his feet decked with lightning-bright anklets;
	He watched this and said: "If this be your intent,
	Come along." He took the child with him.		(1955)

58. 	He that ever stood poised in piety arrived
	At the bathing-ghat of the great tank of ever linked
	With the beauteous Ark of the Lord whose flag sports the Bull;
	This tank was the source of all great, ceaseless waters;
	This was the matrix whence would gush forth
	At the end of the aeon many a mighty flood.		(1956)

59. 	The father of the Redeemer-of-the-world
	Left the child on the bank;
	Afraid of parting, he would not then
	Enter into the clear water;
	He would first adore the Lord-Patron and His Consort
	Enshrined at Tonipuram;
	This done he plunged into the water.			(1957)

60. 	He bathed and performed the rites and tarpana
	Before his glorious son would begin to search for him;
	Assured of the Lord's great protection
	And planting firm in his heart the feet of the Lord,
	With great fervour he plunged again into the water
	To perform agamarusha.					(1958)

61. 	As the Vedic muni plunged into the water
	His child could not see him;
	As if unable to endure his absence
	Even for a second, the divine child
	That stood on the bank of the tank full of water,
	Began to cry, as it was then, his former consciousness
	Which was fixed uninterruptedly
	On the feet of the Lord, Began to well up.		(1959)

62. 	As he with his flower-hands rubbed
	His flower-eyes, they were bedewed with tears;
	Hi comely, ruddy and fruit-like lips trembled;
	As he, the tender calf--Punya's own incarnation--, cried,
	The innumberable Gospels resounded in joy,
	And everything that breathed rejoiced.			(1960)

63. 	He cast his looks everywhere and cried
	As tear-drops rolled down his body;
	Was he then impelled by his former nexus?
	Or was it merely an act of childhood?
	He then beheld the crest of the beauteous Ark
	Where is enshrined the Lord whose ruddy frame
	Is adorned with the white stripes of the Holy Ash,
	And cried: "Amme! Appa!"				(1961)

64. 	Then the Lord enthroned on the beauteous Ark
	To shower on him grace with His benign eyes
	For his divine servitorship in his previous births
	Manifested on His martial Bull with His Consort—
	The liana-like daughter of auric Himavant--,
	And came near unto the tank
	Increscent-crested majesty.				(1962)

65. 	Mindful of the ever-rich boon He bestowed
	On the Brahmin well-versed in the Vedas, and his wife,
	And to endow the child with the knowledge to remain 
	Ever-poised in the unique and integral worship
	Of His glorious feet, He lovingly bade
	His inseparable Consort, the Mother of the Gospels,
	To grace the divine child.				(1963)

66. 	Beholding the crying child, the merciful Lord
	Of gracious compassion, addressed the liana-like
	Daughter of Himavant, adored in very world, thus:
	"Feed this child from a cup of gold
	With the ambrosial milk of they twin breasts."		(1964)

67. 	The Mother of the seven worlds and the Vedas--,
	The primal Source of everything--,
	Whose beauteous form is ever-crescent mercy,
	When thus bidden by Lord Siva, approached the child
	And embraced him, the while pouring the milk
	Of Her divine breasts into a cup.			(1965)

68. 	Uma, the Mother, mixed the ineffable Wisdom,
	Siva's own Gnosis, with the ambrosial milk,
	Wiped the tears of the child that stood before Her,
	Gave him the cup of gold and bade him thus:
	"Take it." It was thus, even thus,
	The All-Merciful Lord pacified the crying child.	(1966)

69. 	As he was thus blessed by the Lord--"The-Parents-of-all"--,
	He became "Aalutiya Pillaiyaar",
	Endowed with Siva's own Gnosis,
	Unknowable to even the celestials and saints alike;
	Eke did he become Sivagnaanasambandhar,
	The unique and flawless.				(1967)

70. 	Sivagnaanam of ever-increasing divinity
	Which is for ever linked to the feet of Siva,
	The lofty knowledge poised in clarity
	That completely does away with transmigration,
	Peerless knowledge of the Gospels and the scriptures
	And the knowledge of incarnate Truth, rare to realize:
	All these in that hour of beatitude
	Came to be established in the consciousness
	Of Sambandhar, the first among the tapaswis.		(1968)

71. 	"It is the Lord-God who governs every ens.
	One must be poised in this consciousness;
	The fruit of this consciousness is the adoration
	Of the Lord, the Guru and the Servitors;
	This indeed is the way of life."
	Some however act contrary, self-willed;
	These impure ones espouse faiths that are false.
	So, up he rose to smite these faiths to smithereens.	(1969)

72. 	After a while, SivapaadaHridaya, the holy Brahmin,
	Duly completing the rites, plunged as he was in water,
	Ascended the steps and came to the bank.
	Beholding the divine child--glowing with
	The bliss of splendour--, he questioned him thus,
	In anger: "Whose milk have you taken?"			(1970)

73. 	He took a little stick and flourishing it said:
	"Show me the one who gave you this
	That will attract Jettatura."
	Eyes suffused with rapturous tears,
	The Little-One-Great danced in joy
	And pointed with a finger of his hand,
	Uplifted above his head.				(1971)

74. 	At the Lord of Tonipuram of ever-abounding grace
	And His Consort—hailed by the rare and tuneful Vedas--,
	Who were seated on the ever-young Bull that stood
	In the heavens bathed in the soaring and immense light
	Of wisdom; at Him he pointed, and began to hail
	Him with words of supreme wisdom
	Which gushed forth from within.				(1972)

75. 	By his Tamil rich and sweet and which indeed
	Is the indited Veda,
	For people on earth to attain to scriptural good,
	For innumerable lives to rejoice,
	And for his hymn to course its way to the Lord,
	Invoking the Ear Divine, he caused
	His hymn begin with the first letter
	Of the boundless Vedas married to a consonant.		(1973)

76. 	He hymned the divine decad the words of which
	Were incarnate truth that ushered in piety;
	In commenced thus: "He of the ear-pendant..."
	He sang of the signs and insignia of the Lord
	Enshrined in Bhiramaapuram
	And declared to his father thus:" Behold Him,
	The Lord-God who did this to me!"			(1974)



77. 	To proclaim the great mercy of the brow-eyed Lord
	That saves the sinners who surrender unto Him
	He sang of the boons he livingly granted
	To the wanton demon that hymned and pleased Him,
	When sunk by the mountain which he durst uproot.	(1975)

78. 	Lord Siva grants grace to the worshippers;
	Vishnu and Brahma knew this; yet they
	Hailed Him not as their minds were flawed.
	Taking the base forms of brute and fowl
	They tried to reach His crown and feet, and failed;
	Then they hailed the Lord duly with His panchaakshara
	And were saved; this he narrated in his decad.		(1976)

79. 	"They fall into perdition who pursue not the way
	Of the Author of the Vedas--the red-haired One
	Adorned with a white crescent--;
	The ways of Samanas and Buddhists that knew
	Neither good nor wisdom, are evil."
	Thus proclaimed our Lord Sambandhar.			(1977)

80. 	He completed the divine decad
	Sealing it with his benediction.
	Then the child, the Master of the Rig Veda,
	Standing before the Lord, adored Him.
	The celestials witnessing the grace and mercy
	Of the Bountiful One came thronging in the sky
	And rained showers of melliferous flowers.		(1978)

81. 	The resounding of the auspicious and celestial tuntupis,
	The singing of the Gandharvas and Kinnaras
	Which was like the melodic roar of a sea of music
	And the psalms and prayers tunefully chanted
	By Indra and his ethereal train
	Were drowned in the sound of "Hara! Hara!"
	Raised by the interminable hosts of Siva.		(1979)

82. 	The chanting of the Vedas grew in ever-increasing volume;
	The gems from the crowns of the thronging Devas
	Fell down in a shower and filled the earth;
	A sea of saints, ever poised
	In truth and peace, stood circling.			(1980)

83. 	To the devotees who are impelled
	By spiritual mellowness to reach Him,
	The Lord throned on the Bull with His Consort
	Who shares His body, grants the bark
	Of His twin feet to cross the peerlessly strong
	Currents of the sea of transmigration.
	Such is He who now moved into the Temple
	Of the everlasting Ark, accompanied by the Vedas	(1981)

84. 	When he that stood on the ground
	Verily the child of the Vedas,
	Saw the Lord move into the temple,
	Driven by a love to flourish in the imaged thought
	Ushered within by his eyes, he also
	Moved into the temple of the Holy One.			(1982)

85. 	He who had wrought boundless tapas of yore
	To become the blessed father of the divine child,
	Let slip the stick; folding his flower-hands
	In adoration, he danced in joy;
	He was by fear, wonder and longing variously assailed;
	He then began to con the import of the Tamil songs
	So sweetly hymned by his son.				(1983)

86. 	He could not behold the Eternal One and follow Him
	Like his son who beheld Him and followed Him.
	Witnessing the happenings he concluded
	That the grace of the Lord of Tonipuram was at work;
	So with a mind borne by longing
	He went after his beloved son who walked before him.	(1984)

87. 	They that witnessed the events,
	They that only heard of them,
	The wearers of the sacred thread and others:
	All were thrilled alike.
	"Whither has chanced the like of this?"
	Thus they exclaimed in wonder
	Foregathering at the threshold of the temple
	Of the Lord of the coral-hued matted hair.		(1985)

88. 	The divine child that partook of Wisdom's nectar
	Went before the Lord of everlasting beatitude
	Throned on His bright and huge Bull in golden Tonipuram
	And in His presence hymned his decad that proclaims thus:
	"Here indeed is my Ruler and Lord with Uma."		(1986)

89. 	Even as the Brahmins who were well-versed
	In the boundless Vedas, bore witness,
	The divine child from whose lips wafted
	The fragrance of nectarean Wisdom,
	Moved out of the temple, blessed with the boon
	To hymn the praise of the Lord in Tamil decades
	Married to the sevenfold music
	And also the grace of the Lord.				(1987)

90. 	Before the divine presence of the child,
	The recipient of wondrous and enduring grace,
	The servitors of the crescent-crested Lord
	Whose lustre excelled even that of the moon
	And the blessed residents of Tonipuram
	Gathered at the lofty thresholded temple 
	And offered their adorations thus:			(1988)

91. 	"O Tapas of Kaazhi! Wealth of the kauniyas!
	O deep sea of scriptural wisdom, the nectar  sweet thereof!
	You have come to the earth that devotees may flourish!
	You are the recipient of grace divine
	From the peerless Lord of the celestials
	And His Consort, the Mother of the sevenfold music!"
	Thus praised a few.					(1989)

92. 	"O divine fosterer of the Vedas! Abode of Vaidikam!
	Nimbus gravid with ever-growing wisdom!
	Pukali's effulgence! Recipient of g_ace
	From the Lord who with Uma was pleased to come forth
	To bless you!" Thus praised a few others.		(1990)

93. 	"O Source of piety! Bright ray that feasts the eyes
	And fares forth with a cord of gold on its waist!
	O moon of growing digits! Ground and base
	For the movements of music! Barely three years old,
	You are blessed with the grace of the Lord who is
	The object of holy contemplation!" Thus praised a few.	(1991)

94. 	Thus they praised--the Brahmins well-versed
	In the Vedas, and others also--;
	They fell prostrate and set the hallowed feet
	Of the child on their heads;
	Then they stood in glorious order;
	The father Sivapaada Hridaya came near the child
	Of divine wisdom, set him on his shoulders
	And moved away.						(1992)

95. 	The throng of Brahmins merged
	With the throng of servitors;
	Up in the sky they threw their towels
	And sashes in joyous uproar;
	It looked as though that in the street of Kaazhi,
	The river of Siva's bliss ran, with spumy bubbles,
	And foamy globules going up and down the course.	(1993)

96. 	The Brahmin women of Kazhumalam who were
	Like flashing lightnings atop the crested mountains,
	From the tops of their mansions--the abode of
	The earthly celestials--, blessed the child
	With auspicious words; they showered on him 
	Fresh flowers, fragrant gold-dust
	And white puffed rice.					(1994)

97. 	When they went round the opulent streets of Sanbai
	Some played on the auspicious instruments;
	Some sang the Saama Veda; some bore bright
	And beauteous lamps and filled the pials
	With rows of pots filled with holy water;
	Some prayed with wondrous love and great fervour.	(1995)

98. 	As he whose coral-hued lips that were sweet
	Of speech and fragrant with the milk
	Of the sacred breasts of the bejewelled Consort
	Of the Lord enshrined in the beauteous and auric Ark,
	Entered his divine mansion
	Conch and chank began to blow; celestial tuntupis
	And other instruments loud resounded.			(1996)

99. 	In his beauteous and pure mansion he abode;
	That night, as the beauteous and roseate lotus-feet
	Of the Lord ever enshrined in the divine Ark—
	The form of the great Vedas which are
	An embodiment of the hoary Naada--,
	Were embosomed by him, loving devotion
	Welled up in him; so even before
	The many-rayed sun arose in the east,
	He came to the Ark-temple of the Lord.			(1997)

100. 	He came there in love and adored his Father
	Enshrined in Kazhumalam and his Consort,
	The divine Mother who fed him with the milk
	Of Her sacred breasts—True wisdom
	That could not be borne by any--;
	Blessed with the lofty grace of his divine parents
	He fared forth in joy to adore the Lord
	At the shrine of comely Kolakka.			(1998)

101. 	The loud billowy Cauvery with its goodly water
	Washes ashore honied flowers and pearls;
	The speckled bees buzz over blooms,
	The damsels plunge into the tank and bathe;
	Such is lovely Kolakka to the temple of which
	He repaired and completed his sacred circuit;
	Then standing in the divine presence
	He began to hail the divine feet of the Lord
	Of the celestials unknowable even to the Vedas.		(1999)

