|
Home >
devotees >
the-puranam-of-thirunavukkarasar
Copy link
The Puranam of Thirunavukkarasar
(Thirunavukkarasar nayanar puranam - Periyapuranam as English poetry)
"He was stablished in salvation; Vita immortalis
Was his, He is Tirunavukkarasu;
I am a slave of his servitors."
- The Tiru-th-Tonda-th-Tokai.
1. Behold this! I mean to historicise the glorious life
Of Tirunavukkarasu ever poised in truth,
Also called Vakeesar, the tapaswi of Godly wisdom
Who lived that the world might flourish
By the ever-growing servitorship to the Lord,
Little realizing that there is no tongue in the great world
That can even attempt to articulate it. (1266)
2. There in the fecund land of Tirumunaippadi
Are lofty bejewelled buildings on whose tops
Floats the moon; perfect are the people there;
That ancient soil is by dust alone soiled. (1267)
3. Bamboo-bred pearls of Kurinji region
And heaps of blossoms from Mullai, are borne
By it, in its billows; on either side
It feeds the fields plied with ploughshares yoked
To huge buffaloes; thus does it course, the Pennai,
The river majestic, enriching the land. (1268)
4. Finny fish flourish in channels; from nodes
Of canes honey pours; sheaves of grains deck
Paddy crops; areca trees are rich in bunches;
Furrowed fields are a heap of pearls;
Ponds and tanks are with lotuses damasked;
The hospitable houses smoke incense. (1269)
5. In every village when farmers cut and gather
Sweet canes, juice therefrom seeps forth;
Honey-combs built around the canes burst
And honey pours down; these two join and flow
To the buzzing of bees, and break the sluices
Even as fresh-arrived freshes; the farmers
Throw into breaches lumps of jaggery fresh-made
To keep them in good repair. (1270)
6. Plantain-bunches resemble the trunks o tuskers;
Paddy plants, the visages of steeds; the huge carts;
The cars; the uproar of farmers, the din of infantry;
Thus is endowed every place with four-fold army. (1271)
7. Like damozels whose necks display jewels of nine gems,
Strutting about, the rows of fragrant areca trees
Wave their tops unable to bear the burden of their coiffures.
Pretty speckled bees wheel in noisy rounds;
The waters of the rising Pennai tossed by wind
Descend down to drench the groves and gardens. (1272)
8. Like clouds descending into the black ocean
The black buffaloes descend into tanks, to graze
Scented flowers; huge red-eyed fish big as calves,
Dash against their udders whence flows milch profuse;
As the buffaloes move and roll, the waves roll onto the shore. (1273)
9. With circling beetles as sapphire-bangles,
Red shoots as fingers, well-grown buds as nails,
With lofty groves as hands, Lady-Earth reaches
For the Moon -- the mirror --, to behold her image. (1274)
10. Cities are girt with forts; paddy heaps mark
Grain-fragrant fields; with resplendent
Ear-pendants comely chits gather in cornices;
Thither arrive nimbi and peacocks fronting each other
And there they dance their merry morris. (1275)
11. It is the land where Tirunavukkarasu and Alala Sundara
Were born, and caused the sinful paths turn
Into righteous ways of blue-throated Siva.
Is it in our power to sing the glories of Tirumunaipadi,
The city par excellence in this wide and great world? (1276)
12. In this land divine, there are many cities
Of lofty greatness poised in truth and foison;
Amongst them is Tiruvamoor; it is so called, as it fosters
The divine way of Sivam in all the seven worlds. (1277)
13. In that hoary city nothing languishes save the waists
Of heavy-bosomed belles; their anklets alone murmur;
Their girdles only wail; cornices alone spiral up;
That which informs even the low is flawless dharma;
That which moves away is only the way of evil;
Those that close in are only families of great renown. (1278)
14. The fields do reveal lilies blue; the full moon reveals
Its dark marks; the long streets are dight
With gemmy swings rocked by men; the pre-dawn blue
Reveals the din of tillers; the jars and the vessels
In mansions huge reveal wealth untold. (1279)
15. In that exemplary city peerless flourished families
Well-established in piety and righteous conduct;
Among those virtuous Velalas, Flourished
The flawless and hoary clan of Kurukkai. (1280)
16. From that clan haild Pukazhanar, whose glory
Filled the directions eight; he was of lofty disposition,
A true scion of the clan; he was a righteous householder
Who was ever hospitable; in ever-growing glory manifold
He lived, nay, flourished with his kith and kin. (1281)
17. His wife Matiniyar hailed from a matching clan,
Equally great and matchless; in due time she bore
A daughter fair known as Tilakavatiyar,
The equal of Lakshmi in beauty and virtue. (1282)
18. A few years later - a praise-worthy pause --,
Fro the flourishing of the limitless scriptures
And the saintly way, like the Sun the dispeller
Of world's murk, Marulneekkiyar made his avatar
To chase the inner murk of souls away. (1283)
19. After the birth of the beloved son ever-glorious, pukazhanar
Duly performed all the auspicious rites in great splendour;
His kith and kin showered presents on the child in joy;
Thus fostered, the babe crossed his infancy. (1284)
20. The ceremony of tonsure was done to Marulneekkiyar
To the great delight of a great many wise men;
Then people were plied with gifts which flowed like floods;
This done, he was initiated into the art of instruction
Which by enlightenment uncoils the coiled manam. (1285)
21. The father was steeped in delight and joy
As the son with intellect fully-blown
Mastered all the variform arts with ease
Thanks also to his pre-natal knowledge.
With wisdom full, the son shone a spotless moon. (1286)
22 Tilakavathiyar was then twelve summers old;
& Great men as messengers came forth, seeking
23. Her hand for Kalippakaiyar, the scion true
And leader of Velala clan of equal renown,
And also a great devotee of the Lord
Whose matted hair is red as lightning bright;
He was a great warrior of the crowned monarch,
A heroic lion in the field of war,
And a handsome hero, liberal and well-renowned. (1287) & (1288)
24. The great men duly broached the subject
Announcing the purpose of their coming.
The families, the clans and their traits were
Discussed in great frankness; then flawless Pukazhanar
Of great glory was pleased to accord his consent
For the wedding of his lovely daughter of fair hips. (1289)
25. The consent of the virgin's father was duly
To Kalippakaiyar conveyed; ere the wedding
Could take place, an invasion by Northerners
Took place; he ruler of the realm sent
For Kalippaka_yar, to rout the foes in the war. (1290)
26. Taking leave, he fared forth with his army
To give battle to the terrible foes;
After a few days' journey he met in all fury
The fierce foemen and fought against them;
He swam for long in the cruel main of war. (1291)
27. Whilst he was thus engaged, Pukazhanar
Of noble lineage, the father of the heavenly damsel,
As happens in this, the mutable world
By Karma, fell fatally ill and eventually
Departed for the heavenly world. (1292)
28. As he thus passed away, his noble wife
Matiniyar deeming her kin and children too
As nought of worth -- for her they were then less than dirt --,
Resolved to follow her lord, and by chaste suttee
Came by this beatitude. (1293)
29. After the death of the parents who gave birth to them,
Beauteous Tilakavatiyar and her brother,
The beloved Marulneekkiyar, stood bewildered by worry;
With their kinsfolk they were plunged in deep despair. (1294)
30. Consoled somewhat by the near kinsmen
And retrieved a trifle, from sorrowing,
They performed the obsequies for the departed souls;
Kalippakaiyar who fought for his monarch
Lost his life in the battle-field and gained Valhalla. (1295)
31. Word passed round that Kalippakaiyar who quelled
The foes in the field of battle at the king's behest,
Had died in battle; she who was like unto Lakshmi
Throned on red lotus -- Tilakavatiyar --, heard this. (1296)
32. "My father and mother had meant to wed me
To him; I am is by right; I'll therefore
Link this life with his." As she resolved thus
Marulneekkiyar fell down at her feet. (1297)
33. And much wailing said: "Even after the death
Of mother and father if I live, it is because
I am blessed to adore you every day; forsaking me
If you mean to depart, I'll surely pre-decease you."
