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		"I am a serviteur of Tandi of great insight"
		
						- The Tiru-th-Tonda-th-Tokai

1. 	Tandi Atikal had wrought such glorious tapas
	As to get born in Tiruvaaroor; the Lord dances
	To the hymning of the Vedas by the celestials;
	As if he would envision only the two dancing feet
	Of the Lord, dazzling like ruddy gold, with his
	Inner eye and see nothing else which is externally
	Witnessed by eyes of limited vision,
	He was sightless from his very birth.				(3592)

2. 	His conviction was that the fruit of sight was
	For true servitorship; he ever desired to foster love
	For the adoration of the hallowed feet of the Lord
	Of Tiruvaaroor, the opulence of which is to be worthily
	Guarded; he was poised in firm and sacred servitorship
	Which the Devas could not comprehend even distantly.		(3593)

3. 	He would adore Devaasiriyan of opulent Poongkoyil 
	Where abides the Lord whose matted hair is decked
	With flowers, circumambulate the shrine,
	And chant always the redemptive and graceful pentad--
	NAMASIVAYA--, sweet to chant, in all love;
	This was his routine, and in this he thrived.			(3594)

4. 	As the mutts of Jains increased encroaching
	Upon the area of the tank which was west of the holy
	Temple of the Lord whose mount is the red-eyed Bull,
	Tandi Atikal who came to know of it mused thus,
	In great devotion: “I must here deepen the tank and help it 
	Regain its former extent.” Up he rose, thus resolved.		(3595)

5. 	He drove pegs into the places for excavation
	In the tank; ropes fastened thereto ran upto the posts
	Planted at moderate height on the bank of the tank;
	Feeling his way through the rope and without
	Ever missing it, he dug the earth and removed it;
	He repeated without interruption this process,
	All the time removing the earth; as he plied himself
	In this service, he chanted the mystic pentad.			(3596)

6. 	As the great serviteur in growing love plied himself
	Daily in the task of deepening the Lord’s tank,
	The Samanas who witnessed it could not endure it;
	They came to Tandi Atikal and addressed him thus:
	“If you dig the earth, beings that live there
	May die; desist from such exertion.”				(3597)

7. 	When he heard the dirty and stinking Samanas speak thus,
	The serviteur of evr-increasing radiance said:
	“O you of utter spiritual indigence! Can you ever
	Know that all sevices rendered to the Lord
	Whose fragrant sandal-paste is His Holy Ash,
	Are at once flawless and holy?”					(3598)

8. 	When he of boundless wisdom spake thus,
	The ignorant ones that heard him, said:
	“You would not listen to our thoughtful words
	of dharma; are you deaf too?”
	Then he answered thus: “Dull consciousness,
	Blindness and deafness are truly yours in this world.”
	The serviteur subjoined and said:				(3599)

9. 	“I will not behold aught but the lotus-feet
	Of the Lord who with His bow burnt the triple
	Hostile cities; who are you to comprehend that?”
	This said, he threw down a challenge when he said:
	“O you of mutable plight! If losing light,
	Your eyes turn blind, and I be endowed with eyes
	To behold, in the presence of men on earth,
	What will you then do?”						(3600)

10. 	Hearing his words the Samanas said: “If you gain
	Your sight by the grace of your Lord, we will not
	Thereafter abide in this city of increasing uberty.”
	This said, they that had plucked their pates,
	Snatched his basket, and pulled out the pegs,
	Posts and rope which helped him feel his way.			(3601)



11. 	Incensed by the evil act of the violent ones
	Tandi Adikal came before the beauteous Poongkoyil
	Of the blue-throated Lord and prayed thus:
	“O Lord! This day the Samanas put me to shame!
	I wilt  very much; You must bless me with fulfillment.”
	Thus he prayed, and fell prostrate
	On the ground in adoration.					(3602)

12. 	For the extirpation of the blame , the serviteur
	Having hailed the Lord and appealed to Him,
	Adored Him and entered his matam; disabled
	To render his holy service that day, he wept;
	When that night he slept, the Primordial Lord
	Who guards all the worlds, appeared to him
	In his dream and graced him thus:				(3603)

13. 	“Be rid of the misery that pervades your heart;
	You will see that whereas your eyes will be able 
	To see, the sight of the truculent Samanas will vanish;
	Fear not.” Thus the Lord graced him; that very night
	In dense darkness He appeared in the dream
	Of the King and graced him thus:				(3604)

14. 	“The Samanas who witnessed the deepening
	Of Our tank by Tandi, unable to endure it,
	Have forcibly prevented him from doing so;
	He is therefore extremely wroth; may you call
	On him and implement his intent.”
	The Lord who delights to do away with the misery
	Of His devotee, disappeared having ordered
	The removal of His devotee’s misery.				(3605)

15. 	When the King woke up from his dream, the hair
	On his thrilled body stood erect; he hailed the Lord
	Who wears the cool and beauteous konrai flowers;
	When it dawned, he called on the devotee
	And narrated to him his dream; when the devotee
	Listened to the king, he thought on the grace
	Of the Lord and spoke to the king of the happenings:		(3606)

16. 	“O king, listen to me! When I tried to deepen
	The tank of the Lord whose mount is the young Bull,
	The Samanas came there in their strength and said:
	“This is not piety!” They also spoke many harsh words
	And uprooted the pegs over which I had fastened
	The rope to feel my way; they also snatched
	From me the basket that I kept for carrying
	The earth.” He subjoined and said:				(3607)