102. 	The Lord is the enshrined import of the Vedas
	Which are Truth incarnate;
	He wears the hooded serpent of Venomous sacs
	And the infant moon on His matted hair,
	It is thus He is, and grants grace.
	The Prince of Kauniyas hailed the Lord
	Whose throat holds the poison,
	In a decad which opened thus:
	"The carp leap at the sluiced stream..."
	He sang the Vedic hymn keeping time
	By the clap of his hands.				(2000)

103. 	As he sang keeping time by the clap of his hands
	The merciful, red-haired Lord caused a pair
	Of golden cymbals inscribed with the Panchaakshara
	Of the celestial Lord, then and there, reach the hands
	Of the Vedic child, born to redeem all the worlds,
	That he could keep time with them for the hymns
	He then sang (and was to sing thereafter).		(2001)

104. 	Beholding the cymbals in his hands
	The great one of Kaazhi placed them
	On his head in reverence;
	His mind-heart was delighted and then
	From his sweet lips streamed
	A musical and munificent decad of Tamil
	For the flourishing of the sevenfold music;
	Thus he sang before the Lord of beauteous ear-ring,
	And completed his decad with his word of benediction.	(2002)

105. 	Hearing the divine melody that swelled
	Through all the bournes of Naada
	The world of gods was steeped in wonder;
	Tumpuru, Naarada and others well-renowned
	In the sphere of sruti-music
	Offered their prayers, and on earth
	Caused showers of fragrant flowers;
	The child that took birth for the flourishing
	Of the Vedas, hailing the grace of his Lord
	Returned to the city of Sanbai.				(2003)

106. 	When the child holding in his lotus-red hand
	The celestial cymbals, walked forth
	His father could not endure it;
	He bore him on his shoulders;
	Thus he reached the towered temple
	Adored by the thronging celestials,
	In the city of the beauteous Ark
	Resplendent with beauteous casements
	Bathed in moonbeams.					(2004)

107. 	He circumambulated the temple
	Of ever-growing divinity
	And stood before the holy Lord.
	Divine grace impelled him to compose in all
	An octad of divine decades (in takka raga);
	Divinely inspired and in love, he now began
	To hymn one of them, on the Lord
	Of the golden Ark, blessed with His grace.
	This he began with the adorable words thus:
	"poovaar Konrai."					(2005)

108. 	Keeping time with the divine cymbals
	For his sacred decad, he continued to hymn
	His psalms in succession, each in unison
	With the preceding ones;
	Then in deep devotion he adored the Lord.
	He, verily a cloud that showers absolute wisdom,
	Abode at Poontharaai, gracing its dwellers
	With his splendorous presence
	Of childhood's majesty.					(2006)

109. 	While so, the Brahmins of Tirunanipalli--
	The holy place that had of yore wrought tapas
	To cause thither the birth of her that begot
	The divine child--,
	In great joy, chanting the Vedas, fared forth
	Accompanied by auspicious orchestration
	To Sanbai city of the impregnable rampart;
	Arriving there they fell prostrate
	At the feet of the Prince of Kauniyas.			(2007)

110. 	Having heard the great tidings that he had
	Come by true wisdom for the world to rejoice,
	The twice-born and others of that realm
	And its neighbourhood
	And also the servitors of boundless joy
	Thronged forth in great wonder
	And came to Pukali; they hailed the feet 
	Of the child, verily a lion-cub,
	And stood poised in devotional excellence.		(2008)

111. 	To the sacred devotees, the holy Brahmins and others
	Of joyous heart, feeding and other acts
	Of hallowed glory were done dutifully
	In keeping with their station by the residents
	Of hoary Sanbai which was like unto Siva-loka
	And indeed was so hailed by every world.		(2009)

112. 	After the passage of a few days
	The dwellers of Tirunanipalli which is circled by
	The fertile Ponni rich in pearls,
	Adoringly beseeched the child
	To visit their town to adore Siva thither enshrined;
	Prompted by grace he consented;
	Up he rose to adore the Lord of the Ark;
	With His blessing he fared forth
	To adore at the other shrines too.			(2010)

113. 	He that was on wisdom fed, set on earth
	His pretty feet, very like the soft inner petal
	Of the pollen-laden red lotus;
	Unable to bear this or the act of anyone
	Attempting to carry the child,
	His father, the great tapaswi,
	Lifted the child onto his shoulders;
	Thus was he borne, who bore on his crown
	The feet of the Lord.					(2011)

114. 	As he neared Tirunanipalli where the Lord
	Of honied cassia garlands, is enshrined,
	He asked: "What may this polis be
	Whose groves hug the very heavens?"
	His father gladly replied thus: "That indeed is 
	Tirunanipalli rich in fields full of blue lilies."
	Then the one on wisdom fed, folding his hands
	In adoration commenced his chaplet
	Of goodly Tamil words.					(2012)

115. 	"Kaaraikkal, Kookai, Mulllai:"  Thus he began
	The decad, truthful and scriptural.
	At the close of the glorious decad, he declared thus:
	"They that think on Nanipalli where the Lord is
	With His Consort enshrined, shall be saved
	From great dangers; this shall be so by our mandate."	(2013)

116. 	He ente_ed the temple of the primordial Lord;
	Love-infused, he made lowly and holy adoration
	And emerged therefrom with lasting grace endued;
	The Brahmins, verily the celestials on earth,
	Gathered round him and hailed him.
	Witnessing their love and devotion,
	The Chief of the Kauniyas sojourned with them.		(2014)

117. 	To invite our great one that was fed with wisdom
	By the Mother-Goddess, that the world might be delivered,
	The Brahmins of Talaicchangkaadu
	Came there impelled by great love,
	With the true servitors of lofty tapas
	Whom the very celestials adore.				(2015)

118. 	Festoons were put up; areca leaves and severed
	Plantain trees were fastened to thresholds;
	Garlands were dangled; vessels filled with holy water
	Were carried; the bazaar streets were decorated.
	They received the great one in such splendour
	To their town of foison teeming with flower gardens,
	The haunt of bees and beetles.				(2016)

119. 	Holy men well-versed in the Vedas foregathered
	Surrounding him; each, in delight great
	Recited the Vedas the sound of which spiraled up;
	It was thus he reached the great and sacred shrine
	And adored Him-- the import of the rare Vedas;
	Then he hymned a divine decad celebrating
	The Lord enshrined in the temple, built
	In the shape of a beauteous Valampuri shell.		(2017)

120. 	In loving devotion he adored and hymned
	The Lord whose throat holds the poison,
	And came out hailed by the Brahmins;
	Then at Tiruvalampuram he hailed the Lord
	With a decad beginning thus: "Kodiyudai..."
	As he moved out of the temple he desired
	To adore the Lord of Tirucchaaikkaadu
	And fared forth thitherward.				(2018)

121. 	At Pallavaneeccharam, bowing low his head,
	He adored the Lord decked with serpents
	And hailed him in redeeming numbers.
	Greeted by the devotees of ever-during renown
	He adored the Holy One of Tirucchaaikkaau
	Near Pukar circled by the Cauvery.			(2019)

122. 	Passing through the sky-high entrance,
	He completed his sacred circumambulation;
	Then he came to the presence of the Lord who wears
	The honey-laden konrai blooms and sports the fawn
	On His left hand; he bowed low and hailed Him
	In a decad that would melt all flesh, thus:
	"Mann pukaar Vaan Pukuvar . . . "
	As he hymned, he kept his roseate hands
	Folded above his head.					(2020)

123. 	He sealed his glorious decad with his hymn
	Of benediction and stood praying;
	Again, he, the cynosure and object of praise
	Of all the glorious servitors on earth,
	Sang a decad of beauty married to melody,
	And prayed again;
	Impelled by true love he fared forth at once
	To adore the Lord of Venkaadu.				(2021)

124. 	The devotees at Tiruvenkaadu of Lord Siva
	Who is decked with Konrai blooms of golden petals,
	Agni, Ganga and the young crescent
	Came before the Prince of Sanbai of everlasting fame;
	Their overflowing love transformed them into a state
	Which they themselves could not know;
	They took him with them to their town.			(2022)

125. 	The adept of the triple Tamil, with a mind full of joy,
	Went before the First One's tower and bowed low;
	Up he rose and went round the Lord's shrine
	In the holy company of the servitors;
	Then he came to the presence of the Everlasting
	And prostrated on the floor in adoration.		(2023)

126. 	With a joyous heart, he that was fed on peerless Gnosis
	Hailed the Lord of Venkaadu, the True Ens,
	In an ineffable garland of verse beginning thus:
	"Kann kaattu nuthal..."
	He also sang of the triple tanks of the Lord
	Who destroyed the triple fortresses of the demons.	(2024)

127. 	With great reluctance he moved out of the temple;
	While he sojourned there adoring the Lord
	He visited Tirumullaivaayil and decked its Lord
	With his garland of goodly Tamil verse.
	He left the place and adored at other shrines;
	Hailed by the Brahmins, Gnaanasambandhar
	Then came back to Pukali.				(2025)

128. 	He adored the Lord of the Ark; in His presence
	He sang a decad, verily the pure touchstone of poesy;
	He stood blessed with abounding grace;
	In that divine city rich in mansions whose tops
	Pierce into the sky, he abode, d_ily adoring
	The red-haired Lord in unbounded love.			(2026)	

129. 	While so, to Mahendrapalli in the east,
	Kurukavoor bounded by fragrant groves
	And other shrines among which was also
	Tirumullaivaayil, he fared forth and hailed
	Him, the Lord who shares in His body His Consort,
	In hymns and songs.					(2027)

130. 	The Brahmin-child that had fed on true wisdom
	Visited all the surrounding shrines
	And there worshipped the golden feet of Siva;
	Hymns he sang that would help redeem them
	That dwelt on earth; thus he lived
	Praising Siva, and praised by all.			(2028)

131. 	The great psalterist Tiruneelakanta
	And his wife matangkachoolaamani,
	The mellifluous songstress of clear
	And ambrosial numbers, came to Sanbai
	With their dulcifluous 'yazh', to worship
	The feet of the divine child
	In single-minded devotion.				(2029)

132. 	Apprised of their arrival, the divine child
	Went forth to received them;
	They fell at his feet twain, very like
	Red lotus flowers buzzed by bees;
	Up they rose and hailed him in ardent love;
	They adored him with words of eternal truth;
	Thus they gained a beatitude
	In which they revelled.					(2030)

133. 	Addressing them who were steeped in boundless joy
	With a smile bright as the moon's rays, he said:
	"O you great! We are indeed possessed
	Of an eternal beatitude as you have come hither
	Rejoicing in your hear."
	He took them with him to the shrine of the Lord
	Whose throat holds the deadly venom.			(2031)

134. 	He caused them adore the Lord,
	Standing at the outer court of the temple
	And he bade them thus: "From here may you
	Strum your yaazh and sing the praise
	Of your Lord in fitting music."
	They bowed before the divine child
	Who blessed them thus; then he began to pluck
	The strings of the yaazh and she melodies.		(2032)

135. 	He quickened the frets, plucked in perfect accord
	The strings and studied close the rise and fall
	Of the music; in measured movement when he played
	And his wife sang harmoniously, a divine hymn
	On the merciful One, he that was on wisdom fed,
	Rejoiced and the Brahmins of the four Vedas marvelled.	(2033)

136. 	With the music of the yaazh, flowed fluent
	The vocal rendering of the harmonious pair
	Which in great glory wafted to the Lord of the Ark;
	The two birds--Kinnara and Mituna--, stood poised
	In mid-heaven; the masters of the sevenfold music--
	Gandharvas and Vidyataras--, showered encomia.		(2034)

137. 	When the great Paanar completed
	The melodious playing of the yaazh and singing,	
	Thus musically hailing the feet of the Lord
	Enshrined in the Ark of boundless glory,
	By the grace of the brow-eyed Lord
	The Prince of Kaazhi took them to the abode
	Arranged for their stay and feasted them
	In great splendour.					(2035)

138. 	The great Paanar who was blessed
	By the divine child, heard the servitors sing
	The truth-incarnate decades of the child
	On the Lord who wears on His matted hair
	The crescent and the Ganga; with a melting mind
	He rejoiced and grew glad as though drunk
	With lucent nectar; then he prayed ecstatically.	(2036)

139. 	The decads, sung by the scion of the Kauniya clan
	That came to be born as the fruit of the tapas
	Wrought by the residents of Kaazhi,
	In praise of the feet of the Lord
	Who ate the ocean's venom
	Were played on the yaazh by Neelakanta Yaazh-p-Paanar
	Whom the sevenfold music obeyed; thus he gladdened
	All the lives on earth.					(2037)

140. 	The great Paanar that on his yaazh played
	The divine decads of the divine child
	Who knew all the Vedas and who was
	Verily an elephant cub,
	Addressing him, said: "Be pleased to bless me
	To play on the yaazh all the divine decades
	You are to hymn in grace, hereafter;
	May I never part from your holy company;
	May I ever adore you." Thus he prayed.			(2038)

141. 	He who was graced with the consent
	Of the divine child, thought thus:
	"This is surely the Lord's own grace."
	From that day he played on his tuneful yaazh
	His divine decades which were garlands
	Of Tamil verse, and abode with him
	As on that day, without parting,
	Blessed with his friendsh_p.				(2039)

142. 	TirugnaanaSambandhar who abode at Sirapuram
	Was goaded by a great and flooding love
	To adore and hymn the Lord-Dancer
	Of celebrated Tillai; he divined this to be 
	The divine wish of the Lord; of this he informed
	His father, the saintly tapaswi.			(2040)