Thus he spake in grief immersed. (1298)
34. "Live he must, the brother younger" she resolved
And it was pure mercy which thus compelled her will;
She sought not the ethereal world; she that would not
Bear the beauteous golden sacred cord, bore merely her life;
Thus she bore love benign for all beings that breathed;
Tilakavatiyar remained indoors poised in sheer askesis. (1299)
35. The misery of him whose mind is spotless, thus ended;
He grew to be a lad and realized even then
The impermanence of the ways of the world;
He dispensed wealth and gained glory on earth;
Impelled by mercy he stablished very many alms-houses
And also set up water-booths. (1300)
36. He reared gardens; pools and ponds he dug up;
He gave freely and with joy to those poised in piety;
He fed strangers; on pundits he showered gifts
And caused them increase; thus he practiced
Charity indispensable for all that dwell on earth. (1301)
37. He knew well the mutability of the world.
"I will not in this impermanence get involved."
Thus he resolved and totally renounced;
As the Lord had not yet blessed him with the knowledge
Of the ways of religions, he joined Jainism which throve
Lurking under the umbrage of the doctrine of non-killing. (1302)
38. To Pataliputra he repaired and found
His way into the assembly of the Jains;
Him the sly Jains strong in chicanery
Surrounded, and lulled him into thinking
That 'the way to liberation was here',
By deft glimpses projected bright as truth, but all false;
These they did to win him over to their fold. (1303)
39. To the study of all Jain works rare and great
He applied himself, heart and soul, and thus
Became in due time their supreme exponent;
The nude fraternity of the fat Jains, was
Over-joyed at his superiority and conferred
On him the title "Dharmasena par excellence." (1304)
40. With his mastery of Samana dactrines
And easy valiancy in disputation,
He vanquished the Buddhists who knew not
Aught about Chittha, the inner sensorium;
Thus he shone in splendour as the greatest Jain. (1305)
41. Whilst he flourished as a Jain eminent,
Tilakavatiyar firm-rooted in the ancient way of tapas
To snap all nexus with kith and kin, resolved to tread
of the Lord's h_llowed feet. (1306)
42. The matron who in love willed to fee herself
From the ever-binding Pasa, repaired
To Tiruvatikai Veerattanam -- great, glorious
And stablished in grace --, on the northern bank
Of the divine Gedilam. (1307)
43. She haild the Lord there, very like a hill
Of incarnadine coral; from that day
She wore the marks of Saivism and with longing
Plied her hands in divine deeds of service. (1308)
44. Before day-break she would sweep clean the yard
And with blemishless cow-dung do the coating;
Flowers she would gather and weave them
Into wreaths and garlands; good many were her services
And the servitors of the Lord greatly admired them. (1309)
45. Whilst thus every day she served and adored humbly
The Lord in ever-growing love, her heart was
Aching for her brother fallen
Into the alien fold by reason of (his) evil past. (1310)
46. Tilakavatiyar, the tapas-inducing light,
Would worship the ever-effulgent Light,
And pray thus: "If you deign to redeem me
You should lift my brother from the pit
Of perdition." Thus she prayed for days without number. (1311)
47. "With mats for their habit, they pluck their hair,
And eat standing, thinking these to be tapas;
He fell among these; him let Your mercy
Retrieve." Thus when Tilakavatiyar who had
Her being in Siva, prayed, the gracious Lord --
The Canceller of birth-bound deeds --, was pleased. (1312)
48. The Rider of the Bull appeared in the dream
Of the tapaswini and said: "Let your sorrow cease;
Your brother, of yore a saint, had wrought
Tapas to attain Me; I would now claim him
Afflicting him with a dire stomach-ache. (1313)
49. The Lord whose forehead doth an eye display
Through a stomach-ache had willed, to redeem him,
Who in his previous birth, had a little
Swerved from the path of righteous tapas;
Pat it burnt fierce into his bowels. (1314)
50. The fierce ache that invaded the bowels
Of Dharmasena who companied with the ungodly,
Had the combined effect
Of Vatava, the ever-burning ocean-flame,
Curst venom, diamond sharp and all things
Of like nature; as it coursed furrowing
Through the intestines, pain and fear seized him,
And down he fell in his cloistered room. (1315)
51. When he tried to conquer it by mantra,
Medicine and the like he had mastered him sore,
The pain but increased and grieved him sore,
Aye, more and more, till he swooned as though
His brain-cells had burst owing to a snake-bite. (1316)
52. The Jains who do fettering deeds and call it tapas
Finding him in such plight, gathered round him
And exclaimed thus: "He ails from an unheard of ache,
Fierce and venomous; what can we do at all?"
They felt utterly undone. (1317)
53. The obdurate Jains with sore-ridden pates
Were perplexed; they chanted incantations
Over their jugs and made him drink the water thereof,
All in vain; him they caressed from head to foot
Softly with the pea-cock feathers; the ache alas
Only got exacerbated. (1318)
54. Finding the illness of Dharmasena
Of spotless fame, not a whit abating,
They cried: "What can we do alas? Cure this
We cannot." They but moved away bewildered. (1319)
55. Him the base abandoned; as the ache grew
Shaper and sharper, all forlorn, his mind
Dwelt on helpful kin; it struck him that his sister
Tilakavatiyar could succour him; he dispatched
His cook to inform her of his plight. (1320)
56. He reached Tiruvatikai and espied without
The fragrant garden the saintly matron;
He worshipped her and exclaimed: "I am here
By the hest of your brother." Hearing this
She asked: "Has aught of evil him befallen?" (1321)
57. He replied: "An ache in stomach twisting
His intestines, is killing him without ending him;
He is beyond cure; they have all, aye abandoned Him;
He desires this to be conveyed to your good self;
He seeks redemptive message from you, and has
Bidden me to come back to him under cover of night." (1322)
58. When he spake thus, she said: "Never would I
Go forth with you to the assembly of Jains
That knows nought of g_odness; go, tell him so."
Thus told, he returned and reported to him
What Tilakavatiyar said, verbatim. (1323)
59. When he heard the report, he cried: "What am I
To do for this?" Now came the time when grace of God
Was to visit him; he said: "To end this endless misery
I'll give up this base religion and hold fast
To the feet of Tilakavatiyar poised in the pious way." (1324)
60. When thus the redemptive thought rose up in him
He chose to implement it; bewilderment then quit him;
He threw away his garment of mat, sling-borne jug
And the bunch of peacock-feathers; up he rose and moved away. (1325)
61. To quit the false Jains for good and to reach
The goodly path of Him of Truth absolute,
He wound himself with a cloak of pure white,
And leaning on them that would help him walk,
Left for Tiruvatikai, the city of saints, by night unseen. (1326)
62. With the burning ache wheeling its singeing course
In his stomach, led on by a welling-up desire great,
Plodding his weary way he reached the divine matam
Of Tilakavatiyar, that stood fronting
The rock-like fort-wall of Tiruvatikai. (1327)
63. The very moment he came there, down he fell
At the feet of Tilakavatiyar and spake thus:
"You are the crown of our clan's askesis!
