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		"I am a servitor unto the potter, Tirunilakantar"
		
						- The Tiru-th-Tonda-th-Tokai

1. 	He was born in the potters’ clan, at hoary Tillai
	Sanctified by the Brahmins; the Lord, here
	Dances His unique dance wondrous which is 
	Beginningless and endless, in Chitrambalam,
	Witnessed by His Consort; well did he flourish
	Hailing the ankleted feet of the Lord-God.			(360)

2. 	He shunned falsity and stood poised in piety;
	His desire was to serve the true devotees of the Lord
	Who sports on His matted hair the Ganga;
	He lived as a householder
	By the world extolled; he throve established
	In the real wealth of true Saivism
	Deeming that alone to be the redemptive grace.			(361)

3. 	He hailed from a clan immeasurably hoary
	And made his living by making earthen vessels;
	To the devotees of the Lord who wears the crescent,
	He freely gifted bowls to their great delight;
	Thus he throve, the young and handsome devotee.
	But lo, by reason of his youth, he was incontinent.		(362)

4.	His wife excelled even aruntati, the paragon of chastity;
	She for ever contemplated the Blue Throat of the Lord
	Which, as though it would thus reward the tapas of devotees,
	Held the venom of the ocean devoured by the Lord;
	She for ever chanted: “Tiru Nilakantam.”			(363)

5. 	When one day her husband returned home
	Having had pleasure with a hetaira,
	She could not endure it, and though she
	Who was more beautiful than Lakshmi on melliferous lotus,
	Discharged faithfully all the other duties, she would not
	Consent to be touched by him at all.				(364)

6. 	With a view to persuade her to give up bouderie,
	Her loving husband did all he could and beseeched her
	In manifold ways, and when he was about to embrace her,
	She said: “I bid you refrain from touching us
	In the name of Tiru Nilakantam.”				(365)

7. 	He heard the ban which he would never transgress;
	For, his deep devotion to the Primal Lord’s Blue Throat
	Was such; the great one moved away leaving her,
	And as though he were a stranger, he addressed her
	Thus: “You said: ‘Us’; I’ll not therefore even mentally
	Touch any one of womankind.”					(366)

8. 	The chaste wife beautifully performed all her duties
	To her husband without ever touching his person;
	They abode indoors always, but in distinct apartments;
	None was aware of the couple’s celibacy.			(367)

9. 	The young couple who alone were aware
	Of the immeasurably glorious interdiction,
	Held themselves irrevocably bound by it;
	Years rolled on, and gone was their youth.
	They grew beautifully old; though they were enfeebled,
	Their love for their Lord was not a whit enfeebled.		(368)

10. 	While thus they lived, the Lord of dazzling matted hair
	Which looked like the extending shoots of fire itself,
	Assumed the form of a Siva-Yogi to demonstrate
	To the world that His devotee’s way of life
	Was indeed the true and redemptive way.				(369)

11.	He was decked in keel and kovanam; stripes of the Holy Ash
	Which confer immortality dazzled from His person;
	The sacred thread lay on His shoulder and chest;
	From His divine forehead issued the lustre (of the Holy Ash).	(370)



12. 	He concealed His long matted hair; He wore
	Curly and bushy hair; bright was His smile
	Like the rays of the moon; He held nobly
	A begging-bowl in His Hand;
	Thus He came to the Potter’s house.				(371)

13. 	He longingly beheld the Siva-Yogi-Tapaswi;
	He reckoned Him as a pious devotee and hailed Him;
	He received Him warmly and adored Him greatly;
	His outward action manifested his inner though.			(372)

14. 	Deeming the Lord on whose matted hair glows the crescent
	To be His devotee, he invited Him into his house
	And in delight great, hailed Him duly
	And stood beside Him in love abounding.				(373)

15. 	The devotee of the Lord who wears fragrant flowers
	On his matted hair entreated Him thus:
	“My Lord, in what way can I serve you?”
	The God of gods replied him thus: “Keep this bowl
	With you Sir, and return it when I ask for it.”			(374)

16. 	“It is non-pareil; it can purify all that is
	Received into it; being more valuable than gold or gem
	It must be treasured with greater care;
	Such is its worth; receive it.” Thus He.			(375)

17.	The glorious devotee -- the scion of the hoary clan
	Of potters --, bowed and received it;
	He hastened away and kept it in a very safe place
	And then came back to the Lord.					(376)

18. 	When the bowl was thus kept guarded
	The Lord who came in a Brahmin’s guise took leave
	Of the devotee; Him he followed to a distance
	(As prescribed in the sastras), and with His leave returned.
	The Lord hied back to His Ambalam.				(377)