143. 	When the godly child thus spake to his father,
	The great patron whose tapas has gained
	For him the divine child as his son,
	Rejoiced in his mind as he was to accompany him.
	They fared forth to the Ark-Temple
	Like unto the argent and huge mountain,
	To adore its Lord clad in deer-skin;
	Hailing Him they departed with His leave.		(2041)

144. 	The Chief of Vengkuru accompanied by his father,
	The flawless Yaazh-p-Paanar,
	And devotees of fitting glory, left Pukali
	Where Brahma whose seat is the Lotus, adores,
	And set foot on the way leading to Tillai--
	The shrine of the great Lord of the celestials.		(2042)

145. 	Adoring on the way, the many shrines of the Lord
	Who dances at the dead of night,
	He passed through the spacious fields--the haunt
	Of waterfowls--, and meadows rich with the scent
	Of blooming, fragrant screw-pines
	Of white and thorny leaves,
	And reached the bank of the divine Kollidam.		(2043)

146. 	The river that in its current carried flower-bunches
	Buzzed by bees, gems and sandal-wood
	And also the wealth of the groves and gardens,
	In lowly worship washed his feet.
	The backwaters scattering away coral, chanks,
	Other gems and heaps of pearls which they had
	From the lucid billowy main carried,
	Flowed before him to receive him.
	Thus, even thus, he crossed the Kollidam.		(2044)

147. 	With the holy throng of devotees
	And the Brahmins that came with him
	Chanting the Vedas,
	With a mind that swelled in ever-increasing joy
	He beheld the bourne of Tillai;
	He was like unto them steeped in sheer delight
	That eyed the destination divine of their life's odyssey;
	For the very bourne of Tillai grants to all lives
	--From Devas, the highest, to the lowest--,
	The very wish sought by them, when they hail it;
	He that had partaken of the nectar of Wisdom
	Adored the divine borders that bound Tillai.		(2045)

148. 	When the divine child, verily an elephant-cub,
	Who was investing all the worlds with weal,
	Came towards Tillai of the Lord
	Whose mount is the red-eyed Bull,
	Birds on either side of the way piped welcome;
	The fragrant red-lotus plants folding
	Their hands-- the buds--, adored him;
	The tanks filled with blown lotuses smiled their welcome.(2046)

149. 	A flock of peacocks of soft plumage
	Joyously called;
	Suaveolent and cool southerly wafted
	A gentle gale, and him adoring, received him. 
	Bees winged the buxom air humming in joy;
	Ruddy shoots shone resplendent;
	Tender leaves swayed in the wind;
	Flowers beamed bright like visages;
	Tender twigs swayed softly in the flower-gardens.	(2047)

150. 	In the broad fields, the paddy crops beholding
	The coming of the divine child who had partaken
	Of the milk of nectarean wisdom
	From the bejewelled breasts of Himavant's daughter,
	Adored, bowing their heads, their visages made bright
	With the gold-dust of soft and minute pollen
	Wafted by the wind from fragrant flowers.		(2048)

151. 	The fragrant areca trees that grew
	Beside the fields, witnessing the auspicious arrival
	Of him that partook of Wisdom
	For the deliverance of the world,
	As if blessed with many eyes to rejoice,
	Swayed on both sides
	When the wind wafted over the cool waters
	Of the tanks rich in leaping carp.			(2049)

152. 	To receive the child that came to be born
	For the flourishing of tapas
	Which does away with soul's transmigration,
	It looked as though, the azure heavens wrought
	An exquisite canopy of blue and filmy garment
	With the dense smoke that spread
	From the sacrificial oblations which can
	Confer the beatitude of Sivahood.			(2050)

153. 	Passing the beautiful maruta realm of fields
	Where grew sweetcanes, paddy crops and green areca trees
	He came to the groves and gardens, the source of
	Buds, soft blooms, shoots, fruits and the like;
	He adored these edens; then he _eached
	The divine southern entrance of walled Tillai
	Rich in towered mansions.				(2051)

154. 	She, the Daughter of the Auric Mountain
	With her own roseate hands, had fed the godly child
	With her ambrosial breast-milk of Gnosis;
	As he, even he, was coming, the Brahmins of sacred Tillai
	Joined hands with the devotees, decked the whole city
	Fittingly, and fared forth to receive him.		(2052)

155. 	The chanting of the Vedas and the resounding
	Of auspicious instruments filled the sky;
	Rows of pots filled with cool and fragrant water
	Were placed; lamps in serried order
	Glowed everywhere;
	They stationed themselves outside the huge
	Bell-tower, chanting flawless words of benediction;
	Thus the holy and pure ones received Gnaanasambandhar
	And took him to the city.				(2053)

156. 	He crossed the southern entrance
	Of the hoary and wealthy Tillai and moved in;
	On either side, hailing voices encircled him;
	He crossed the bazaar street of abounding wealth;
	He moved on adoring the street of the hoary
	And divine mansions where the Brahmins
	Poised in the Vedic way of life, flourished;
	Thus the holy one entered into the city.		(2054)

157. 	As a great light glowed thither with cool lustre
	Wafting godly fragrance and washing away
	The specks and spots of the sky,
	As it was hallowed by the presence of the feet
	Of the Dancing-Lord of resounding anklets
	And as it was pure and unsullied,
	Like the hearts of the holy assembly of devotees,
	The divine street was a feast unto his eyes;
	The godly child by whom the world was
	To gain deliverance, fell prostrate on the ground
	Where the divine tower rose majestic.			(2055)

158. 	He moved below the lofty and many-tiered tower
	And went round the holy, golden court;
	He adored the Perambalam rising into the sky
	As though it would touch the moon;
	To reach the shrine where the Lord dances,
	Continuously hailed by the Vedas,
	He came to the entrance of Tiruvanukkan
	Dight with gems of beauty.				(2056)

159. 	With his heart abounding in spiritual fervour,
	With his pretty roseate hands folded above his head
	With his redemptive eyes rejoicing and his mind
	Melting in love, he entered the divine Tiruvanukkan Vaayil
	Where had gathered in may a row the hosts of Siva
	Whose Chief is Nandi Deva;
	Behind these rows stood adoring in due order
	The servitors, the saints and the celestials.		(2057)

160. 	He, the very shoot of punya, of sea-girt Kaazhi
	Now visibly beheld before him and adored
	The unique and divine dance of sheer bliss
	Hitherto beheld by him inwardly
	In his Siva-Consciousness of God-given
	Perambalam, the true Gnosis.
	Delight swelled in him and he began to hail
	The majesty of the Lord's feet.				(2058)

161. 	"O Lord, You have blessed me to feel in ease
	Even with my five senses, without interruption,
	In visible form, Your Bliss, that can be realised
	By the purified and flawless inner consciousness alone."
	Thus he hailed Him and His great mercy
	Of peerless munificence; he hymned His glory
	In harmonious and melodious numbers;
	He danced for joy and his eyes rained tears.		(2059)

162. 	He mentioned in his decad, first the Brahmins
	As they were endowed with the glory of rendering	
	Privileged service to the Lord of the Deluge.
	Thus the Master of Kaazhi, our Ruler, began
	The decad for the flourishing of the sevenfold music,
	With the words: "Katraangku eri yompi..."			(2060)

163. 	He completed the divinely concordant decad
	And adored Him;
	He who burst into tears and cried at the hour
	When the Lord deigned to grace him,
	Feasted his eyes on the nectarean dance of grace
	Enacted by the Lord of the celestials
	In the open space-- the ether,
	The dance that melts the bones and the soul too
	That quests after the Lord.				(2061)

164. 	He stood before the Lord unknown to Vishnu
	And Brahma, and hailed Him in garlands of verse
	All the time he was there and adored Him;
	Circumambulating the Ponnambalam,
	For ever hailed by the great and countless Vedas,
	He moved out of the shrine.				(2062)

165. 	He prostrated on the ground in the Temple's court
	Of fo_son; he adored at the divine entrances
	Where teem the celestial throngs and moved out
	To the four divine streets which confer on men
	Great tapas; these too he adored.
	Even he, the Ruler of Kaazhi, would not
	Dare abide within the shrine's limits.			(2063)

166. 	The Prince of Kazhumalam went to Tiruvetkalam
	And with folded hands adored its Lord
	Of red matted hair; he hymned Him in decades
	And sojourned there; he would visit Tillai
	From there and hail the Lord that enacts
	The divine dance in His shrine.				(2064)

167. 	He visited Tiru-k-Kazhippaalai the Lord of which
	Sports a young fawn in His hand and hailed Him
	In divine decades of incarnate truth;
	He visited Tiruvucchi where the Lord
	Of red matted hair is decked with beauteous garlands
	Of fragrant konrai and hailed Him
	In Tamil decades, rare and beautiful.			(2065)

168. 	Yaazh-p-Paanar, was blessed to play on his yaazh
	The divine decades sung by him;
	The divine child that daily adored at Tillai
	The divine dance of the Lord, marveled
	At the great beatitude of the Tillai-Brahmins
	That rendered personal service to Lord's feet
	That thither enacted the divine dance.			(2066)

169. 	As his thought hovered on their life poised
	In the glorious spiritual conduct, one day
	When he crossed Tiruvetkalam bounded
	By fragrant and melliferous' gardens, and entered
	Tiru-p-Puliyur girt with a flowery moat,
	With a heart full of soaring love.			(2067)

170. 	By the grace of the Lord of all the worlds
	All the three thousand Brahmins of beauteous Tillai
	Whose foreheads were adorned with the holy ash
	Appeared to him as the serving Gananaatas
	Of Lord Siva; this he beheld and this beatitude
	He also revealed to the great Paanar.			(2068)

171. 	The Brahmins too who were ever linked
	With the spiritual wealth, even before the divine child
	Of peerless glory, verily a lion-cub of famed Sanbai,
	Would hasten toward them and adore them,
	Adored him and moved into the beauteous
	And opulent street and came near him.			(2069)

172. 	With his swelling love made manifest
	The lion among the earthly celestials
	Folded above his head his roseate hands
	Which put to shame the beauty of red lotus,
	Glowed with greater splendour.
	Thus he moved into the divine entrance.			(2070)

173. 	With his mind melting, he adored
	The Meru-like Perambalam; then he moved
	To the presence of the Lord, the Ruby-Dancer
	That dances resplendent in His shrine
	And prostrated before the flight of steps
	Called the Tiru-k-Kalitruppadi.				(2071)

174. 	Then he sang in devotion: "Aatinaai
	Naru neiyotu paal tayir."
	Then in this decad, in one of the hymns,
	He narrated all the glories he beheld
	In the Brahmins of ever-during Tillai,
	Well-versed in the four Vedas, and praised
	Tirucchitrambalam as the shrine adored by them.		(2072)

175. 	He brought to a close the musical decad
	And revelled in the flood of bliss;
	Hailing the feet of the Lord of plaited
	And matted hair that danced before him
	He took leave of Him reluctantly, went round
	The Ponnambalam and moved out to the outer court.	(2073)

176. 	He adored at the outer court, rose up and moved out
	Endowed with grace, to the divine entrance
	Decked with beauteous bells; here too he adored 
	As he rose up, the glorious Paanar who was privileged
	To accompany him, adored his feet
	And entreated him thus: "May you be pleased
	To adore the Lord of my native place and other
	Peerless shrines situated on the bank of the Niva."
	To this the divine child signified his assent.		(2074)

177. 	He proceeded west on the way beside the bank
	Of the holy Niva of lucid and swelling waves;
	His father; the train of devotees and saintly tapaswis
	Accompanied him;
	The great Nilakanta Paanar whose skilful hands
	Held the yaazh and his wife Matangkachoolamani,
	The great woman hailed by all women,
	Also fared forth with them.				(2075)

178. 	As he crossed the vast tanks and fields
	And neared Yerukkattham Puliyur,
	The great Nilakanta Paanar adored him and said:
	"This place girt with cloud-capped gardens
	Is your servant's native place."
	The divine chil_, the abode of rare Vedas
	And Scriptures, and verily and elephant-cub,
	Reached the place in great delight.			(2076)

179. 	"O great one! Great should have been the tapas
	Wrought by this place to have caused your avatar here."
	Thus the divine child praised him.
	He entered into the shrine of that fecund place,
	Completed his sacred round and adored the Lord
	Called Tirunilakantar; then the divine child
	Born for the deliverance of the world, hymned
	Divine decades in nectarean Tamil.			(2077)

180. 	Taking leave of the Lord he fared forth to many
	Other holy shrines where the Lord is concorporate
	With the liana-like daughter of Himavant,
	Adored Him and hymned Him in gloriously
	Great garlands of Tamil; the Prince of Venkuru
	Then reached Tirumuthukunru adoring it,
	Where the Lord of the red-eyed Bull abides.		(2078)

181. 	He sang as he neared the shrine thus:
	"We will reach Muthukunru circled by Mutthaaru
	That flows rolling down heaps of great gems."
	He fittingly composed a musical decad
	In adoration of the Lord; in ardent love
	He moved into that 'Hoary Mountain' where
	From all directions great saints of tapas
	And Devas throng to adore the Lord's roseate feet.	(2079)

182. 	To worship the Lord of Tirumuthukunru,
	The Lord of Devas, as he made the sacred round,
	He hymned in pure and holy words of Tamil 
	A decad of Tiruvirukku-k-Kural,
	Entered the shrine and in soaring love prostrated
	At the feet of the Lord, the Wearer
	Of cool and honey-laden konrai garlands.		(2080)

183. 	He rose up and sang before the divine presence
	The refreshingly cool decad of Tamil, beginning
	With the words: "Murasu atirntu ezhum ..."
	He came out of the shrine; in that town
	Of abundance, he sojourned; during these days
	He composed divine garlands of hymns in which
	The Mutthaaru of cool and clear water
	That circled the shrine was also celebrated.		(2081)