The inexorable ache hath driven me to you;
Pray, bless me with the word that will end my bewilderment
And help me reach the shore of salvation." (1328)
64. Looking at the grieving brother who lay
At her feet, her thought alighted on God's grace;
With folded hands she adored Him and said:
"You did sure wallow in the alien pit
Of vile irreligion, suffering much; RISE!" (1329)
65. Marulneekiyar who heard the blessed word,
Rose up in fear, still in the grip of the vile ache
And adored her; the great tapaswini said:
"Know this to be of the grace of the Lord of matted hair;
He cuts the bonds of those who attain His feet;
Adore Him and render service." Thus she bade him. (1330)
66. Meekly did he submit to her command
And adored her; the tapaswini invoked
The grace great of the immaculate Lord
To make him fit to enter Tiruveerattam;
She chanted the Panchakshara and gave him
The holy ash of the Lord of Mount Kailas. (1331)
67. Tilakavatiyar graced him with the holy ash
Of the Lord, the Grantor of eternal life;
The great one bowed low and received it, convinced
That magna vita was hereafter his; he applied it
On his person as ordained, and followed her, his redeemer. (1332)
68. At the hour of pre-dawn divine which did away
With the inner murk of his who wore the sacred ash
And the inky darkness of the night,
The humble tapaswini with broom, cow-dung and pot,
All holy --, entered the temple of the Lord --
The Wearer of coursing river in His crown --,
Leading him that sought in her the palladium. (1333)
69. Adoring the great temple of Veerattam
On the bank of the billowy Gedilam, wherein is
Enshrined the Lord whose bow is the Mount Meru,
He circumambulated it; when in adoration deep
He fell prostrate, he was blessed
With an easy valiancy to weave garlands of psalms
Fit for the Lord. (1334)
70. With his body smeared with the holy ash
And his God-loving mind filled with increasing devotion,
To have his disease and delusion destroyed, he hymned
The Lord-Brahmin who burnt the triple cities of foes;
His divine decad of hymns oped thus:
"You haven't destroyed the death-like (disease so far)."
This flawless decad sublime, he sang fronting the Lord
That the sorrows of all the seven worlds might get wiped out. (1335)
71. When he completed the deathless decad
The cruel ache kind that grieved him sore
Instantaneously quit him for good.
The ache he thought, in truth, did confer on him
Life and Grace; blessed now with the grace of the Lord
That hath his dwelling in the righteous heart,
He stood immersed in the sea of God's mercy
With the clear wisdom of blissful beatitude. (1336)
72. All the hair on his body stood erect in thrill great;
Tears of joy from his eyes poured down;
He rolled on earth ecstatically and cried:
_Self-willed I sinned and fell down but the flood
Of Your grace bore me aloft and conveyed me
To safety, otherwise inaccessible to poor me;
Do I merit this?" Thoughts as these welled up
In him and flowed out as prayers. (1337)
73. "I wallowed in the alien fold of Jainism
Which breeds falsehoods disguised as truth;
Long did I lie immersed in the horrible pit
Companying with the intolerant Jains
Doing deeds of perdition; how can I ever hope
To discharge my debt of gratitude
To the ache of stomach which set me
On the path leading to the Lord's feet
Whose consort, of perfumed locks, is the daughter
Of great Himavant?" Thus he hailed it. (1338)
74. At this fitting hour, by the glorious grace of the Lord
Of Veerattam, an unbodied voice from the cloudy sky,
To the hearing of all that stood marveling, spake thus:
"As you have in tuneful harmony of Tamil's majesty, sung
The ambrosial decad, a rich wreath of word-blossoms,
Your goodly name will in all the seven worlds be
Endearing known as "Navukkarasu." (1339)
75. As it thus happened to him, the lord of language
Thought: "Do I merit this great beatitude?
Even I, who for long was by an evil mind possessed?"
He then thought of the Lord's great grace of Ravana
Who like him, not witting the glory of God
Blasphemed Him and sinned: as he was by the Lord
In a like manner blessed, he resolved to praise that very grace
And ever hail it in humble worship. (1340)
76. "Thus graced by the adorable and merciful Lord
Arasu has hither come, that the way of Jains
Who pluck their hair (as practitioners of religion)
May perish and the world flourish." So spake the servitor
Gathering everywhere; Tiruvatikai, full of such devotees
With the music of drum, tampatta, tudi,
Matthala, yazh, kilai, tuntupi and mani
And with rows of resounding conches, roared like a sea. (1341)
77. Having quit the confounding path, Vakeesar felt
Marked by delight great; to render service divine
With body, mind and word, he wore the marks
Of Saivism; godly consciousness pervaded him;
Endless holy hymns streamed from his lips;
Uzhavaram decked his hand; thus he stood
Poised in manual service with a melting heart. (1342)
78. By reason of her love to render true service to the peerless Lord
Of the celestials, her longing for the Lord's ankleted feet
Met with fruition; he tapaswini of that hallowed town
Was granted the boon she sought; she hailed the Lord thus:
'Who was ever blessed with the loving-kindness like unto that
With which the Lord had blessed us? He deemed even me
As worthy, and cured my brother at once
Of his false religion and malady." (1343)
79. The Jains of the hoary city of Pataliputra
That only performed base deeds, heard
Of his relief from misery and his attainment
Of abounding grace and also the Saivite path;
This they could not stomach at all. (1344)
80. "As the stomach-ache of Dharmasena could be
Cured by no one here, seeking succour, he left us;
Now a great Saivite, he stands freed of his malady;
Our great and proper religion has fallen, for sure."
Thus they spake bewildered. (1345)
81. They grieved sore that Jainism which was by him
Firm established by the conquest of contending religions,
Had met with its annihilation; they that claimed
That they would never kill or utter falsehood,
But did only evil deeds, with their peacock-feathers
And heads hanging low, assembled in secrecy. (1346)
82. Thus gathered many Jains in misery.
"Should the king come to know of the true happening
He would grow wroth, himself become a Saivite
And make us jobless; what shall we do now?"
Thus on deliberate deception they turned their thoughts. (1347)
83. "As his elder sister thrives in Saivism,
Dharmasena, under the false pretext
Of an uncured ache of stomach, went thither
Causing damage hither, forsaking and blaspheming
Our faith; thus let us report." So they settled it clearly. (1348)
84. The evil-minded resolved to do as agreed upon.
"We will fare forth first to report to the King."
Thus they, and in this _ttempt they gathered
Like the powers of darkness, and came
To the city of the Pallava-King. (1349)
85. The nude crowd that eats standing and in silence,
Arriving at the palace-gate told the ostiary thus:
"Inform the king of our gathered arrival."
The porter awaited the opportune hour,
Then went in to inform thus the king. (1350)
86. "All the servitors, wasted in grief, have come, and are
At the palace-gate where the pennant flutters from its mast.
Thus informed, as the king, the wielder of a sharp spear,
Was of their faith, besieged by worry, spake thus:
"What may the reason be that they hasten here in their strength?"(1351)
87. The porters showed them in and the peripatetics
Came to the presence of the king and unfolded thus
Their fabrication to him: "Our leader Dharmasena
Under the pretext of stomach-ailment had ditched us
And become a servitor of the God of matted hair;
He had forsworn our faith." (1352)
88. The Pallava of fragrant wreath, grew wroth excessively
And said: "Prompted by a blame-worthy mind,
Under the guise of a chimerical malady, could he
Ditch our great and glorious faith? O ye of endless tapas!
What should be done for this?" Thus he, in anger. (1353)
89. "He had played false to the lofty and sublime religion;
He had thus harmed your hoary way well-established;
Put him to torture." Thus they spake by fear untouched;
Even thus they spake, the base sinners who professed
Non-killing but ever trod the false way. (1354)
90. The king deemed delusion to be wisdom; he was
Bereft of mercy; he spake thus to his ministers:
"Apprehend the evil one about whom these wise men
Spake to us, and see to it that makes on escape
Through bribery; bring him to book." (1355)
91. In obedience to the royal mandate, with an army
Marching to the beat of drums, the ministers hied
To Tiruvatikai girt with cloud-capped gardens fragrant
And came to him that had clean cut away
The fetters of the foreign faith. (1356)
92. The ministers and warriors who came there
Stood encircling him, the servitor of the Lord-Brahmin
Whose matted hair flashes like lightning-clusters,
And said: "The king had commanded us, this day,
To secure you to his presence; go with us."