19. 	Many days passed; the Lord caused the disappearance
	Of the beauteous bowl from where it was kept;
	To reveal unto the world the true nature of the potter,
	The devotee firm-established in the principles
	Of Saivism, He came to his house as before.			(378)

20. 	Him he received duly and adored, and said:
	“That you have in grace thought of us
	Marks the fruition of our tapas.”
	“Give me back the luminous bowl, I entrusted
	To your keeping, in the past.” Thus spake He
	Who can all things grant and recall.				(379)

21. 	When thus He spake peremptorily, he moved in
	To get the bowl of the tapaswi rare;
	Lo, it wasn’t there; he was nonplussed;
	He in vain questioned them that stood nearby;
	He continued this search, all in vain; he stood mute
	Unable to account for the gramarye of its disappearance.	(380)

22. 	The Lord of Parvati that stood disguised
	As a Brahmin, thundered: “What means this delay?
	You went in to return quick here!”
	He then came out and adored the Lord
	Of blue throat and began to speak thus:				(381)

23. 	“O my Father that wears the three-fold sacred thread!
	I searched for it where I kept it and elsewhere too,
	-- The wished for bowl that you entrusted to me --;
	Lo, it is lost; I’ll give you a brand-new one
	Far superior to the old one, lost by me;
	Be pleased to receive it and forgive my lapse.”
	Him he bowed and thus implored.					(382)

24. 	He stared in wrath at the devotee who prostrated
	And then stood before him; He said: “What’s it
	That you speak? Except that goodly earthen bowl
	I gave you, I’ll not accept even one made of gold;
	Go, get me the bowl I gave you for safe-keeping.”
	Thus He spake, the Ancient One.					(383)

25. 	“O great one flawless, as what you gave me was lost
	I searched for it everywhere, but could not find it;
	When I beg to offer you a different goodly bowl
	Far more durable, you’ll not deign to accept it
	But wrangle with me; I stand jostled out of my sense.”
	Thus he made his meek submission.				(384)

26. 	“What more could you do? Having coveted and committed
	Theft of the article entrusted to you keeping
	You play-act, and aren’t ashamed of your sins;
	I’ll hold you tight, publish your deed,
	And’ll not from you part without my bowl.”
	Thus He spake, the ideal of piety.				(385)

27. 	“I did not commit theft of your bowl of foison;
	I did not covert it even mentally; what should I do
	To prove this?” When thus he spake,
	He that had concealed the venom in His throat said:
	“Hold your dear son by the hand, take a dip
	In a tank and swear on your innocence.”
	Thus spake He who is never unkind.				(386)

28. 	“O great one, to do your bidding, I am not
	Endowed with a son who can falsify your accusation;
	What am I to do? Pray tell me.” When he so spake,
	He said: “Hold your wife, flawless and glorious,
	And take a plunge in the tank thick with flowers.”		(387)

29. 	When the Lord who hath concealed His matted hair
	Which conceals the Ganga, -- the Rider of the lovely-eyed Bull --,
	So spake in grace, the potter answered thus:
	“By reason of a vow alas, I canst not consent to what you say;
	I’ll myself take a dip into the water; go with me.”		(388)

30. 	“You return not what you received; to disprove theft
	You’ll not hold your wife’s hand, soft as shoot,
	And take a plunge in water; you are sure adamantine;
	I’ll now have recourse to the Court
	Of Tillai-Brahmins.” Thus He, and hied away.			(389)

31.	To the great assembly of Tillai-Brahmins
	Of impeccable character, -- the adepts in the four Vedas --,
	The infinite One fared forth; drawn by exceeding love
	The great devotee went after him, involved in the lis.		(390)

32. 	Our Lord, the Brahmin (in disguise) preferred
	His complaint before the great Brahmins thus:
	“This potter would not return to me the bowl
	I entrusted to him; had he truly lost if 
	He could hold his wife by hand, take a dip
	In water and be done with it; he would not do it;
	Obdurate is he.” Thus He.					(391)

33. 	Concealing His matted hair of natural fragrance,
	His shoulders four, triple eyes and the blue hue
	Of His throat, when He, the Brahmin, spake thus,
	The great Brahmins said: “O potter of sterling qualities!
	Narrate truly the happenings.”					(392)

34. 	“O ye Brahmins whose chests are decked with
	Sacred threads! He who is here gave to my keeping
	A bowl, and said that its worth was immense;
	I kept it guarded; I know not how it vanished.
	It had happened thus.” So spake the divine devotee
	Who is not to be touché by evil, even distantly.		(393)

35. 	The Brahmins announced their verdict thus:
	“If you had truly lost the bowl of this person
	Who glows with the stripes of the holy ash,
	And if this giver thereof bids you take an immersion
	You are bound to do it with your loving wife.”			(394)