184. 	He adored the Lord and took leave of Him;
	He came to Pennaakatam and went round
	The sacred shrine of Tirutthoongkaanai Maadam
	Where for ever resound the soaring Vedas
	And where the Lord, the Unique Ethereal Flame
	Willingly abides; he prostrated before Him
	And sang the celebrated musical garland
	Of Tamil hymns which commanded men thus:
	"From evil be freed; adore Him."			(2082)

185. 	Having adored the Lord ever adored by devotees
	Who have transcended transmigration,
	He gladly took leave of Him,
	And with him whose great tapas caused his birth,
	He hied towards Tiruvaratthurai saying thus:
	"Tiruvaratthurai serthum."				(2083)

186. 	The divine child who at times, in the past,
	Used to travel seated on the shoulders
	Of his father, now avoided it;
	In great love he walked ahead, closely
	Followed by the Brahmins and his father.		(2084)

187. 	As he, in love, hastened towards
	The Primordial One's Tiruvaratthurai
	The lotus-feet of Sambandhar began
	To pain gradually; his father too was pained.		(2085)

188. 	He was like an incarnation of all the Vedas;
	He was like a full moon come to the earth;
	To adore the Lord of Tiruvaratthurai
	Who wears in His crest the Ganges
	The billows of which waft into its fords,
	He proceeded in all haste.				(2086)

189. 	Though he was absolutely freed from desires,
	Here on this earth he was wholly attached
	To Lord Sankara; the divine child whose form
	Was that of pure light, ever and anon,
	Adored the Lord and moved on.				(2087)

190. 	He was the great Ruby of the Vedas who made
	His avatar to dispel the murk of this earth;
	He prostrated at the hallowed feet of the Father,
	The ambrosial Lord of red matted hair,
	Rose up and moved on.					(2088)

191. 	As they neared the town Maaranpaadi
	By reason of the travel on foot
	His train of devotees felt fatigued;
	The divine child chanting the mystic pentad
	Reached the place (in ease).				(2089)

192. 	As if scared of the fatigue caused by heat
	Which was suffered by the devotees who came
	With Sambandhar, the Redeemer of the world,
	The sun withdrawing his myriad rays
	Sank in the western main.				(2090)

193. 	Hailed by the devotees who were with him,
	He who for ever medi_ates on the feet
	Of the Lord-Rider of the Bull,
	Spent the night in that town;
	Great saints of victorious tapas
	Companied with him.					(2091)

194. 	While so, the river-crested Lord of Tiruvaratthurai
	In whose fords the teeming swans play,
	Deigned to cure the fatigue of the Prince
	Of Poontharaai who was foot sore.			(2092)

195. 	A palanquin to ride, a parasol to cover his head,
	Beauteous golden trumpets to proclaim his advent,
	All decked with precious pearls: these, the Lord
	Who is pleased to grant deliverance
	Through the holy ash, deigned to confer on him.		(2093)

196. 	In a dream that night the Lord whose roseate feet
	Are for ever the quest of the Vedas,
	Appeared to the Brahmins that dwelt
	In the huge mansions of ever-during Tirunelvaayil.	(2094)

197. 	The Lord bade them thus: "Unto Us
	Comes Gnaanasambandhan; to him
	The Prince of rare scriptures, give the great
	Litter decked with pearls, the beauteous parasol
	And the trumpets, receiving them from Us."		(2095)

198. 	When thus bidden, the Brahmins at once
	Gathered and gladly shared the dream with each other;
	Struck with wonder they reached Tiruvaratthurai
	Of rich and splendid waters,
	Whose Lord wears the crescent in His crest.		(2096)

199. 	The servitors in the temple had also been graced
	Similarly by the Lord; they said: "What wonder is this?"
	When the Brahmins gathered there, to them
	They narrated the happening.				(2097)

200. 	Very great indeed was the marvel they felt;
	It was time for the early morning service;
	So the devotees ever-poised in love and piety,
	Unbarred the doors of the temple.			(2098)

201. 	A great white umbrella decked with pearls
	Like unto the moist moon,
	A holy palanquin and peerless trumpets
	That would resound with soaring notes
	They beheld there, by the grace of the Merciful One.	(2099)

202. 	Witnessing them they folded their hands
	Above their heads and said: "These are verily
	The lamps for all the eight cardinal points."
	The servitors and the Brahmins circumambulated them,
	Prostrated before them, rose up, and in joy raised
	A foudroyant shout that pierced the celestial world.	(2100)

203. 	With shells, tuntupis, trumpets, drums
	And other orchestral instruments resounding
	In swelling harmony, they carried with them, by the grace
	Of the Lord, the litter, the parasol and the trumpets;
	With joy welling up in them, they fared forth
	To receive the godly child.				(2101)

204. 	By the nectarean grace of the Lord,
	The flawless and truthful Brahmins
	Of Nelvaayil, bore the lustrous litter and other
	Divine gifts to the presence of the flawless
	And glorious Ruler of Sanbai.				(2102)

205. 	Thus they proceeded from Nelvaayil;
	(There in Maaran Paadi), during the pridian night,
	The Lord was pleased to inform the Lord of Sanbai
	That a litter inlaid with the purest of pearls
	And other gifts would be granted to him.		(2103)

206. 	The Lord Patron of Aratthurai which is
	Girt with miry and watery fields, graced
	The divine child in a dream thus:
	"It will befit you to receive what
	We grant you in grace and joy."
	Thus blessed, the divine child woke up.			(2104)

207. 	The Chief of Sanbai narrated the true beatitude
	Of his dream to his noble father and the devotees
	Who were seated close by; even before he could
	Hail the grace of the Lord, the thick murk
	That had mantled the earth, scattered away
	Revealing the lucid heavens.				(2105)

208. 	The night ended and when it dawned
	The godly child did his matutinal hierurgy;
	He wore on his beauteous person the bright
	And white stripes of the holy ash; he folded
	His flower-hands above his head and sat
	In that posture chanting the Panchaakshara.		(2106)

209. 	As if to behold and adore the holy child
	Of illumined wisdom hailing from Pukali
	Borne in his pearly palanquin, the sun came
	Riding his car over the black eastern main.		(2107)

210. 	Then came the Brahmins with the true devotees
	Chanting "Hara, Hara" and bearing the hallowed
	Palanquin of pearls, the resplendent parasol
	And the tuntupis, before the child divine.		(2108)

211. 	The Brahmins an_ the great tapaswis that came there,
	Stood before the Prince of goodly Kaazhi
	Girt with fragrant groves and gardens, and said:
	"Be pleased to received these which are
	The incarnate grace of Aratthurai's Primordial Lord
	Of infinite glory."					(2109)

212. 	They narrated to him all that happened
	By the grace of the Lord and adored him
	Standing in his presence; he thought thus:
	"These are by the grace of the Lord-Dancer."
	The godly child adored Him.				(2110)

213. 	"The Lord blesses one with the beatitude
	Of ever thinking on Him, should one
	Hold fast to truth in steadfast love;
	He has honoured us with the gift
	Of a pearly palanquin; to rule us as His servitor
	Behold the boon here, He has blessed us with."		(2111)

214. 	His decad began with the words: "Entai Eesan . . ."
	The divine music of his decad bred by divine thinking
	Filled his mind-heart, and he stood hymning
	Before the divine gifts of the Lord, thus:
	"The way of the Lord's grace is so, even so."		(2112)

215. 	This is the mercy of the perfect One
	Of Aratthurai, the Wearer of the holy ash."
	Thus he hymned his peerless garland of verse,
	Prayed for a long time and completed his decad.		(2113)

216. 	He circumambulated the litter
	Decked with lustrous pearls, and prostrated before it;
	He hailed its white lustre as that of the holy ash,
	As he received it by the grace of the Primordial One,
	Chanting the Panchaakshara he moved into it
	That all the worlds might stand redeemed.		(2114)

217. 	Devotees made a joyous uproar; the Vedas resounded;
	The hoary Devas shouted for joy; clouds rumbled
	And the earth reverberated; drums resounded;
	The heavens showered flowers laden with bees.		(2115)

218. 	Chanks blew, so too trumpets; the divisions
	Of the Vedas chanted aloud; his kin roared for joy;
	The mercy of the Lord who is the life of all lives
	Held in its grip all the souls; the white parasol
	Decked with lustrous pearls, fluttered
	When it was held aloft.					(2116)

219. 	The Ruler of Pukali bright with his holy ash
	Rode in the pearly litter dazzling with white rays;
	It was like the rising of the growing moon from the sea
	Of milk whence chanks are thrown up
	By the beauteous rows of billows.			(2117)

220. 	The great servitors, Brahmins and others came
	Thronging, their hearts swelling in joy;
	They held their flower-hands above their heads
	And danced in ecstasy; they verily bathed
	In the tears that welled up from their eyes,
	Where unending bliss had its confluence.		(2118)

221. 	The peerless trumpet decked with ruddy gold
	And white, beauteous pearls, which he received
	From Siva, the Lord of the Gospels great,
	Sounded its proclamation thus: 'Behold the advent
	Of Gnaanasambandhan, come to redeem
	The seven worlds, the Vedas and the perfect tapaswis."	(2119)

222. 	Amidst the growing chanting of the great Vedas,
	The divine trumpet gifted by Siva, who burnt
	The triple cities of the sinners,
	Made thus its announcement: "Lo and behold!
	He, even he, is come, the one that was fed
	With the breast-milk of Gnosis by Her who is all!
	The one whose lips smell of sweet milk!"		(2120)

223. 	He was borne on the litter and a crowed
	Of true and saintly tapaswis went with him;
	Before him the trumpet inlaid with accordant pearls
	Of exquisite lustre, was sounded;
	They proclaimed his coming thus: "He who has
	Mastered, untaught, the great Vedas
	And all scriptures, is come! He, the Adept
	Of Tamil threefold, is come!"				(2121)

224. 	For the thriving of the scriptures of clarity
	And for the quelling of darkness
	In the minds of men on earth,
	The Authour of the Gospels that could be indited,
	Arrived at Tiruvaratthurai whose merciful Lord
	Grants wealth, wisdom and joy to those
	Who hail him with the words: "Praise be!"		(2122)

225. 	He descended from the pearly litter when he sighted
	The beauteous and huge temple-tower
	Even from at a distance; he prostrated there
	And then rose up; with spiralling ardour
	And joy of his mind preceding him,
	He reached the temple of the Lord who wears
	On His crest the crepuscular crescent.			(2123)

22_. 	He went round the ever-during temple
	And came to the presence of the Lord;
	He folded his hands above his head and prostrated,
	Revelling in love and devotion.
	"O the golden lotus feet of the Lord which deem
	Even me of some worth! Praise be!"
	He prayed thus and rose up.				(2124)

227. 	He folded his lotus-hands above his head
	And he bathed his divine body with the tears
	Which were showered by his eyes;
	He sang the divine decad of the sevenfold music
	To cause the flow of the great and divine mercy
	Of the Lord who willingly abides at Aratthurai.		(2125)

228. 	He so hymned that the music thereof glowed
	In natural splendour; blessed with the grace of the Lord
	On whose crest the Ganga flows, he moved out;
	He who was the recipient of the divine grace
	Which illumined the directions, sojourned
	In that town with the glorious and steadfast servitors.	(2126)

229. 	As he thus sojourned in Tiruvaratthurai
	Of the Lord of the celestials, adoring Him,
	He visited Tirunelvennai and other shrines
	With the devotees and hailed the Lord there;
	Blessed with the Lord's grace and the holy company
	Of the servitors of the various shrines,
	The Lord of Sanbai returned to Tiruvaratthurai.		(2127)

230. 	The Lord whose throat holds the poison and who is
	Enshrined in the divine Ark
	And His Consort, now filled his entire heart;
	This was palpably felt in his consciousness;
	He therefore desired with all his mind to leave
	For Pukali made fecund by its wealth of water.		(2128)

231. 	He adored the great Lord of Tiruvaratthurai,
	Took leave of Him by His great grace
	And wearing as it were on his crown
	The beauteous feet of the Lord-Dancer
	Which filled his whole being
	He entered the pearly palanquin which glowed
	Like the white rays of the moon.			(2129)

232. 	The inlaid pearls of the litter cast a growing light
	In all the directions; the white, cool and moon-like
	Lustre of the pearls from the uplifted parasol
	Merged with the sun's rays in the sky;
	The Brahmins folding their hands above their heads
	Danced uproariously;
	Thus fared forth the godly child who made
	His avatar to guard the world seeking no recompense.	(2130)

233. 	The Vedas chanted; the munificent scriptures
	Of Tamil resounded; the trumpets blared;
	The chanks blew, the bugles taratantaraed;
	Many other instruments also resounded;
	Above these rose the adoring praises of the devotees.	(2131)

234. 	With white streamers, canopies decorated
	With soft cloth, long and extensive pandal,
	Festoons of areca and banana trees and leaves,
	Dangling garlands, rows of pots filled
	With holy water and rows of blazing lamps,
	The residents of the places visited by the godly child
	Decked the streets on both sides.			(2132)

235. 	In all places where he was thus received
	He visited the shrines, the Lord of which
	Ends the transmigration caused by Karma,
	Hymned his munificent decades of Tamil, 
	And adored the feet of the Lord; eventually
	He came to Pazhuvoor the great, where the Lord
	Who peeled off the hide of the tusker whose trunk
	Was long like that of a palm tree,
	Willingly abode in joy.					(2133)

236. 	He adored the temple's tower of great beauty
	Whose Lord wears a crescent in His crest,
	Made his sacred round of the huge
	And tall Vimaana, came before Him,
	Prostrated at His divine and lotus-feet and hymned.	(2134)