When thus spoken to, he, the perfect tapaswi,
Faced them straight and answered them thus. (1357)
93. "W are ruled by none." Thus he began to hymn
And in sweet Tamil dulcet, hailed the Lord,
-- The Master of our Gospels; the One that wears
On His matted hair the moist moon and the Ganga --;
It was a garland rich, a decad of divine tanndakas;
He then said; "We are beyond the pale of your behest." (1358)
94. When thus the kingly servitor spake, the ministers
Fell at his feet and prayed to him; thus entreated
The servitor of the Lord whose banner sports the Bull,
Went with them thinking the Lord would be
Aidant and remediate, whatever the happenings be;
He acquiesced in their action; they took him
To the palace of the martial and wrathful monarch
And caused their arrival to be announced. (1359)
95. The Pallava who heard it, addressed the Jains
Whose habiliments were mats, thus: "What should be
Done unto him? Declare." Then the hare-brained ones
Who had deserted dharma and salvation, untouched by fear,
Said: "Lock him in the lime-kiln." (1360)
96. The king then told them thus that were nearby: "Do so."
When the cruel ruler of exceeding wrath spake thus,
They put the great one inside the kiln in which
Fierce fire that could smelt, was raging;
They barred it with many bolts and locks, effectively. (1361)
97. When the servitor ruled by the Lord entered the kiln
He bore on his crown the grace of the divine feet
Of the Lord that dances in the Ambalam and thought thus:
"Can ever troubles assail the devotees of the Supreme One?"
Thus he hymned a divine decad and through his mind
Panoplied in resolute trust, beheld the First One and prayed. (1362)
98. The kiln raging in spiraling heat, became like unto
The cool pool rich in lotuses and blown over by the southerly
In sprin_ time; eke was it like the full moon's white beams;
To these was added the soft strumming of yazh; in sooth
The coolth was like unto the shade of Lord's gracious feet. (1363)
99. He adored the feet of the Lord -- the nectar that is
By love yielded, the Creator of all entia,
Our Lord-god, the Almighty, the Wearer of Pinggnaka,
Who rules the cosmos, the One who is sweet to hail,
The Lord in whose crest rest the flawless crescent
And the long Ganga ever-during --,
And abode in bliss unalloyed. (1364)
100. After a sennight, the Pallava bade the senseless Jains
To look into the lime-kiln; the benighted Jains,
Who were like the assemblage of dark murky nights,
-- The ever-deluded --, oped the lime-kiln. (1365)
101. Immersed in flood of bliss, he shone clear
Having drunk of the nectar gushing
From the honied flower-feed of the lord; flawless was he;
He was brimming with happiness; when they beheld him,
They said "He is not a whit by harm afflicted;
What wonder is this? (1366)
102. "This is no wonder; by reason of the training
He has had in Jainism he thrives deathless."
Thus they reported to the king and added:
"Wisdon demands that he be fed with cruel venom."
Thus spake they -- the constant practitioners of evil --,
With their stinking mouths. (1367)
103. When the king who was spoilt by his association
With the evil Jains, heard this, he said:
"Feed him with poison," Then the hostile Jains
Caused Tirunavukkarasu partake of rice
Mixed with milk and dreaded venom. (1368)
104. The servitor who was blessed with the valiancy
To demonstrate unto the world the glories of the lord
Of ruddy hair, fully aware of the deception
Of the hypocrites, ate the poisonous food provided
By the evil Jains, firm-resolved that unto the devotees
Of the Lord, poison indeed was nectar.
Lo, the venom caused him no harm at all. (1369)
105. If by the hallowed lord whose divine frame is
Adorned with the Holy Ash, the ancient venom
That would annihilate all the worlds, would turn
Into nectar, annulling misery, is it then
A wonder that for the servitors of pasupati,
Venom should indeed turn into nectar. (1370)
106. As the servitor ruled by the Lord , was unharmed
Even when he consumed poison, the Jains were forced to own
That dreaded venom too was nectar for him; so were they
With fear overwhelmed; then they thought thus: "If he
Meets not with death, his survival shall be our doom!"
Thus resolved they proceeded to report to the king
Who acted hostilely (towards the true devotee). (1371)
107. "Though fed with poisonous victuals, he forfended
The fatal consequence by virtue of the mantras
Which he had cultivated thanks to our religion
And which nullify the effect of poison; should he
Survive, our life and your reign will end, for sure."
Thus they, spake, established in the evil way. (1372)
108. "When the spoilt King heard them, he said:
"How shall we punish him that has destroyed our faith?"
In reply they said: "That we may counter
His mantras, you have him trodden over
By your royal tusker mighty." (1373)
109. The Jain-sinners of utmost baseness said:
"Have him run over by the musty mammoth."
The King who was duty-bound to guard the world
But was bent on hellish deed, commanded
That his wrathful and murderous tusker be made
To trample the crown of Saint Vakeesa. (1374)
110. Came there the elephant of peerless strength, destroying
The yards where tuskers were ychained;
It moved like a hill and tore apart mansions;
It pulled down mantapams; over the heads
Of them that wielded the ankus, it stamped;
Lo, the raging mammoth, musty and mad,
Was fiercer than even Death. (1375)
111. Snapping the thick rope set round its neck,
Breaking the chains fastened around its legs,
Scaring the feathered race that winged above,
Unmindful of the pelting of clay-balls,
Swaying its trunk like a swing, trumpeting loud in wrath,
Moving massively, striking terror, like a musty hill
In appearance, ran the tusker whence rained fragrant icho_. (1376)
112. By its thunderclap-trumpeting, it scared the tuskers
That ever guard the cardinal points; earth quaked
As it planted thereon its mighty foot;
With tempestuous velocity like the vatava flame
That devours the universe at the end of the Yuga
In upsurging wrath and speed ran the tusker. (1377)
113. The tusker of the murderous trunk, verily a hill,
With its twin tusks that were truly diamond blades
Destroyed the herds of steeds that passed nearby
And rent into two, walls and pials,
Pulling them out, piece by piece.
Eke did it destroy their ornamental parts
And eventually came into the open. (1378)
114. The false and cruel Jains, ripe in evil, plied
The tusker of murderous trunk -- verily a black hill,
Before Tirunavukkarasar and caused it charge him.
He remained however undaunted; he but meditated
On the feet of the Lord who blazes on His Bull. (1379)
115. The great and glorious one, the prince of tapas,
Beholding the tusker that was set on him,
Invokes the Lord of gods who lovingly rides the Bull,
With the hymn; Sunna Venn Santana Santu ....
He sings the divine decad in delight great
That the world may stand redeemed. (1380)
116. Facing the mad and irate mammoth set on him
By the diabolical Jains, he hymned in Tamil thus:
"We are the servitor of the Dancer who sports
The matted hair, long and incarnadine,
The supreme Lord of gods,
The wielder of the three-pronged trident,
The God of Veerattam! We have nothing to dread at all." (1381)
117. He hymned the gracious Tamil garlands,
Stablished in the palladium of his God;
The divine servitor was truly love incarnate;
The tusker circumambulated him and bowed;
It fell on earth, worshipped him and rose up;
Men in all directions witnessed this. (1382)
118. When the elephant thus adored the Lord's servitor,
And moved away, the cruel mahouts goaded it
To charge him; they blocked its passage,
Turned it against him and with ankus
Pierced its pachyderm; thus teased again and again
The tusker smote them all and began to attack the Jains. (1383)
119. The tusker ran after them, charged them,
Smote them, attacked them, rent them
And killed a good many of them; it shook
The whole city; it was like unto Mount Mandra
Which of yore stirred and churned the vast ocean;
The beast but wrought havoc for the monarch. (1384)
120. The base Jains that escaped the tusker,
Forfeited of honour and besieged by misery,
Stood bewildered; they went to the king
-- The lord of armies and ruler of the world --,
And severally fell at his feet and wailed aloud.
The sovereign who had abjured the lofty way
Then in ire asked them thus: "What shall we do now?" (1385)
121. From the 'mutti' state he had learnt
From our own faith, he has annulled
Our sorcery and caused it to boomerang.