17. 	“They told me that I, a blind man, was also
	Brainless.” I riposted and said: “If by the grace
	Of milord I come by sight, what will you do?”
	Then they wagered thus: “In that case, we will not
	Abide in this city.” This is indeed what had
	Happened; it is for you to adjudge.”				(3608)

18. 	The king sent for the Samanas and enquired 
	Into the matter; they admitted the facts;
	The serviteur walked before them and the king
	That came after him stopped beside the flowery tank
	And addressed the heroic serviteur thus: “O you 
	Of ever-increasing tapas! Be pleased to demonstrate
	The gift of vision to yourself by the grace
	Of the Lord.” Thus told, the great one said:			(3609)

19. 	“If I be a fitting serviteur unto Siva, while I 
	Gain my sight in the king’s presence, the Samanas
	Of Tiruvaaroor will lose theirs; I hereby affirm
	That the end of ends is the mystic pentad of Siva.”
	Thus saying and chanting the Panchaakshara
	The serviteur plunged into the beauteous tank.			(3610)

20. 	The devotee who surfaced up the water adoring the Lord
	Was blessed with pure and flower-like eyes;
	The celestials rained ethereal flowers, which as they
	Blanketed the sun, made it difficult to tell the time;
	Though wide-eyed, the brainless Samanas had lost
	Their sight; they began to toddle; witnessing this,
	The king was convinced that Jainism which did evil,
	Perished; then he spake thus:					(3611)

21. 	“The base Samanas who bet and lost against
	Tandi Atikal, shall forthwith quit Tiruvaaroor
	Hailed by the celestials; if henceforth they are
	Seen here, they shall be driven out of sight.”
	Thereupon the warriors in throngs smote them;
	The eyeless Samanas wilted, bewildered.				(3612)

22. 	Down they fell in pits and puddles; they languished;
	A few of them said: “Lo, we do not even have a stick
	To walk with. “A few fell over bushes saying,
	“This indeed is our way!” a few said: “Lo, we are decad.”
	Some of them would blame their own men, saying:
	“As we banked on that which was perishable,
	We perish here” A few would question thus:
	“Is the king to be blamed?” Those that in the past
	plucked from their pates the hair, would not lose
	Their mats that served for their clothing.			(3613)

23. 	Not finding their peacock-feather-bunches
	They would proceed without them; they would
	Ere long, stand bewildered; a few would trip
	Over stones and suffer fracture of arms and legs;
	They would march on, in dense throngs, but would
	Hi against each other; their minds would wilt
	And break and they would languish unable
	To perceive their path.						(3614)

24. 	The king that witnessed the commotion
	Of the Samanas at Aaroor, had them chased away
	According to their plighted word; he then had
	The encroaching matams and schools
	Razed to the ground, and retrieved the former extent
	Of the bank of the tank; then in great delight
	The king called on the devotee and fell at his feet.		(3615)

25. 	When the king paid obeisance to him and went away.
	Tandi Atikal hailed and adored the golden feet
	Of the Lord unknowable to Vishnu and Brahma;
	Then he pursued his interrupted service
	And brought it to a successful close; he chanted
	The Panchaakshara with all his mind and was
	Poised in this way; eventually he became oned
	With the feet of the Lord of fulgurant matted hair.		(3616)

26. 	Having hailed the feet of the sacred serviteur
	Of inconceivable glory who though unendowed
	With the light of his eyes, yet excavated a tank,
	With the aid of rope fastened to pegs, we now
	Proceed to historicise the deeds of Moorkkar,
	A glorious devotee of ever-increasing inward greatness,
	Of Tiruverkaattoor the Lord of which at the request
	Of the celestials, smote the triple hostile citadels.		(3617)

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NOTES

Verse No.

   1.	He was sightless from his birth: St. Sundarar hails his as “Naattamiku Dandi” 
	(Dandi with vision endowed).

   2.	The tank: This is called Kamalaalayam.

   6.	If you dig the earth. . .  exertion: No doubt, the Samanas had reverence 
	for lives.  They did not pursue their conviction in an intelligent or intelligible 
	way.  An extremely strict adherence to any rule may eventually wind up as an 
	exercise in stultification.

   8.	Dull consciousness. . . in this world: Not all men are endowed with true 
	consciousness.  Men endowed with eyes and ears, more often than not, live as blind 
	and deaf men.

   9.	I will not. . . cities: For once Drudaraashtra was blessed with vision. 
	He had a Visvarupa darshan of Sri Krishna.  Then he said, let me become 
	blind once again.  Let me not see aught else.  St. Appar said: 
	“Tillaicchitralmbalavan Tiruvadiyaik kanda kann kondu matrinik kaanpathenne!” 
	(with eyes that beheld the sacred feet of the Lord of Chitrambalam at Tillai, 
	what else is there to see at all!)

		The lesson that the common man can learn from this Puranam is 
	this.  Sites allotted for communal purposes must be preserved intact.  A tank 
	that serves a town and its temple is sacro sanct.  No encroachment that will 
	diminish the extent of the tank is permissible.  Any encroachment is an offence 
	against the public.  It is the duty of the ruler of the realm to maintain tanks, 
	lakes and the like in a proper manner.  To-day people suffer as sites earmarked 
	for communal purposes are being eaten away by politicians and their proteges.

			Here ends the Puranam of Tandi (Dandi) Atikall

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