237. 	In his divine decad of glorious music
	He hailed the Lord and also celebrated
	The numberless and glorious services
	Rendered to the Lord by the Malayala-Brahmins
	Who shone resplendent on earth, adoring the Lord
	And dedicating themselves to Him.			(2135)

238. 	Having sung the harmonious numbers, he left
	The shrine for the greatly divine Vijayamangkai--
	The abode of the Lord who ate the poison
	That the three worlds might flourish redeemed--,
	To hail it, with all the devotees.			(2136)

239. 	He made the sacred circuit of the Merciful One's shrine
	At Vijayamangkai where Brahmins abode,
	And bowed; he came before the Lord and hailed Him
	In his ever-during garland of Tamil chaste;
	In that decad he praised the worship
	Thither o_fered by the kine and Kaamadenu.		(2137)

240. 	He left Vijayamangkai and reached
	The ever-during Vaikaa and hymned
	The feet of Him who is TRUTH; thence, Gnaanasambandhar,
	The fosterer of music, came to Tiru-p-Purampayam
	Whose Lord has for His clothing the very directions.	(2138)

241. 	He adored the Lord of Tiru-p-Purampayam
	In a decad of divine Tamil surcharged
	With Neermai wrought of Tiram; his Isai
	Was laden with Niram; the godly child,
	The Conferrer of pious Dharma sojourned there.		(2139)

242. 	He adored at the divine shrine and moved on,
	Hailing the many shrines of the Lord
	Who sports the fire in His hand; he, the Master
	Of the threefold Tamil then arrived at Seignaloor
	In whose fields chanks breed pearls.			(2140)

243. 	When the Prince of divine Pukali came
	The rare Brahmins of Seignaloor had their town
	Decorated in splendour; drummers drummed auspiciously
	And the Brahmins chanted the great Vedas.
	They came before the godly child to receive him duly.	(2141)

244. 	Gnaanasambandhar knew the town to be the place
	Of the avatar of the divine child Chandesa
	Who was privilege to wear on his crown the garland
	Of konrai worn by the Lord on His matted hair;
	So he stepped out of the pearly palanquin,
	Adored the adoring Brahmins and moved on.		(2142)

245. 	The great Brahmins adored him; danced for joy
	And made jubilant uproar deeming the arrival
	Of the godly child of munificent Pukali
	To be the second-coming of their Chandesa--
	The divine child--, to their lovely town.		(2143)

246. 	Delighted, they sprinkled the holy and fragrant water
	From their kamandalas; they scattered flowers
	And puffed rice; their eyes were with tears suffused;
	Thus they fared forth to the temple of the Lord,
	The Grantor of a thousand Vedas,
	Leading the divine child.				(2144)

247. 	The Prince of Vengkuru in swelling joy
	Circumambulated the splendorous shrine;
	Holding his roseate hands above his head
	He moved into the presence of the Merciful One
	And prostrated before Him.				(2145)

248. 	In loving devotion he adored the feet of the Pure One
	Of Seignaloor where abide the Brahmins;
	He hailed and hymned the mercy of the Lord
	Who conferred the beatitude of His Sonship
	On Chandesa who cut away his father's feet,
	An evil deed fraught with blame indeed.			(2146)

249. 	He hailed the Lord in his boon-conferring 
	And musical decad, and sojourned in that town
	As desired by its residents; then he left
	For Tiruppanandaal whose Lord wears in His matted hair
	The pigngnaka, and adored His feet.			(2147)

250. 	After adoring the Lord with His beauteous garlands
	Of Tamil words, he came to the nearby shrine
	Pantanainalloor and humbly hailed its Lord;
	Then he reached Omaampuliyur where abide
	The holy Brahmins, poised in the great Vedic way,
	Which chases all evil away.				(2148)

251. 	He adored the feet of the Wondrous One
	Enshrined in Vadathali in that goodly town
	And hailed Him in blooming garlands
	Of splendorous Tamil; taking leave of Him
	He reached the golden town of Vaazhkoliputthoor
	Girt with fort-like walls.				(2149)

252. 	He entered the glorious temple, went round
	The shrine and adored the feet of the Lord
	Whose throat is blue; beholding Him, he hymned
	His decades hailed by the world; then the godly son
	Came to Katampoor rich in glory, hailed
	The Lord and thus flourished.				(2150)

253. 	Desiring to worship the Lord of goodly Naaraiyoor
	He came there borne by love; our lord, the Chief
	Of the Kauniyas stood before Him, and hailed Him
	In fragrant and blooming chaplets of chaste Tamil.	(2151)

254. 	As he sojourned there in true and abiding love
	He adored the Lord of that shrine, hymning Him
	In his rare decades of Tamil; he also visited
	Many a shrine of Hara and adored him;
	Then he came to Karuppariyalur, the jewel
	Of whose Lord is a snake of poisonous sacs.		(2152)

255. 	The godly child of Sirapuram adored
	The Supreme One of Tiru-k-Karuppariyalur
	And hymned him in decades of goodly Tamil;
	He also adored at the nearby shrines where
	The celestials worship the Lord, and sang his psalm_.	(2153)

256. 	When the munificent one that made his avatar
	As a fruit of the tapas wrought by the world,
	Adored these shrines and moved onward,
	Innumerable drums were sounded; Chanks were blown,
	Trumpets and bugles blared.
	Thus he travelled in the Chola country rich
	In fields where flourish soft sugarcanes
	Of mellowing nodes, paddy crops laden with sheaves
	Of corn, banana trees and areca trees;
	As he neared the divine Bhiramaapuram
	Where his Lord who on His crest sports
	The lucid crescent, abides.				(2154)

257. 	The Brahmins of opulent Bhiramaapuram
	Who heard of the coming of the godly child,
	With growing love soaring loftily in their hearts,
	Adored the feet of the Lord of the Ark
	Who is concorporate with Uma,
	And in great joy set about adorning the streets
	Where the innumerable Vedas were for ever chanted,
	With makara taranas, severed plantain trees
	And bunches of areca;
	Pots filled with pellucid water and lamps
	Were placed in rows; they burnt incense
	And hoisted aloft many a streamer;
	Thus they decked the town to receive him.		(2155)

258. 	They chanted the sweet Vedas in a crescendo;
	They carried in their hands jars and pots
	Filled with fragrant and holy water
	And decked with peepal leaves and kusa grass;
	They scattered fresh flowers, fragrant gold-dust
	And puffed rice; thus they proceeded, and beheld
	In the pearly and beauteous palanquin over which
	The parasol wrought of choice pearls was held aloft,
	The godly child who was fed with the breast-milk
	Of the divine Goddess of exquisite breast-band.		(2156)

259. 	When they beheld the divine child, they raised
	Their hands above their heads and folded them;
	Delighted were their eyes and minds alike;
	In soaring love the servitors and the Brahmins
	Encircled them; with the uproar of their ineffable joy
	They filled the eight directions; they threw up
	Their upper garments which mantled the sky;
	The lord of ever-growing glory and munificent Tamil
	Stepped out of the litter, paid obeisance
	To them, joined them and joyously moved in.		(2157)

260.	He reached the street over the beauteous mansions
	Of which the moon rests like a jewel;
	Chaste women of the divine Vedic lineage
	Stood on both sides and sang auspicious hymns;
	He came near the temple of the Lord of the celestials,
	Adored its golden tower, made his sacred round
	And entered the shrine of the Ark where are 
	Enshrined the Lord and His Consort;
	He who was blessed with the divine cymbals
	Prostrated before Them, rose up and hymned
	The Tamil Vedas, standing.				(2158)

261. 	He sang the divinely musical decad
	Hailing the Lord's glory; he praised
	The nature of the divine grace,
	Of the supreme and ever-extending mercy;
	With tear-bedewed flower-eyes, folding his hands,
	He prostrated, rose up and moved out.
	As thus the godly child poised in the Vedic Truth
	Moved out, Tirunilakanta Yazh-p-Paanar
	Followed him; into his house of foison
	He gave him leave to enter, then moved onward
	And came to his divine mansion.				(2159)

262. 	Even as the Brahmins offered obeisance to his feet,
	The divine child with his father close by,
	Entered his mansion; the righteous women
	Of the Brahmin clan holding pots filled with
	Holy water, lamps and the like, received him;
	The divine mother who gave birth to him came
	Before him with the sacred vessel of holy ash,
	Adorned him therewith, paid obeisance to him
	And praised him; he who was blessed by the Lord
	With a beauteous palanquin inlaid with pearls,
	Duly graced them all and moved into the matam.		(2160)

263. 	As he abode in his great and opulent mansion,
	He daily went to the Lord's shrine of the sacred Ark,
	Prostrated before Him and sang many a fitting decad;
	As he thus joyously abode, hailing the Lord,
	He reached the parva when he was to be invested
	With the sacred thread; he who was blessed
	With Sivagnaanam--the Transcendental Gnosis--,
	Had the hoary Vedic rituals of the investiture
	Performed for him by the Brahmins;
	He bore on his person the sacred thread knit to a piece
	Of deer-skin, hailed by the celestials.			(21_1)

264. 	Unto him who was not to be involved
	In any birth at all, the Brahmin-saints
	In unison with the way of the world, performed
	The investiture betokening the second birth;
	Standing before him, chanting mantras,
	They said: "Om! In keeping with the hoary tradition
	We hereby grant you all the four Vedas!"
	The holy one of Pukali, in his sweet voice,
	Chanted to them the numerous and holy Vedas.		(2162)

265. 	When the godly child thus chanted
	The numerous Vedas and also explicated
	The six Angas thereof, the Brahmins
	Thought of the loftiness of him who was 
	Blessed with the divine grace of the Lord--
	The Supernal Flame whose brilliance
	Is like that of the combined blaze of billions
	And billions of young suns--; the Brahmins
	Endowed with the artful mastery of the Vedas,
	Struck with wonder, hailed him in love;
	They deemed the scion of the Kauniyas to be
	The visible manifestation of their very meditation
	And worshipped him; they had all their doubts
	Pertaining to the great Vedas, resolved by him,
	And thus they flourished.				(2163)

266. 	He expounded to them, all the Vedic mantra and also
	Cleared the doubts which clung to their minds
	About the rituals ordained by the Vedas;
	Then to bless the great Brahmins with clarity
	He taught them that the source whence sprang
	All the primal and foremost mantras, was
	The First One's Panchaakshara; then he hymned
	The divine decad of Panchaakshara which says:
	"The mantra chanted at the confluence of the day
	And the night is only the holy Panchaakshara!"		(2164)

267. 	When thus the divine child graced them,
	The Brahmins, as it were, wore it
	On their crowns, hailed him and were
	Immersed in joy; then the godly child
	Proceeded to the Lord's sacred Ark, adored Him,
	Hymned Him in musical decades of Truth,
	And enshrining in his mind the fragrant
	Flower-feet of the Lord, moved out.
	He companied with the devotees and spent his days
	Hailing the feet of the Supernal Lord.			(2165)

268. 	While so hearing of the glories
	Of Gnaanasambandhar--the Master of Tamil great--,
	Who was fed with the milk of infinite wisdom
	From a golden goblet by the Goddess
	Whose soft fingers sport with a ball
	And who came with the Supreme Lord
	Riding the mount, the galloping Bull--,
	Naavukkarasar came to Poontharaai where dwell
	The Brahmins, to adore him.				(2166)

269. 	Hearing that the great and wondrous Sovereign of Speech
	Had come, the great one of Pukali girt with tanks,
	Abounding in fragrant flowers, deemed this to be 
	The boon yielded by his meritorious acts in the past,
	Joined the devotees and moved onward impelled
	By a great love to receive him.				(2167)

270. 	Ceaseless love gushed from his chinta;
	A gentle trembling marked his sacred person;
	Even the single garment that clothed him, was
	Supervacaneous to his state of renunciation;
	His eyes for ever showered tears;
	His form glowed with the holy ash:
	It was in this blessed and sempiternal form
	The King of servitors was seen coming before them.	(2168)

271. 	When the scion of the Kauniya clan beheld him
	He adored him thinking that he was blessed
	With the visible manifestation of the divine form
	Of servitorship, the source of true love
	That swells and pervades the entire thinking faculty;
	He came to him, hailed by the celestials;
	The King of servitors also adore the divine child
	And spake to him in spiraling ardour,
	With nectarean words full of grace.			(2169)

272. 	The godly child took with him Naavukkarasar
	Of vast glory, and entered the golden shrine of the Lord
	Of sacred Ark whose mount is a martial Bull;
	He adored the Lord with him whose ardent love
	And devotion grew the more; then with the ever-glorious
	Servitor he reached his beauteous mansion.		(2170)

273. 	To the gathered devotees and Arasu ruled by the Lord
	He had peerless food prepared; in love
	And due propriety he feasted them;
	By their meeting, their growing love and friendship
	Grew the more; in love they adored the Lord;
	They decked Him with garlands of verse in whose
	Letter and spirit the Lord's presence could be felt_
	Thus they abode together in delight great.		(2171)

274. 	Thus passed a few days; Tirunavukkarasar
	Who was blessed with the Lord's grace,
	Desiring to adore the Lord of fulgurant hair
	In His various shrines, secured the leave
	Of the Chief of Pukali, the wearer of the triple
	Sacred thread on his golden chest, adored him
	With the thought that he should later rejoin him
	And parted from him, though his friendship
	For him knew no parting.				(2172)

275. 	When the unique Sovereign of Speech departed,
	With his divine heart ever cherishing him
	The godly child returned to Pukali girt
	With fields rich in incense-breathing flowers;
	He hailed the Lord enshrined in the divine Ark--
	The very form of the great and swelling Vedas--,
	In Tamil garlands of rhythmic tookkus,
	Adored Him and abode thither.				(2173)