Only when he who through (your) tusker shattered
Your glory, dies, the dishonour that had visited you
Would vanish, like smoke that would cease to be
Once the belching fire is put out. (1386)
122. When the benighted Jains spake thus, the great sinner
Of a king said: "How should we deal with him
That hath destroyed our hoary faith and caused us misery?"
Thus questioned the truculent Jains said:
"Fasten him to a stone throw him into the sea." (1387)
123. The king who heard them, commanded the punishers thus:
"Take with you him that wrought the evil, safely;
Fasten him with a rope to a stone; convey him in a boat
And throw him into the roaring main." (1388)
124. The cruel Jains joined the executioners;
Tirunavukkarasar went with them that his pious heart
Might shine the more glorious; as ordered by the king
The base wrought the deed in the sea. (1389)
125. When they left him having done the deed,
He that was thrown into the sea of incomparable depth
-- The servitor true, armed in Godly strength --,
Resolved thus: "Come what may; I'll hail my Father."
Then in opulent Tamil he hymned Siva-Panchakshara. (1390)
126. With the pure and sublime words: "Sol Tunai Vetiyan"
He began to sing his divine Tamil garla_d;
He hymned the decad holding fast thereto
In loving consciousness NaMaSiVaYa, the Panchakshara,
That abides with one and saves one from misery. (1391)
127. As he in flooding love held fast to the Panchakshara
Which is not to be adequately hailed even by Brahma
And other immortals, and as he truly hailed it
The stone began to float on the dark sea. (1392)
128. The huge stone served as a throne for Arasu
And became a float; the tight rope that fastened
His divine person, got snapped; the servitor --
True and great, shone unharmed resplendent. (1393)
129. If the Panchakshara, can help embodied lives
Fastened to the stone of Anava with the ropes
Of twyfold deeds and thrown into the sea of life
Reach the shore of eternal life without getting drowned,
Is it then a wonder that it wafted ashore Arasu
Fastened to a mere stone, from this sea? (1394)
130. With his billowy hands Varuna upbore
Tirunavukkarasu -- the embodiment of compassion,
The one borne aloft by the mystic pentad --,
Fully conscious of his glory; great indeed is
The tapas wrought by Varuna, of yore,
To bear on his crown the holy servitor. (1395)
131. Ever-glorious Varuna converting the black stone
Into a palanquin, bore the lord of the Logos;
Blessed to carry him thus, he conveyed him
Near to flowery Tiruppatirippuliyoor. (1396)
132. Holy throngs of devotees -- tapaswis true --, gathered
In the holy place at which the servitor arrived
And roared vociferously in delight great;
Like the sound of "Hara!Hara!" issuing from
All directions, the billowy main too resounded. (1397)
133. Worshipful Tirunavukkarasar with the holy company
Adored the Lord of Tiruppatirippuliyoor who sports
In his matted hair the white crescent; he prostrated
Before Him, rose up and sang hymns that the way
Of divine grace might in the world shine very well. (1398)
134. His hymn began thus: "He is Mother and Father too."
The hymn ended thus: "He is the invisible aid to His devotees."
With this and other hymns he lauded the Lord
That bears on His crown the Ganga that flows from the heavens,
The One that is the Witness true to all the lives,
In garlands of cool and merciful Tamil. (1399)
135. He hymned similar prosperous garlands of Tamil verse
And sojourned there; impelled by a loving desire
To hail the feet of the Lord, the Rider of the ever-young
And victorious Bull, enshrined at Veerattam,
He left for Tiruvatikai where abides the Lord who gutted
With fire the triple hostile skyey cities. (1400)
136. On the way he hailed the Lord of gods enshrined
At Tirumanikuzhi and Tirutthinainakar and hymned Him
In psalm and song solemn strain;
As he plied his steps onwards, incense breathed by flowers
Laved his sacred feet; thus the lord of words whose import
Is divine, fared forth and crossed the river Gedilam. (1401)
137. After having overcome all the cruel and evil deeds
Of the diabolic Jains, when the Lord of Tamil sweet
Marched forth triumphantly, the dwellers of Tiruvatikai
Rich in cloud-capped mansions, to receive him gloriously
Caused the resounding of musical instruments
And announced auspiciously his arrival. (1402)
138. Broad and beauteous festoons, rich bunches of areca
And plantains of long leaves, they planted fittingly;
They dangled fresh and flawless and ever-bright
Garlands on towers and turrets and pials; they coasted red
The floor of the earth before each house and the pials too;
Thus they made the beauteous city even more beauteous. (1403)
139. The citizens of the prosperous city abounding in abiding love
And their women decked with choice jewels, caused
The flourish of trumpets and drums; vocal music sevenfold
Pervaded everywhere; gold-dust, fresh flowers and puffed rice
Were mixed and strewn; then the dwellers of the city
Came to its outskirts, circled the servitor and received him. (1404)
140. His golden frame was smeared with the holy ash,
Pure and white; garlands of rudraksha dangled
From his person; his chinta was ever engaged
In the service of gently pressing t_e Lord's roseate feet;
Melting love gushing forth rained as tears from his eyes;
His crimson lips hymned the words of decades
Surcharged with redemptive grace; such was he
That stepped into the street. (1405)
141. Beholders raised their hands above their heads
In adoration, and said: "Having beheld this
Incarnation of compassion, how could the Jains
Of prideful evil deeds, be incensed to harm him?"
They adored the Lord who claimed his servitorship. (1406)
142. Thus hailed by innumerable men and women
He fared forth with the holy company of devotees
From whom blazed the lustre of the holy ash;
Then the servitor came to Tiruveerattanam
Where abides the Lord whose hue is ruddy as coral. (1407)
143. He moved into the shrine of the Lord of the celestials
Who claimed and ruled him, and he adored Him;
He was immersed in the bliss born of trusted love
And devotion deep; rueing his past he hymned thus:
"O poor me, to have jeered at my Lord in the past!"
He sang tandakas in exquisite Tamil and thus flourished. (1408)
144. The Lord who is inaccessible to Vishnu and Brahma
Is easy of access to His devotee; He is the nectar
Abiding at Tiruvatikai Veerattam girt with
The extending river; Him did Tirunavukkarasar
Of incomprehensible greatness hail in splendid Tamil
With his mind poised in love; he hymned many many decades,
And served the Lord and thus spent his days. (1409)
145. The Pallava who pursued the course of ill- treatment
At the instance of the hare-brained Jains, severed
All nexus with them, as his fettering Karma came to an end;
Thither he came and bowed before the Lord's servitor;
Having quit the cruel Jains, he embraced the faith
Of the Lord who rides the ever-young Bull. (1410)
146. The Kadava King who came to con the falsity
Of the jains who knew not the way to salvation,
Came by truth; he razed all the shrines
And mutts of the Jains at Pataliputra, and with
Their spoils brought to Tiruvatikai, raised the temble
Gunaparaveechharam for the brow-eyed Lord. (1411)
147. During these days, the king of Tamil sweet
-- The divine saint Vakeesa -- , rendered manifold service;
He then desired to visit the many shrines of the Lord
Who sports a snake on His crown which wears
The crescent, adore thereat, hymn His name divine
In Tamil, and thus serve Him. (1412)
148. He worshipped Tiruvennainalloor which is near
Tiruvatikai, grace-abounding Tiruvamatthoor,
Tirukkovaloor and other shrines; he hymned
Opulent decades of Tamil and by love impelled
Fared forth and reached Tiruppennakadam
Where the Rider of the Bull abides in love
And joy ever-crescent. (1413)
149. He entered that auspicious city where the Brahmins
Fostered the chanted Vedas and where clouds rested
On the tops of mansions; he, the divine saint,
Hailed by all the world, adored and hailed
The ever abiding Tirutthoongkaanaimadam
Of the Lord of matted hair and hymned it. (1414)
150. "I'll no longer suffer life to abide in this body
Contaminated by its contact with base Jainism;
So, my lord, you should inscribe on me, your signum
That I may choose to survive." Thus he sang
A rich garland of verse before the Lord. (1415)
151. "To Your golden feet I address my petition!"