36. 	When the great devotee of tapas heard the Brahmins
	Pass thus the verdict, he would not disclose
	His incapacity to touch his wife; he but said:
	“I’ll perform the immersion in a fitting manner.”
	He beseeched the great muni of tapas to go with him,
	And then homeward plied his steps.				(395)

37. 	He took his wife with him; to take the oath
	Before the Brahmin -- the Siva-yogi --, he came
	To the tank girt with flowery and honey-laden garden
	Fronting the temple – Tiru-p-Pulicchuram;
	He and his wife, each holding the one end
	Of a beauteous bamboo-staff descended into the tank.		(396)

38. 	When, holding the staff, they stepped into the tank,
	The Brahmin – the wearer of the white triple stripes
	Of the holy ash, addressed him thus:
	“Hold your wife by hand and do the immersion.”
	Then to the hearing of all, expressing his inability,
	He, the one flawless, narrated all the past happenings
	And then into the water immersed.				(397)

39. 	As the couple emerged after their immersion
	And moved to the bank, lo, they stood transformed;
	Gone was their old age; they looked lovely and young;
	Celestials and munis rained on them the flowers
	Of Karpaka and it looked as though they were having
	A second immersion, this time, into flowers.			(398)

40. 	As in that wondrous state they eyed the couple,
	They beheld not Him -- the Author of the Vedas --,
	That stood erewhile before them. “What may this be?”
	They marveled and were struck with mystery.
	Then they beheld Him and His Consort
	In the skyey expanse, on their Mount, the Bull.			(399)

41. 	They beheld Him and with folded hands adored Him;
	The celestials too that witnessed the glory of the couple,
	Hailed them in love; with his wife the devotee
	Praised and adored Him who was enthroned on the Bull
	In the splendorous expanse of ether.				(400)

42. 	The Lord-Dancer of the Ambalam, the God of gods, that visits
	The houses of every one of His devotees to make known
	Their true way of life, spake thus to the couple:
	“O ye glorious beyond reckoning, who conquered
	The (mutinous) flesh! Be for ever with Us
	Endowed with this perpetual youth!”
	The Lord then merged into His state of formlessness.		(401)

43. 	The mighty devotee and his wife of lustrous smile,
	Rosy lips, soft shoulder, and hair dark as river-bed sand,
	Poised in grace, lived a rare and virtuous life
	And attained Siva-Loka; graced with aeviternal youth
	-- Rare to com by --, they flourish in bliss unending.		(402)

44. 	Having humbly hailed to the extent known to me
	The glorious devotee who was free from delusion
	And who maintained the vow taken in the Lord’s name
	Without any one else knowing it in any way,
	I now proceed to narrate the divine service
	Of Yeyar Pakai, the merchant unflawed by falsity,
	Of Poompukar dight with cloud-capped mansions.			(403)

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Stanza	Line

  11		Keell		: 	A string of cloth worn on waist from which is 
					suspended kovanam.

		Kovanam		: 	A small loin-cloth.

		G.U. Pope says	:	“An ascetic mendicant wears a very scanty cloth, 
					suspended by a string round the waist.”  And that 
					is kovanam.

  15	 5	Sir		: 	The word in the original is ‘Nambi’ which as a noun 
					means, an honourable gentleman.  The Tamil word 
					lends itself to a pun in the context. Nambi also 
					means: ‘trusting’ ‘believing’.

  16		The suggestion is that the begging-bowl of Siva is an all-purifier. 
		The soul must empty Its all into that bowl.

  17		The words in the original viz., ‘Manai’ ‘ore marunku’ and ‘Kappuru 
		ellai’, it is said, are respectively symbolic of ‘the body’, ‘mind’ and 
		‘duty-consciousness’.

  20		cf. “Vicchatthinriye vilaivu seykuvaai”

					- The Tiruvachakam.

	 6	The Lord is the Creator and also the Absorbefacient.

  26	 1	“What more could you do? You yourself admit that you are jostled out your 
		sense.  Not being sane according to you own confession, your further 
		acts will be of no avail to you.”  The suggestion is that the devotee is now 
		denuded of his Pasu-botham, and is to be endowed with Pati-botham 
		(God’s own knowledge).

	 3	You play-act	:	The word in the original is ‘bhavakam’. It means 
		the devotee is a constant practitioner of meditation.  Like his wife he ever 
		ever contemplated the Blue Throat of the Lord.

		You aren’t ashamed of your sins:

		cf.  “Natavar pazhitthurai poonathuvaka”

					- The Tiruvachakam.

  37	 3	The tank 	: 	It is called Vyagrapada Tirtam.  It is since 
					known as “The tank of the Nayanar-youth” 
					(ilamai Nayanar kulam).

  42	1&2	cf. “Illangkall thorum yezhuntharuli”

					- The Tiruvachakam.

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