276. 	With the garlands of chaste Tamil wrought of poems
	In Vikarpam, the decad of Mozhi-maatru,
	The palindromic decad of Maalai-maatru,
	The decad of Vazhi-mozhi-th-Tiruviraakam,
	Iterative and reiterative decades
	Of Yamakam and Ekapaatam,
	The decad of Irukku-k-kural in dulcet Tamil
	The hymn of Tiruvezhukootrirukkai on the Father
	And the decades of Eerati and Eerati-mel-vaippu
	He adorned the Lord.					(2174)

277. 	The decad of Naalati-mel-vaippu,
	The decades of Eraakam moving in swift 
	And lofty metre, and the sublime decades
	Of Chakkaram and many others: Gnaanasambandhar
	Hymned these as the ideal and pioneer-literature
	Packed completely with the principles of prosody,
	On the Lord of Seerkaazhi, the Supreme One
	Of the universe.					(2175)

278. 	All the decades of sweet music sung thus by him
	Were played on the yaazh by the great Paanar
	And were also simultaneously sung
	By Matangka Choolamani, an embodiment
	Of harmonious and nectarean music;
	They did so pursuing the sevenfold way of music;
	He who was blessed with the holy cymbals
	Wrought of gold, sang the decades, hailed the Lord
	And abode at Pukali.					(2176)

279. 	As he thus abode there he was pleased
	To inform his father and the saints of tapas thus:
	"In this rare Tamil Naadu I am to make
	A pilgrimage to all the holy shrines of the Lord
	Who wears a crescent on His matted hair, adore
	And hail Him in garlands of Tamil verse,
	And then return here."					(2177)

280. 	The father of the noble family who gave birth
	To the godly child eyed him in great love,
	And said, "I am your father by reason
	Of my rare askesis, and cannot suffer your separation;
	I must also perform yagas which, confer happiness
	In this life here and hereafter, therefore will I
	Be companied with you for a few days
	With your leave."					(2178)

281. 	To this the great one consented; he adored prostrating
	At the feet of the Lord of long, matted hair
	Enshrined in the auric and beauteous Ark
	And blessed with His everlasting grace he moved out;
	His father followed him; Yaazh-p-Paanar went
	Along with him; adoring Kaazhi, beauteous to behold,
	In love, he departed therefrom.				(2179)

282. 	Of the residents of the hoary and opulent town
	The true tapaswis went with him
	While the Brahmins returned reluctantly;
	He rode the pearly palanquin over which
	Was held aloft the parasol, white and pearly.
	Decked with rows of pearls in serried order,
	It shone bright like the full moon.			(2180)

283. 	Cinnam the unique Kaalam and Taarai
	Were sounded to announce his advent thus:
	"Lo and behold! The great one of Sirapuram is coming!"
	Proclaiming his varied and holy names
	The sacred instruments were sounded;
	Before him and in the sides they beat the drums
	And played many an instrument; divine servitors
	That came to receive him, adored him.			(2181)

284. 	Conches blew, bright and beauteous kompoos roared;
	Auspicious words filled the air everywhere;
	Vedas chanted ahead of them all;
	Thus the Kauniya-chief of Pukali fared forth
	To adore in swelling love, at the sacred shrines
	Of the Lord who is bedecked with the crescent
	And the serpent.					(2182)

285. 	The Ruler of Sanbai abounding in the Vedas, came
	In great love to Lord Siva's Tiru-k-Kannaar Koyil
	And _dored Him, singing Hi glory in divine decads;
	He visited the other temples of the Lord who is decked
	With Pigngnakam, and in melting love thither adored,
	Hailing the Lord in lofty garlands of Tamil verse;
	Then he fared forth on the northern bank
	Of the Ponni westward.					(2183)

286. 	In soaring love he reached the shrine
	At Pull-irukkum-tiru-Velur of the Lord
	Whose mighty shoulders are four and whose eyes
	Are three, and in abounding love, adored Him;
	He hailed the Lord with beauteous hymns,
	Celebrating therein the worship and pooja
	Thither performed by the two kings of birds.		(2184)

287. 	At everlasting Tiruninriyoor he hailed
	The glorious feet of the Pure One in abounding love
	And adored Him in boon-conferring decades of Tamil;
	He then adored at Needoor of abiding glory the Lord;
	Thence he came to Tiru-p-pungkoor where he hailed
	The dancing Feet, sang rare hymns of Tamil
	And sojourned.						(2185)

288. 	From there he proceeded to all the shrines
	Where Lord Hara abides in joy, and worshipped thither
	Hymning the glories of the Lord; then he came
	To Pazhamanni-p-Patikkarai where is enshrined
	The Consort of Himavant's Daughter, adored Him
	In ever-during garlands of Tamil verse;
	He then reached the shrine of Tirukkurukkai.		(2186)

289. 	He sojourned at the town of Tirukkurukkai
	And hailed the Lord whose bow is a mountain,
	And who is enshrined in Tiruveerattaanam;
	He came to Anniyoor and adored its Lord;
	Then at Panthanainalloor he adored Him who, of yore,
	Tore off the hide of the hill-like tusker;
	The expounder of the Vedas in Tamil
	Sang in love, hymns to the Lord.			(2187)

290. 	He hailed the shrine and came to Tirumananjeri
	With the servitors of peerless glory
	Adored the Lord and hymned Him;
	He reached Ethirkolpaadi, the shrine of the Lord--,
	The Grantor of everything--, hymned peerless decades
	And reached the lofty town of Velvikkudi.		(2188)

291. 	He sang in garlands of cool Tamil verse
	Of the theophany of the Lord in His glorious form
	Of the Bridegroom--the form in which He is
	Enshrined at fertile Tiruvelvikkudi--,
	Which he was blessed to witness during day
	At the holy shrine of Turutthi endowed with the wealth
	Of unfailing Ponni, and of His abiding
	At Velvikkudi during night; then he reached
	Kodikaa of the Lord who wears a shoot-like
	White crescent on His head.				(2189)

292. 	He adored and hymned in garlands of verse
	The Lord of Tiru-k-Kodikaa the Crest-jewel
	Of the celestials and the Wearer of erukku and konrai,
	The serpent and also the tusk of the white cosmic boar,
	And left for Kanjanoor sought by them that desire
	To end their countless births, to adore Him thither.	(2190)

293. 	He beheld the Sovereign-Lord of Kanjanoor,
	Adored Him and came to Maanthurai
	Girt with cloud-capped, fort-like walls;
	In the presence of devotees,
	He adored the Lord and adorned Him
	With a beauteous garland of hymns; then he came
	To Tirumangkalakkudi where the Lord-Brahmin
	Of ruddy matted hair abides for ever.			(2191)

294. 	He adored the Lord that rides the fierce-eyed Bull
	At Viyaloor and with an ever-during garland
	Of sweet Tamil hymnal music adorned Him.
	The Lord graced him with a darshan
	Of His divine manifested form; he hailed Him;
	Then he came to Tirunthudevankudi where
	Abides the Lord inaccessible to the red-eyes Vishnu.	(2192)

295. 	He reached the shrine of Tirunthudevankudi
	Where Lord Siva for ever abides; he entered it
	In abounding love, praised the Lord and adored Him;
	He that had partaken of the Gnosis, boundless and nectarean,
	Wove a garland of rare Tamil verse which says:
	"The Lord's form is both Medicine and Mantra."		(2193)

296. 	He left the hoary town rich in flower-gardens
	And marched through fields of paddy and sugarcane
	And groves of coconut and green areca trees;
	He adored the blue-throated Lord in all shrines
	In that region; thus Gnaanasambandhar
	Fared forth and arrived at the shrine of Innambar.	(2194)

297. 	He adored the sempiternal Lord of Innambar
	And adorned Him with a garland of Tamil verse
	Set in the pattern of Idai-Madak_u;
	Hailing His golden feet, he moved out and came
	To North Kurangkaaduthurai which is
	Situate on the ever-during bank of the Ponni.		(2195)

298. 	In his divine decad he explicitly celebrated
	Vaali's pooja and surrender to the Lord;
	Then he circumambulated the shrine,
	Adored the Lord and moved out to other shrines
	And worshipped the Lord thither; then he came
	To the holy town Pazhanam where the Lord who holds
	The trident as His weapon, abides.			(2196)

299. 	He entered the shrine at Tiru-p-Pazhanam where
	The triple-eyed Supreme One abides, and adored Him;
	With a mind melting in love he sang a decad
	Of hymns and willingly sojourned there;
	Then he left the town for Tiruvaiyaaru
	Rich in tanks whose lotuses put the very fire to shame.	(2197)

300. 	The holy devotees of Tiruvaiyaaru
	Rich in beauteous streets dight with mansions,
	Feeling happy that the Pukali-born redeemer of the world,
	The partaker of Gnosis, was coming, bedecked
	The hoary and beauteous town where never cease
	Singing and dancing; they proceeded to receive him
	With joy-filled hearts; (this witnessing), he stepped
	Out of his pearly palanquin.				(2198)

301. 	Encircled by the welcoming devotees, he first adored
	The holy town of the Lord whose hand sports a fawn
	And who graced Nandi; as he reached it
	He sang thus: "Aiyaaru is the shrine whose Lord says:
	'Fear not' even when the five senses are utterly confounded."
	The Prince of Pukali hailed and hymned Him
	In rhythmic and splendorous Tamil which gushed forth
	From his mind-heart.					(2199)

302. 	He passed on foot the beauteous streets and reached
	The tall, ornamental tower of the ever-during Temple
	Of the Lord unknowable to Brahma and Vishnu,
	Adored it, moved in, and in boundless love
	That welled up ceaselessly in his mind,
	He circumambulated the Lord's shrine
	And bowed low; then he came before the Lord
	Whose jewels are snakes, prostrated before Him,
	Rose up and hymned His glory.				(2200)

303. 	He sang the great garland of verse which
	Begins thus: "Kodal Kongkam Kulir Koovilam..."
	His sacred heart was pervaded by the great
	And eternal dance of the Lord; reflecting this beatitude
	In his hymns he sang the decad which says:
	"It is the Lord of Aiyaaru who is skilled to dance."
	He sang; he danced, and tears of joy streamed
	From his eyes and flowed on.				(2201)

304. 	He bowed before the Lord again and again
	And moved out with the hailing servitors;
	He sojourned in that holy and ever-during town;
	He visited from there Perumpuliyoor of the Lord
	In whose crest rest the crescent and the peerless flood
	Of Ganga; he also visited other shrines
	And adored all the shrines hymning garlands
	Of flourishing Tamil, and returned
	To sojourn thither poised in ardent love.		(2202)

305. 	Blessed with the grace and leave of the Lord
	He proceeded westward divining the Lord's will;
	He came to the Supreme One's Tiruneitthaanam
	And adored the Lord with a mind, full of love,
	And sang rare garlands of Tamil verse and thence
	Proceeded to Mazhapaadi flanked by fields of sugarcane
	And groves of areca.					(2203)

306. 	As he reached the outskirts of Tirumazhapaadi
	Whose Lord sports a fawn in His roseate hand,
	He hymned a decad beginning with the words:
	"Angkaiyaar azhal." Adoring, and singing
	That they who adore with their heads Mazhapaadi,
	Are persons of great and soaring tapas,
	He entered the temple.					(2204)

307. 	He circumambulated the temple of Mazhapaadi
	Where beauteous Vayiratthoon Naathar abides;
	He came to His presence, stood beneath His lotus-feet
	Divinely fragrant; He prostrated before them, rose up
	And again adored them; He danced and with his songs
	Which are fragrant garlands of verse,
	He adorned the Lord, and moved out hailing him;
	He abode thither for a few days worshipping
	His Lord in ceaseless love.				(2205)

308. 	He proceeded from there with the Lord's grace
	To Tiru-k-Kaanoor and thither adored
	And hailed the Lord; he came to Anbilaalanthurai
	Where abide Aadi-Saiva-Brahmins, and adored Him;
	He visited the many shrines of the Lord of matted _air
	And hymned Him; then the wearer of the sacred thread
	Reached Maanthurai on the western bank where abides
	The Lord who peeled off the hide of the hill-like
	Tusker from which exuded a cascade of ichor.		(2206)

309. 	He adored the court of the Lord who is enthroned
	In Tirumaanthurai and in whose crown courses
	The Ganga of multitudinous fords; he circumambulated
	The long and beauteous shrine, prostrated
	Before the Lord, and hymned in ever-during garlands
	Of Tamil verse, the glory of the Lord who was
	Thither hailed by the dense and myriad-rayed
	Sun, Moon and Maruts.					(2207)

310. 	He left that town and adored the merciful One
	In all the shrines nearby; he proceeded through
	Mazhanaadu rich in its roaring wealth of waters
	And fields ever miry as lotuses hit by the leaping
	Cale-fish burst and spill their honey thither;
	He traveled on the northern bank of the Ponni;
	The Prince of Pukali neared the shrine
	Of our Lord's Tiru-p-Paacchilaacchiraamam.		(2208)

311. 	There in that town, the daughter of Kolli Mazhavan,
	Verily a beauteous shoot, a dazzling splendour,
	A fawn-like virgin whose speech was ambrosial,
	Stood afflicted with Muyalakan; so the chieftain
	Sorely languished, pained in body and mind,
	While his great kin lamented.				(2209)

312. 	No treatment would cure her; so he carried her
	To the temple of the Lord, who panoplied in martial habit,
	Annihilated the triple cities;
	To be cured of the misery he laid her before
	The presence of the Lord, as he was of the clan
	Which for ever held fast to the worship of the feet
	Of the Lord whose hand sports a fawn.			(2210)

313. 	It was then the child ruled by the Lord, was
	Nearing the shrine; his arrival was thus
	Trumpeted: "Behold! Tirugnaanasambandhar
	Of true and redeeming wisdom is come!"
	When he who was heaving sighs of distress
	Heard the announcement that assured
	Deliverance to all the worlds, he left the soft one
	And hastened to receive the godly child.		(2211)