Thus he began his hymn to the Lord-God,
-- The Origin and End of all entia, the Lord
Who is concorporate with His consort Uma,
Sankara, the Conferrer of weal --; he gloriously hymned
There Tiruviruttham truly hailing His goodly names. (1416)
152. By the grace of the Lord whose beauteous bow
Is the auric Mount Meru and who abides at the ever-divine
Tirutthoongkaanaimadam, a Siva-Bhoota
Invisible to them that were nearby, came there
And imprinted on Vakeesa's beauteous shoulders
The marks of the effulgent three-leaved trident
And the wrathful Bull of the Lord. (1417)
153. He beheld on his beauteous shoulders, the sacred marks;
His mind rejoiced; thinking of the grace of his Lord
His eyes rained tears in unending continuum;
Adoring, he fell on earth and was by love possessed;
His chinta grew s_blime and lofty beyond measure;
"Lo, I stand redeemed!" he cried and rose up. (1418)
154. He hailed the feet of the lord of Toongkaanaimadam,
Verily a shoot of ethereal flame, and rendered
Fitting service; he willingly sojourned there
Some days poised in service; he also hailed the Lord
That abides in peerless Tiruvaratthurai which breathes
A sylvan fragrance and Tirumuthukunram girt with
Gardens over whose tops the sailing clouds rests. (1419)
155. He composed flower-soft garlands of Tamil verse
And adored the holy places nearby, rich in cool fords
Where the Lord of the Bull non-pareil abides; Him he
Hailed in the nearby shrines too and fared forth
Eastward on the bank of the river Niva
Flanked by many lotus ponds and pools. (1420)
156. To come by the fruit of life and embodiment
He desired to adore the feet of the Lord whose matted hair
Decked with flowers, displays the coursing Ganga
And who dances in the ever-glorious Tillai-Ambalam;
He hied and came near Tiruppuliyoor
Girt with flowery gardens melliferous. (1421)
157. When Tirunavukkarasar came to the sacred bourne
Of Tillai where the Lord unknowable by Vishnu
And Brahma, dances, he fell sheer on earth
In adoration devout; with impassioned love sprialling
He passed through the way that lay across
Gardens where peacocks danced in joy fronting each other,
And the cool fields of Marutam whose tanks were
Thick with fragrant lotuses resembling visages. (1422)
158. Near tanks of honied and dense-petalled lotuses
Where graze old buffaloes, are very tall bamboos
Growing thick like a jungle; sugar-canes that grow here
Are equally tall and from their nodes are showered
Ripe pearls; it looks as though that these, beholding
The sacred feet of the great servitor, are raining tears
From their eyes; fields of such fecundity
Flourish everywhere in this realm. (1423)
159. "Behold him coming, Tirunavukkarasar
Of Wisdom par excellence! As he moves onward
The fields recede; give up the ways that fetter you
To embodiment; come hither that the shackles
Of twyfold deeds that bind you, may break."
Thus sang koels perched on the twigs and branches
Of tree in the sacred groves; he beheld these
Groves and gardens fronting him. (1424)
160. As he came bowing in adoration, on all sides
Over beauteous branches on which perched
Parakeets of growing feathers, and pretty starlings,
Beholding the form divine of the lofty king
Of the Tamil tongue who was poised
In supreme servitorship thanks to his tapas of yore,
Saying, "What wonder is this!" flew before him
And chanted "Hara! Hara!" the words with which
Lord Siva is hailed, by reason of their past training. (1425)
161. When thus they chanted before him the beauteous words
Of the Vedas, he too bowed; as in his mind
Already full of grace, joy and love and devotion deep
Began to well up, his words became incoherent;
Thus he came to the beauteous western tower
Capped by clouds and girt with a vast fort
And situated at the boundary of the hallowed city of Tillai
Where the Brahmins chant the holy words of the Vedas. (1426)
162. Thither was he received by them whose sole wealth
Was tapas which could end the misery of embodiment;
With them he entered through the beauteous tower
Near which wafted the scent of water fresh;
He adored the sacred street in front of him,
The street which fosterd Sivam, the street where
Flourish the mansions of Tillai-Brahmins --
The masters of the great Vedas and many a bible
Of instruction, the wealthy citizens who ever
Hail the feet of Lord Siva, the Ruler of all --,
And stepped into it. (1427)
163. Here get scattered the crest-jewels of the celestial rulers
Who get jostled when they throngs to behold the Lord;
The divine street is also decked with long rows of chains
Of ninefold gems and fragrant wreaths;
Vayu who does the service of sweeping, sweeps these away
And Varuna does the service of washing;
Finding their services to be flawed and imperfect
Worshipful devotees sweep and wash the street afresh. (142_)
164. He duly adored the beauteous street thick with pennants
Through which even the rays of the sun cloud not pierce;
Again he fell on earth in adoration deep at the tower
That rose up in the west, where prayers of devotees
Merged with the resounding of the world-redeeming Vedas
Prayerfully invoked by goodly saints, and moved in. (1429)
165. He circumambulated the auric Tirumalikai-p-patthi
Capped by beauteous clouds; a sad and measurelessly
Passionate love sea-like, verily possessed him
And the hair on his person stood erect, thrilled;
He entered through the golden tower of redemptive grace;
Here he beheld before Him the Ponnambalam where the Lord
Whose throat is blued by venom, enacts His dance. (1430)
166. The Ambalam that glowed with the light of liberation,
The ever-increasing gnosis, tallied with that
His mind had already envisioned; it was now
Before him, a visual reality; with a beatitude
Of bliss born of sheer love, he was now endowed;
He drank of the nectarean dance of the Lord's
Ankleted feet -- not to be clearly comprehened by
The questing Vishnu, Brahma, the celestials and also lives
Of variform embodiment --, insatiate. (1431)
167. His hands of their own accord folded above his head
In adoration; his eyes rained tears endlessly;
His organs of inner sensorium thawed in love;
No sooner would his beatific body fall on earth in worship
Than would it rise up quick in adoration;
Immeasurable grew his impassioned love
When he beheld the dance divine of the Supreme Lord
Whose matted hair cascades like lightning-clusters. (1432)
168. As he fell down in adoration and rose up to worship,
Times without number, he divined subtly
The Lord's question: "When did you come, dear one?"
From the dance divine enacted in the Ambalam
Flooded mercy yielded by grace; blessed
With that true bliss he hymned the divine psalms
Of Tiruviruttham, and again impelled by spiraling love
He sang the melodic Tiru-nerisai-mozhi. (1433)
169. "I am no devotee who can truly hymn you!"
Thus he melodised and thus completed it:
"O father, behold this servitor that hath come
To eye Your dance!" With this hymn and hymns
Such-like, he hailed Him in sweet garlands
Of Tamil verse; borne then by a love to render
Manual service, he moved out thence. (1434)
170. In the divine yards of the shrine ablaze with gems
And in the sacred streets where waft streamers tall
And through which ply auric chariots bejewelled,
He rendered fitting service; he spent his time
In worship and he hymned pure psalms
With his practiced lips. (1435)
171. Bubbling with great and gracious joy, he sang
The decad beginning thus: "Annam Palikkum
Tillai" and such other Tirukkuruntokais;
With his holy Uzhavaram, he rendered
Divine and magnificent service, upborne
By upsurging love; tears bedewed his person
Which blazed with white patches of the holy ash. (1436)
172. As he thus throve, poised in manifold service
He fared forth to Tiruvetkalam and adored
And hymned the Lord whose banner sports
The Bull; then he repaired to Tirukkazhippalai
Where the Lord of blue throat for ever abides;
Thither he sojourned that the world might thrive. (1437)
173. He bowed before the feet of Manavala Nampi,
The Lord who majestically rides the irate Bull,
And sang the song divine which oped thus:
"She opes her comely coral-lips and hails Him
As the God of god!" Similar decades divine
He sang and loving numbers in Tamil munificent;
Thither he abode hailing the Lord who is rare
To be comprehended; as his memory hovered
On Tiruppuliyoor, he returned there. (1438)
174. He left Tirukkazhippalai where the billows of the sea
Shore up chanks into the yards of houses,
And as he passed through the cool gardens of Punnai
Whose branches are studded with buds,
He sang the decad whose import is as follows:
"Can I thrive or survive even for a second, forgetting
The Lord-Dancer of the Ambalam who willingly
Gets enshrined in the hailing mind?"