314. 	"Decorate the town; plant everywhere
	Makara-taranas; carry beauteous pots
	Of holy and fragrant water; with bright lamps
	And incense-breathing censers
	Adorn the town in all possible ways." Thus the king
	Ordered and came adoring the son of God, who is
	The Lord of the celestials.				(2212)

315. 	"I am blessed with the arrival of the godly child."
	He mused thus, and when in bliss-impelled love
	He shed a flood of tears and prostrated before
	The pearly palanquin, the divine child said:
	"Rise!" This word caused his mind to bloom;
	Up he rose with his flower-hands folded above
	His head and he led the divine child through
	The beauteous streets of the town of hoary glory.	(2213)

316. 	Passing through the beauteous streets where
	Auspicious instruments resounded, the godly child
	Duly got down, as he would always, from his pearly litter
	Near the tower of soaring lustre
	Of the temple where abides the Lord in whose
	Matted hair rests the crescent; he adored
	The beauteous tower, entered into the temple,
	Circumambulated the shrine and neared
	The Godly Presence to adore.				(2214)

317. 	When he beheld the young liana-like virgin
	Lying unconscious on the floor, he asked in grace:
	"What is this?" Bowing low before him, the chieftain
	Said: "As this, my golden daughter, is afflicted
	With Muyalakan, impossible to cure, I caused her
	To be carried into the shrine of the Holy One
	And laid here; so she is here." Thus he sapke
	And stood (awaiting the advent of grace).		(2215)

318. 	Even as he graciously listened to the words
	Of the chieftain bedecked with a beauteous garland,
	Adoring the Supreme One of Paacchil
	Whose red matted hair sports a snake,
	The Lord of Sanbai thus sang in merciful Tamil
	The decad that cured the incurable disease:
	"Ah, the blue-throated Lord! Does it become
	His majesty to cause this lass languish
	In comatose stupor?"					(2216)

319. 	As the Kauniya-Chief of ever-during fame
	Sang the decad, the Tamil Gospel, concluded it
	And stood adoring, the chieftain's virgin-daughter,
	The lisper of soft words, was cured on a sudden;
	Up she rose f_om the floor and walked gently
	Swaying like a golden liana to her father,
	The mighty warrior of prowess.				(2217)

320. 	Beholding his daughter cured of the cruel malady,
	In joy that welled up in him, the chieftain
	Along with his peerless daughter fell at the feet
	Of the Prince of Sanbai; the divine child
	That stood there, hailed the feet of the Holy One
	In whose matted hair the river courses,
	In single-minded devotion; the servitors
	Of the Lord of the celestials, roared for joy.		(2218)

321. 	Adoring the feet of the Lord who abides
	At the ever-during Tiruvaacchiraamam
	Concorporate with His bejewelled Consort,
	He sojourned there, poised in grace;
	Impelled by a desire to adore the other shrines
	Of the Lord-Dancer, he fared forth and hailed
	The feet of the Lord in those shrines;
	Then he proceeded to Tiru-p-Paigngneeli
	Where abide the wise ones, to adore Lord Siva thither.	(2219)

322. 	Adoring at the feet of the Lord of Paigngneeli
	Girt with gardens where bees hum in melody
	He sang a garland of Tamil verse hailed by the world;
	He sojourned there and hailed the Lord;
	Then in joy he fared forth to the many shrines
	Of the Lord of Kailaas--vast and strong and divine;
	The Lord of fecund Sanbai adoring Him
	In those shrines, reached the vast Tiru-Eangkoi-Malai.	(2220)

323. 	He adored the feet of the Lord in whose
	Matted hair the Ganga courses, enshrined
	In Eangkoimalai where the red-eyed kuravas
	Are hailed by the Devas, and adorned Him
	With his love-laden musical decades;
	He also hailed the hills dight with gardens
	And all the other shrines of the Lord in that region;
	The godly child--verily a shoot of flawless wisdom--,
	Proceeded towards Kongku Naadu
	And reached its northern realm.				(2221)

324. 	He adored at the shrines of the Lord of Devas
	In that region and proceeded towards Kongku Naadu
	On the southern bank of the lucid and billowy Ponni;
	Thither he adored at the shrines of the Lord
	In whose crest flows the flood buzzed by bees,
	And reached Kodi-Maada-ch-Chengkunroor
	On the tops of whose long fort-like walls, clouds gather.(2222)

325. 	The dwellers of the city and the servitors, in joy
	Adorned the city with many a long torana
	And other festoons; they came before him
	To receive him and adored and hailed him;
	With their hands folded above their heads
	They took him to the temple of the Lord
	Whose mount is the wrathful Bull.			(2223)

326. 	The master of Tamil entered the temple of his Lord,
	Prostrated before the Lord-God, adored Him,
	Rose up and hymned the divine and bountiful decad
	Of Tamil for the well-being of those on earth
	And in heaven; borne by a longing to adore Him
	More and more, he sojourned in that great city.		(2224)

327. 	He adored the Ganga-crested Lord in all the shrines
	Situate in the west; he hailed Him at Tirunanaa
	And adored Him who wears the snake
	Of poisonous sacs, and came back to sojourn in Cengkunroor
	That he had willingly chosen as his abode.		(2225)

328. 	As thus the child ruled by the Lord, abode thither,
	Came the season of the early dew when
	The gathered clouds ceased to shower;
	All the men on the earth bounded by the roaring seas,
	Longed for the comforting rays of the sun;
	The hills nearby grew chill.				(2226)

329. 	Bees winged away in rescentment; lotuses were charred;
	Gently swayed the blades of grass with the dew-drops
	At their tips, like unto crystal beads woven
	Into an emerald braid; it looked as though
	That the very hills, unable to endure the frost
	Covered themselves with a white mantle.			(2227)

330. 	As it was the season when the northerly
	Laden with icy chillness blew all the time,
	The gardens where once the soft leaves and shoots
	Sprouted, quaked in dire distress;
	Even the fiery sun unable to brave the frost, sulked;
	He would spread a little his rays now and would
	Anon walk tip-toe into hiding, withdrawing them.	(2228)

331. 	In all the eaves of the serried mansions
	Of the hoary and beauteous towns,	
	The doves of coral-hued toes with their mates
	Lay snug; in the lovely and warm twin breasts
	Of women on_whose koontals champakas burgeon,
	The mighty shoulders and beauteous chests
	Of men lay engrossed.					(2229)

332. 	They would powder turmeric and saffron (for fumigation),
	Split and burn eagle-wood for its smoke
	And heat the broad-mouthed and boat-shaped
	Vessels and keep them nearby to warm themselves;
	Thus they did in the habitations
	Of the Kurinji of soft and blooming buds.		(2230)

333. 	During that time when the serving throng of the godly child
	Of true wisdom, abode for many days
	In Kodimaadacchengkunroor, it looked as though
	That they were about to be assailed by a raging fever
	Preceded by a chillness of body causing them to shiver.	(2231)

334. 	All the servants humbly informed the godly child
	Of their plight, and adored him; invoking the grace
	Of the Primal One he said: "Though this is
	The nature of the realm, it shall not assail us."
	He hymned his divine decad on the Lord
	Who wears the crescent on His crown.			(2232)

335. 	His decad began with the words: "Avvinaikku
	Ivvinai..." He enshrined in it the thought that it was
	His beauteous throat that averted "all our woe"
	When the Lord was pleased to quaff the poison.
	His decad affirmed thus: "Seivinai
	Teendaa Tiruneelakantam!"				(2233)

336. 	Thus he sang and his decad carried with it
	His mandate born of divine grace; he concluded
	The holy decad and adorned the Lord therewith;
	(Behold the wonder!) Not only the residents
	Of the beauteous city but all men in the whole realm
	That day, stood cured of the cruel and chilling illness.(2234)

337. 	He abode in that town for a few days
	And departed therefrom; he adored the Lord
	Of coral-hued, matted hair in His many shrines;
	Then the godly child, the wearer of the sacred thread
	Knit to a piece of deer-skin, with many a muni reached
	The ineffably glorious Tiruppaandikkodumudi.		(2235)

338. 	He duly hailed the feet of the Lord of Paandikkodumudi
	On the bank of the never-failing Ponni
	And adored him with his beautiful decad;
	Commencing from Venjamaakkoodal
	Rich in lustrous mansions, he adored the Lord
	Whose mount is the Bull, in His many peerless shrines.	(2236)

339. 	He came to wealthy Karur and adored
	At the shrine of Tiru-Aa-Nilai; he sang a garland
	Of munificence, melodic and dulcet; he left the country
	And adored, at many shrines
	Inclusive of Maanikka Malai; then he fared forth
	On the southern bank of the Ponni of swelling waves
	And worshipped at many a shrine.			(2237)

340. 	At many extensive hills, spreading woods
	And a good many shrines where the Lord abides,
	He adored in love; then the Brahmin-child that hailed
	From ever-during Pukali to establish
	The truthful way of the Vedas, came to Paraaitthurai
	Of the Lord whose matted hair flashes like gold.	(2238)

341. 	He reached the temple of the unique brow-eyed Lord
	Of Paraaitthurai and worshipped Him
	In single-minded devotion; from the eyes
	Of the Kauniya chief, the singer of flawless garlands
	Of Tamil verse, tears rained; he stood there adoring,
	Folding his hands above his head.			(2239)

342. 	Thus adoring, he moved out and left for
	The many shrines adored by the celestials,
	Commencing from Tiruvaalanthurai and Senthurai;
	At these flawless shrines he adored the Lord;
	Then in joy he left for Tirukkarkudi Hill
	Cinctured by fecund and flowery gardens.		(2240)

343. 	He hailed the Lord—verily a shoot of gold,
	Who, of yore, bent the auric Meru Mountain
	Into a bow, the Rider of the martial Bull,
	And who is enthroned on the great hill of Karkudi--,
	And hymned a goodly garland of Tamil verse;
	Then Gnaanasambandhar adored the Lord
	Of Mukkeeccharam, the Queller of the five senses,
	And reached the Hill of Tirucchiraappalli.		(2241)

344. 	He adored the feet of the brow-eyed Lord,
	The Wearer of the hide of the hill-like tusker
	Who like a great lustrous flame abides
	At Tirucchiraappalli from the hill of which falls
	A cataract rolling down many a goodly gem;
	In true joy and with a mind serene, he hymned
	A bright garland of Tamil verse; then impelled
	By a longing to adore the blue-throated Lord
	Of Tiruvaanaikka, he came there.			(2242)

345. 	He came before the Lord, the True Ens enshrined
	Under the white jambolan tree at Aanaikkaa
	Adored by the celestials, and prostrated;
	In his beauteous verse-garland he hailed
	The adoration of Airaavatham,
	The celestial elephant of four tusks,
	And the servitorship of the Patron-king Kocchengkanaar;
	Thus he hymned his garland of melodious
	And bounteous Tamil, and hailed and adored
	The Lord poised in piety.				(2243)

346. 	Here was the Truth not to be beheld
	By Brahma and Vishnu; here was the Truth
	Under the white jambolan tree, the Truth
	Of the Mahendra Mountain, the Truth
	Of sempiternal Kailaas divine, clad in beauty,
	The Truth of enshrinement in opulent tiruvaaroor
	And the true inner import of the Aagamas;
	Thus he hymned the Lord gloriously at Aanaikkaa.
	The great one of Sanbai girt with beauteous gardens,
	Experienced endless ecstasy.				(2244)

347. 	He folded his hands in adoration, hailed Him
	And moved out; he sojourned in that comely town;
	Then adoring the Lord, he came to the ever-during
	Tavatthurai and thither prostrated at the feet
	Of the Lord of the celestials; up he rose, and stood;
	Poised in devotion, he hymned and hailed Him
	In a garland of sweet Tamil verse; adoring Him,
	He, the great Gem of the Vedic way, moved out
	And fared forth hailing the Lord at other shrines.	(2245)

348. 	He adored at Tirupparaaitthurai and at great
	Tiruverumpiyoor Hill of the Lord whose
	Banner sports the Bull, and also at other shrines;
	Circled by holy servitors and hailed
	By the men and the women from the eight directions,
	The Lord of Sanbai reached the great town
	Of Nedungkalam where abides the Lord who is
	Like a coral mountain decked with the holy ash.		(2246)

349. 	In his garland of melodic verse, he hailed
	The Primal One of Nedungkalam, thus:
	"Be pleased in grace to avert the troubles that cause
	The mind to deviate from the path of devotion to You."
	He hailed the Lord and fared forth to the other
	Shrines where the Lord whose red matted hair
	Is decked with murderous adders, and adored Him;
	He hailed the Lord at Niyamam and desired to worship
	At Kaattuppalli where the Lord who peeled off the hide
	Of the cruel tusker, abides in joy.			(2247)

350. 	Reaching the temple of our Lord of red matter hair
	At flourishing Kaattuppalli, he circumambulated
	The shrine and prostrated thither and rose up;
	To adore with folded hands the feet decked
	With mighty anklets, he moved on when love in him
	Welled up, as it would in a calf that rushed
	To the mother-cow; standing before the divine
	Presence, he pictured in his mind's eye the Dance
	Of the brow-eyed Lord in Tiruambalam and sang
	The decad beginning with the words: "Vaaru
	Mannum Mulai," and stood blessed.			(2248)

351. 	He left that town and adored at beauteous
	Tiruvaalampozhil; he then hailed and adored Poyyili,
	The Lord of Poonthurutthi of swelling Ponni;
	He also adored at all the shrines where
	The holy company of servitors duly received him;
	Then to adore the Lord, he reached Kandiyoor
	Girt with fields and streams where leap
	The red kayal fish.					(2249)

352. 	He reached the shrine of Kandiyoor Veerattaanam;
	In longing bred by swelling love and with devotees
	He prostrated before the Lord; he stood there
	In great delight before the servitors;
	Into the garland of music in Tamil that he sang,
	He packed many a question that would manifest
	The grace and glories of the Lord of the celestials,
	From out of the greatness of servitors.			(2250)

353. 	In the envoi-verse of the divine decad
	Wrought of interrogations, he sang
	About the joy he experienced, on hearing
	From the servitors, the gracious acts of the Lord,
	Ineffably and inconceivably great; hailing this
	In his hymn, to adore the Lord, he fared forth
	To Tirucchotrutthurai where the fast and billowy,
	Flood of the Cauvery flows to the right of the town.	(2251)

354. 	In his peerless and bounteous garland of Tamil verse
	He sang thus: "We will proceed to and reach
	Our Father's Chotrutthurai." Thus singing
	In single-minded devotio_ he came before
	The temple of the Primal One who burnt
	The triple hostile cities.				(2252)

355. 	He circumambulated the shrine of Tholaiyaacchelvar
	Of hoary and ever-abiding Chotrutthurai and adored
	The feet of the Lord who ate the poison to relieve
	The distress of the Devas, in love that knew no bounds.	(2253)

356. 	He adored Him; he praised Him in Vedic hymns,
	Up the stood and hymned in harmonious mumbers
	Of splendorous Tamil; he sojourned there;
	Then with the servitors he arrived at Tiruvedikudi,
	Great and glorious.					(2254)

357. 	He came to the temple of Vedikudi of the Lord
	Of the Vedas, and hailed the goodly lotus-feet
	Of the Lord; He prostrated before Him and rose up;
	Then he hymned the Tamil Veda in soaring melody.	(2255)

358. 	He sang the whole of the musical decad-- the great
	And indictable Veda--, and hailed the Primal One,
	And prostrated before Him; then he moved out
	And came to Tiruvenni, the town glorious
	And flawless, and girt with gardens.			(2256)

359. 	He reached the shrine of Venni the Lord of which
	Rides the Bull; in love that welled up within
	He hailed the Lord, the Wearer of the ever-fresh crescent
	And hymned Him in a decad of nectarean music.		(2257)

360. 	He hymned Him; he praised Him; he bowed before Him;
	Then he moved out and adored the Lord-Dancer,
	The Merciful One, in all the shrines in that region.
	The Brahmin of the Brahmins of consummate glory
	From Sanbai, the eternal, revelled in joy.		(2258)

361. 	He proceeded through the plain girt with gardens
	And dight with many a tank where teemed a forest
	Of lotuses of thorny roots.
	He, the Lord of Verse and Music came to Chakkarappalli
	Of Lord Sankara who laid waste
	The sacrifice of the one without true devotion.		(2259)

362.	He entered the hallowed temple of the Lord
	Of Chakkarappalli and adored his bedecked
	Flower-feet in love; he hymned in Tamil
	Of excelling words the very Vedas and thus hailed
	In loving devotion the Lord whose waist is
	Cinctured with beads of rudraaksha.			(2260)

363. 	He left the Lord's Chakkarappalli and proceeded
	Along the fields rich in water and wavelets;
	He whose intellect was full of the wisdom of the Vedas
	Reached the shrine of splendorous Aalanthurai
	At Pullamangai.						(2261)

364. 	In love he prostrated at the golden feet of the Lord
	Whose hand displays a fawn and who preside over
	The everlasting shrine, and rose up; he adorned
	The Lord with a garland of musical Tamil,
	And fared forth to Siva's shrine at Celoor
	And Paalaitthurai where he adored Him,
	And then travelled onward.				(2262)

365. 	The Lord of Pukali in whose tanks the male crabs dwell
	With their mates on the burgeoning and fragrant lotuses,
	Passing through the odorous maruda realm
	Dight with cloud-capped gardens, reached Tirunalloor
	Where the Lord whose mount is the Bull, abides. 	(2263)

366. 	The Brahmins well-versed in the Vedas, Of Tirunalloor
	Rich in beautiful and fragrant fields, duly received
	The godly child auspiciously and in uproarious joy;
	The lord of Sirapuram riding the pearly palanquin
	Of golden lustre in great splendour, reached the town.	(2264)

367. 	He descended from the pearly litter; the throng
	Of Brahmins walked before him; the throng of devotees
	And serving train walked behind him articulating
	His praise; thus he reached the Lord's tower and adored it.(2265)

368. 	As the godly child circumambulated the temple
	Of spreading lustre, verily the equal of the Silver Mount
	Of Kailaas tears of joy flooded and bathed
	His divine person; he ascended the flight of steps,
	Came before the Lord in whose crest the Ganga
	Flows leaping, and adored Him.				(2266)

369. 	Before the Lord he hymned his celebrated decad;
	With his mind melting in love that welled up within,
	He moved out tranced; poised in the glorious grace
	Of the Lord whose matted hair is bejewelled with snakes,
	He sojourned in the town where the Lord abides.		(2267)

370. 	Thus he abode in the holy town; in love he adored
	The feet of the Pure One whose long matted hair flashes
	Like lightning; he hymned many a_divine and dulcet
	Decad; he was immensely pleased; the Brahmins of lofty
	And hoary lineage well-versed in the Vedas, adored him.	(2268)

371. 	The godly child desired to depart thence; he was
	Blessed with the grace of the Lord-Dancer of ever-during
	Tirunalloor; he fared forth and adored at all the shrines
	In that region and arrived at Tirukkarukkaavoor
	Where abides the Lord, inaccessible
	To questing Vishnu and Brahma.				(2269)

372. 	At Karukaavoor where mullai-blooms from their creepers
	Spreading on the pandals breathe fragrance,
	He adored the feet of the Lord, the Grantor
	Of the great and material Vedas, and hymned
	With a mind delighted, a decad of splendorous Tamil
	Affirming thus: "The Endless One's hue is that of the flame."(2270)

373. 	He sang the dulcet decad and adored at other shrines
	Where the Lord whose crest is adorned with the Ganga, abides;
	He, the articulator of sweet and threefold Tamil,
	Then came to Avalivalnalloor where the Lord-Dancer
	Of resounding anklets, abides in joy.			(2271)

374. 	In that ever-during town where the Lord abides in joy
	Adored by the celestials, he moved into the temple,
	Came before His presence and hailed His name:
	"Thamparisudaiyaar" in his decad, and moved out
	To worship Him in His many famous shrines.		(2272)

375. 	He adored at the shrine of Tirupparithiniyamam
	That annuls all flaws and there sang the great
	And indictable Veda in a divine decad; adoring
	In all the shrines the Lord who is Omneity, he came
	Adoring, to Tiruppoovanoor of unswerving greatness.	(2273)

376. 	Love-borne he adored there, and blessed by the Lord,
	He moved out and visited other shrines bounded
	By vast fields where lotuses teemed; hailed everywhere
	By the full-throated praise of the servitors
	He came to the hoary town of Aavoor, dear
	To the Merciful One.					(2274)

377. 	He adored the town and entered the shrine
	Of Pasupaticcharam where the Gem is enthroned,
	And worshipped Him in great devotion; he adorned
	Him with cool garlands of Tamil in unbounded love
	And again returned to beauteous Tirunalloor.		(2275)

378. 	In that town where flourish the Vedas, he in love,
	Adored the golden feet of the blue-throated Lord;
	Blessed by Him who wears the crescent in His crest, 
	He proceeded to Tiruvalanjhuzhi girt with fragrant
	Gardens where bees hum over melliferous flowers.	(2276)

379. 	When the devotees of great and ripe askesis, the dwellers
	Of the crescent-crested Lord's Tiruvalanjuzhi,
	Came to receive the lord of the threefold Tamil,
	He descended from his litter and walked towards them;
	They encircled him even as the white and bright clouds
	Would girdle the moon.					(2277)

380. 	The gathered devotees prostrated at his feet
	And rose up; the chief of the Kauniyas, folding
	His hands like unto red lotuses, moved on;
	He reached the shrine where the Lord of Valanjuzhi
	Abides in joy, and prostrated before the gold-bedecked
	And lustrous tower, rose up and moved into the shrine.	(2278)

381. 	He circumambulated the court of the Lord
	Who burnt the triple, hostile cities; his mind
	Melted in love; he held his hands folded above
	His head and the great one in spiraling love
	Fell at the roseate feet of the Lord of Tiruvalanjuzhi.	(2279)

382. 	He who was fed on wisdom, impelled by the love
	Caused by his prostration and adoration
	Before the Lord, hymned the Lord with a flawless
	And harmonious and splendorous decad
	Of interrogatives; even thus he hailed the Lord
	Whose dark throat is like the blue lily.		(2280)

383. 	He hailed the Lord in his sweet and musical decad
	Laden with wisdom, and moved out;
	He abode in the holy town girt by the Ponni
	Of lucid waters; daily he hailed His goodly feet
	And sojourned there, gladly companied
	With the holy servitors of the Lord of Valanjuzhi.	(2281)

384. 	During his happy sojourn there, the orb of sun
	Entered the mituna hora; summer grew fierce
	As the sun smote with his cruel rays drying
	And despoiling even the seven seas.			(2282)

385. 	Men on earth sought the wind laden with moisture,
	The paste of sandal-wood, the de_ drops of the goodly
	And fragrant flowers, the serene company of their
	Loving wives, the varieties of cool and lustrous
	Chains of pearls and toothsome victuals.		(2283)

386. 	The herd of deer that sought the loamy river
	In the jungle to slake their thirst, (finding no water),
	Pursued the mirage thinking it to be
	Rare water; the Caataka birds unable to come
	By rain drops on which they fed, sought other types
	Of food and languished; unable to fly in the heat,
	Folding their wings, the birds abode at cool places.	(2284)

387. 	On the terraces of mansions with great thresholds,
	On the sides of courtyards bathed in moonlight,
	In the goodly and penumbral gardens,
	Near the banks of flowery tanks and in the breasts
	Of women whose locks were decked with pearls and blooms
	Men chose to abide and rejoice.				(2285)

388. 	Peacocks no longer danced though the bees danced for joy;
	Lotus-buds burgeoned; kuyils pecked at the tender
	Shoots and warbled in the gardens which were abloom;
	All lives that would not sleep (during day) slumbered;
	In the bright sky the sun smote in all fierceness;
	Thus were the days of the hot summer.			(2286)

389. 	The godly child of Sanbai, in love that upsurged
	From his thought, adored and hailed Valanjuzhi
	Of the Lord of matted hair and desired to leave
	For Pazhayaarai; desiring the intimate company
	Of the devotees he fared forth with them on foot
	To Pazhayaarai Metrali whose long and lofty
	Fort-like walls pierced into the sky.			(2287)

390. 	He adored the feet of the Lord whose form was that
	Of the red flame at Pazhayaarai Metrali in melting love;
	Then he came to the outskirts of Tirucchatthimutram
	Where the Lord blessed Himavants Daughter
	To hail Him in pooja.					(2288)

391. 	He reached Tirucchatthimutram and adored
	And hailed in ardent love the roseate feet
	Worshipped in pooja by Himavant's Daughter;
	He hymned the ankleted feet of the Lord--
	The Deliverer from the cycle of transmigration--,
	And in love fared forth to Patticcharam
	To adore there.						(2289)

392. 	To alleviate the cruel heat of the fierce summer,
	Invisible Siva Bhoothas came there to hold over
	The head of the lord of threefold Tamil,
	A pandal wrought of cool pearls, and said:
	The Lord Pattisar mercifully commanded us
	To carry this and give it to you."			(2290)



393. 	Those words and the beauteous pandal of pearls
	Materialised from the heaven; the godly child
	Of Sirapuram endowed with true and divine gnosis
	Thought thus: "If this be the grace divine of the Lord,
	I abide by it." Thrilled was his body and he 
	Prostrated on the ground.				(2291)

394. 	That very moment the serving train held
	The beauteous posts--resplendent with the Lord's grace--,
	Of the beauteous canopy of pearls; by the side of the lord
	Of Vedas compact of sweet words, the celestials
	Showered fresh and fragrant flowers; verily
	The pandal was like unto a flowery pandal also.		(2292)

395. 	The servitor-throng raised a joyous uproar;
	The loud resounding of the Vedas filled the eight directions;
	The godly child moved into the shady pandal
	Of white and cool pearls and sat in splendour;
	It looked as though he was throned in the shade
	Cast by the divine feet of the Lord of the Devas
	In Tiruvambalam.					(2293)

396. 	The godly child who went walking with the devotees,
	Hailed the gracious and merciful bestowal of the gift
	By the Lord who wears snakes as garlands;
	His loving mind soared up in delight; with the devotees
	Whose visage burgeoned as they came to receive him,
	He reached Tiruppatticcharam.				(2294)

397. 	As he neared the temple, he adored from without
	The entrance; he moved in and circumambulated
	The shrine of Him whose mount is the Bull;
	Beholding the lotus-feet invisible to the Boar
	That burrowed, he adored them and fell on the floor;
	Up he rose and hymned his garland of verse.		(2295)

398. 	He hailed the flooding grace of the Lord;
	He stood plunged in the great flood
	Of immeasurable bliss; then with a_heart
	Pervaded by love immense of great
	And unswerving devotion, Sambandhar--
	Who was fed with the nectarean milk
	From a bowl, by the Liana of the auric
	And ruddy Mountain--, moved out of the shrine.		(2296)

399. 	The child ruled by the Lord who sojourned there,
	Visited Tiruppazhayaarai Vadatali
	Of ineffable glory, hymned a peerless decad in Tamil,
	And with the devotees came to Irumpoolai
	Where the Lord who is Omneity, abides.