Thus singing he reached Tillai. (1439)
175. Here he began his_decad thus: "He is the rare One!"
Thus in redemptive Tamil he hymned the great
Tirutthandakam inseparable from devotees' minds;
He adored the Lord that dances in the Ponnambalam
Whose blazing effulgence extends to all the worlds,
And hailed Him with more and more hymns in Tamil. (1440)
176. He sang a decad of rich Tamil hymns wrought
Of beauteous words of supreme truth, wondrously thus:
"The ruby-red matted hair of the Lord is verily
A terrace whereon the moon sheds its rays!"
His heart of love melting, his eyes twain raining tears,
His lips articulation His praise and himself engaged
In service, he spent his days. (1441)
177. By the grace of the Lord who rides the red-eyed Bull
And who is enshrined at Tirukkazhumalam
Which floats unharmed even when the worlds end
During the great deluge, the Child of the Gospels
Was fed by the Daughter of Himavant, with her
Breast-milk lovingly mixed with Gnosis which
Fosters, augments and total confers Sivam;
From the devotees he heard these tiding divine. (1442)
178. Even as he drank the nectarean milk of the Mother,
He was blessed with the valiancy to hymn and hail
In munificent garlands of the sevenfold Tamil-music
The Devourer of the venom of the ocean-stream, thus:
"Behold Him, my Lord-God!" Eke could he at Him point;
When he heard this glory of the great one
Of Sirakazhi, wondrous love welled up in him;
In his mind blossomed a loving desire
To adore his ever-glorious flower-feet. (1443)
179. That very moment he adored the ankleted feet
Of the Ambalam's Lord-Dancer, and took His gracious leave;
Falling prostrate on the divine street that does away
With the falsity of embodiment, he crossed it
Rolling clockwise; thus departing, he came
To the bourne of the divine city which pervades all places
With its ethereal essence, and there adored it;
On his way he visited Tirunaraiyoor where the Lord
Of the ineffable glory abides, and hailed it,
And moved onward hymning. (1444)
180. Devotee-Throngs came surrounding him;
His hands were poised in adoration; his holy person
Blazed with the holy ash; from him poured forth
Visible mercy that thawed the minds of the beholders;
Thus, even thus, Tirunavukkarasar who in the past
Reached ashore from the billowy sea
In a stone that served as his float --
The lord-author of the munificent and indictable
Gospels of Tamil --, came near Tiruppukali. (1445)
181. "The Lord who wields a huge hill as a bow
Had himself in the past claimed him in grace
By afflicting him with a cruel stomach-ache;
He is ruled by Him; even he is coming hither."
When the godly child heard of this, a great desire
To behold him possessed him; circled by servitors
Whose minds were filled with grace,
He came forth to receive him. (1446)
182. He that wept and thereby drew to him
The Rider of the Bull, came before him adoring;
In melting love Tirunavukkarasu moved
Into the midst of the devotee-throngs
And fell at his feet in flawless and spiralling love;
Him he lifted up with his flowery hands ineffable
And adored; when the godly child addressed him:
"O father!" he replied:" Behold your servitor!" (1447)
183. He, the godly child whose lips are red as coral
And who ceased to weep when the goddess-Mother gave him
The nectar of Gnosis in a cup of ruddy gold,
And Tirunavukkarasar -- two divine individuals
Of exceeding glory and splendour --, had met;
The servitors of Siva who were blessed to witness
This holy meeting, delighted beyond measure,
Spoke such hallowed words that caused
The increased pervasion of Sivam through the whole world,
Praised and hailed by the very celestials. (1448)
184. Thirunavukkarasar was supremely happy that he was
Blessed to adore the feet of the godly child;
The patron of the ever-growing wisdom was overflowing
With soaring joy that he could adore Vakeesar;
In soul-commingling love, each in truth was oned
With the other; afire were they with a desire
To hail the feet of the Lord of Tonipuram
That would float even during the great deluge. (1449)
_85. Like a sea unique that soars in grace, was the one;
Like a sea of love for all the world, was the other;
Like the twin holy eyes of Saivism that is atop
All the religions of sublime import, were they;
Like the grace of the Lord who ate the dreaded venom
That the worlds might flourish, and like the grace
Of Her, the Magna Mater of the universe, were they --
The child of clear wisdom that yields gnosis
And the lord of language --; together they reached
The celestial shrine of the Lord of ruddy matted hair. (1450)
186. They bowed before the beauteous tower of the Lord
Of Sirkazhi girt with gardens where bees hum,
Moved in, circumambulated the sky-high Vimana,
Lofty and great, and bowed and prostrated in worship;
Then the godly child of Sirkazhi addressed him thus:
"O father, be pleased to hail your Lord in psalm and song."
Hearing this Tirunavukkarasar, with eyes raining tears
And lips poised in truthful scriptures pouring hallowed words
Hymned melting. (1451)
187. Standing before the Lord lovingly enthroned
In Tonipuram with Hid Grand Consort in love, Him
He hailed with the rich and redeeming Tamil verse
Which oped thus: "Paar kontu mooti..."
He moved out thence unwillingly and proceeded
To the matam of the divine child and had his repast.
Thither he sojourned for many a day and his kinship
Knit to privileged intimacy was on the ascendant
As on the first day (of their meeting). (1452)
188. Whilst thus Tirunavukkarasar and the godly child
Confabulated with each other as a result of which
Boundless joy increasingly issued softening
Their minds, and as thus they spent their days
There arose out of true love in the divine heart
Of Tirunavukkarasar a longing to adore
All the shrines of the Lord of the beauteous blue throat,
In the delta of the Ponni. (1453)
189. Tirunavukkarasar visited, Tirukkolakka with him,
Adored it and returned with its Lord's leave;
Then taking leave of the divine child, he fared forth
To vast Tirukkaruppariyaloor, Punkoor, Needoor,
Tirukkurukkai great, Thiruninriyoor,
Tirunanipalli pleasing to behold, and other shrines
Dear to the Lord of the Gospels and adored at these shrines
The feet of the Lord whose forehead displays an eye,
And proceeded onward. (1454)
190. His way lay on both the banks of the Kaveri whose stream
Is unfailing; he hailed Tirucchemponpalli's Lord
Whose banner sports the Bull, in hymns; he adored
And hailed the Lord in rich garlands of Tamil verse
At Tirumayiladuturai girt with lofty groves,
Tirutthurutthi and Velvikkudi that are
Situate on either bank of the coursing Kaveri
And Ethirkolpadi; he hailed many other shrines too;
Humbly he moved on the Tirukkodika where the Lord
That loves the ablutions of the panchakavya, abides
And adored him; then he reached Tiruvavaduturai. (1455)
191. "Reaching Avaduturai cool, I stand redeemed."
Thus he oped his immeasurable tandakam divine;
Then he hailed the Lord in rich garlands
Of variform word-blossoms such as Tirukkuruntokai,
Tirunerisai and metrical vrittas; moved deep
By devotion, he abode there for many a day,
Hailed by the world in love, and rendered service divine
With his inseparable uzhavaram. (1456)
192. He reached Tiruvidaimaruthoor on the bank
Of the Kaveri whose waves throw up gold and gems;
In love he adored the Lord who sports a fawn
In his hand, sojourned there and hailed Him
In rich garlands of Tamil verse multifoliate;
At Tirunakesuram he adored the Lord that wears
Speckled serpents, and hailed Him in rare garlands
Of Tamil; thence he came to Pazhaiyarai girt with
Flowery gardens fragrant and thence to Satthimutram. (1457)
193. Reaching Tiru Satthimutram he hailed Sivakkozhuntu
Who approvingly delighted in the exemplary pooja
Lovingly performed by Himavant' daughter; he adored
The Lord who is ever sweet; he then repaired
To the shrine's yard, performed his regular service
Of uzhavaram and hailed the Lord in Tamil hymns. (1458)
194. "He comes amain, the chieftain!" Thus he oped the hymn
And proceeded to sing_thus: "Before death doth destroy me
Plant indelibly Your flowery feet on my head!"
When thus he sang the toothsome decad, the Lord
Bade him thus: "Come, O come to Tirunalloor."
Thus graced, Vakeesar adored him in joy. (1459)
195. When the sempiternal servitor supernal, treading
The way of grace of ever-increasing goodliness
Arrived there, he bowed before the Lord; as he rose up,
Saying: "We fructify your cherished desire"
Lord-Siva touched his head with His flower-feet. (1460)
196. "He set his moist feet divine on my head!"
Thus he hymned the divine tandakam, hailed
The lord in melodious music, and melting in love
Thinking of the Holy One's grace, he fell down
In adoration and rose up; he blossomed inly
And was filled with the charm of fulfilment;
Like an utterly indigent person endowed,
On a sudden, with limitless wealth, his mind rejoiced. (1461)
197. The Lord of language rendered fitting service divine
Everyday for the Lord of Tirunalloor, sang
Many garlands of Tamil psalms melodic
And hailed Him; thus rendering divine service
He sojourned there. (1462)
198. Thence he visited many shrines beginning with
Tirukkarukavoor, Tiruavoor and Tiruppalatthurai
Where the brow-eyed Lord is enshrined in grace,
Adored Him and rendered Him great service
Borne by spiraling desire; he abode at Tirunalloor
Hailing it in melting love and never from it parting. (1463)
199. With the gracious leave of the Lord he came
To Tiruppazhanam rich in watery fields where valai fish
Leap in joy; there was he blessed to adore the feet
Of the Lord whose throat is blue with the hue
Of the venom and who decked with serpents
For jewels, dances during mid-night. (1464)
200. He adored at all the peerless encircling shrines
Where Siva abides willingly, in melting love.
The lord of language who had come by the True Ens
Then came to Tingaloor of holy Appoothi of ineffable glory. (1465)
201. He came to the house of hallowed Appoothi,
The Brahmin par excellence, having seen
And heard of his many charitable endowments
Of choultries, wells, tanks and water-booths; all these
And his sons to were named after Tirunavukkarasar. (1466)
202. Him he received with a rejoicing heart
Together with his wife, children and great king;
In delight great they fell at his feet in worship
And rose up; him they stood encircling;
He then beseeched the lord of language to be
Pleased to partake of the victuals in his house; lo,
He was blessed with the consent of the tapaswi-devotee. (1467)
203. Appoothi who without ever having seen him, was
Linked to him in great and privileged sibship;
In swelling love, he had for him, nectarean rice
Dishes of curry and other variform dishes, prepared;
Food meet for the servitor, was thus made ready. (1468)
204. For feeding of Tirunavukkarasar, the Brahmin
Of great love and matching wisdom, bade his eldest son
Who but bore the servitor's grand name, hie to the garden
And secure a long and tender leaf
Of fecund plantain with well-set stalk. (1469)
205. He hastened away in great alacrity and when he,
Without delay, was about to cut a tender and soft
Plantain leaf, a snake bit him; ignoring it
He cut a long and tender plantain-leaf
And returned quick that the servitor might be duly fed. (1470)
206. The cruel venom shot up to his cranium;
Though giddy he could hand over the leaf to his mother;
Grown weak, he now fell down without disclosing
The bite he had suffered from the fiery serpent;
This beholding, his parents cried: "We are done for;
The holy one might not eat here on account of this."
So they screened the incident from him. (1471)
207. They concealed the corpse of their son; they were
Untouched by commotion; then they came to him
And beseeched him thus: "Our lord, be pleased
To partake of food." By the grace of the Lord,
He divine the inly agitation of the divine servitors
Of the Lord of gods and was out to cure it. (1472)
208. He grew exceedingly merciful for their act of love
In concealing the corps of their son, that_days;
He had the body brought to the temple of the Lord
Who wears on His matted hair konrai blooms,
And hymned the decad beginning thus: "One it is!"
When thus he hailed the Lord in solemn verse,
Cured of venom, the boy stood resurrected. (1473)
209. He wasn't happy that his wondrous son rose
From the dead; he but languished as the servitor
Had not eaten; to remove his distress,
The divine servitor Vakeesar went to the sand one's house,
Partook of the feast and there abode. (1474)
210. From Tingaloor, follwed by the holy Brahmin
He proceeded to Tiruppazhanam where abides
The Lord who rides the beauteous-eyed Bull;
In great love he neared the feet of the Lord
And hymned Him, standing before Him. (1475)
211. Extolling greatly the way of Appoothi's life,
The one of natural glory that stands poised
Below the golden feet of the Lord of matted hair
Who wears the crepuscular crescent as a chaplet,
He hymned in goodly and gloriously sweet Tamil
The divine decad Sonmalai, a garland of verse. (1476)
212. He plied himself in the duty of adoring the Lord
Who decks Himself with serpents of rising hoods,
And the crescent young, in all the shrines;
Commencing from Tirucchotrutthurai,
Borne by unchanging love, he visited many shrines
And there hailed Him in melodious numbers;
He abode at Tiruppazhanam rendering service divine. (1477)
213. He abode there for a great many days;
Thinking on the beauteous flowery feet
-- Of the Lord whose lovely throat is blued by poison --,
That were set on his crown, he came to Tirunalloor
Of wondrous Madam-temple, passing through
The southern bank of the Kaveri rich in water
And schools of carp-fish. (1478)
214. Thither he hailed the feet of the Lord, and poised
In love unabated, he adored him rendering
Hallowed service; as he thus sojourned there he was
Impelled by an abiding devotion immense
To hail Tiruvaroor whose Lord is unknown
To the Lotus-throned Brahma and the red-eyed Vishnu. (1479)
215. Taking leave of the Lord of Tirunalloor
He left for Pazhaiyarai and adored the feet
Of the Lord whose alms-bowl is a white skull
On which can be eyed rows of teeth; he adored
At many shrines and sang magnificent hymns
Composed of choice words; hailing Tiruvalanchuzhi
He came to Tirukkudammookku and thither hailed
The Lord who wears the crescent that shines at night. (1480)
216. At Tirunaloor, beauteous Tiruccherai,
Kudavayil and Tirunaraiyoor, he hailed
The feet of the Lord the words of whose Consort
Are sweet as milk; also he hailed and hymned
The Lord whose mount and banner is the Bull,
In many a shrine; he reached Tiruvanjiyam
In the south in whose cool watery fields the carps leap. (1481)
217. He bowed before Tirupperuveloor girt with gardens
Of great fragrance and hailed its Lord;
He also hailed the First One, the wearer
Of sweet-smelling konrai flowers; he adored the Lord
At Vilamar of redemptive grace; he adored the Lord
Reached Tiruvaroor, the Lord of which
Burnt the triple hostile cities. (1482)
218. When Tirunavukkarasar was coming thither
The devotees of Tiruvaroor who were fully blessed
With the grace of the Lord of the long matted hair,
So decked everywhere the mansions and houses,
Beautiful to behold, that they looked even grander;
They made the sky-high streets shine auspicious. (1483)
219. Delighted by the advent of him who crossed
The billowy sea with the stone for a float
And his triumph over the maya
Wrought by the strong and cruel Jains,
Innumerable devotees proceeded to the outskirts
Without the forted walls, to receive him;
The lord of language adored them all
And moved in, chanting their praise. (1484)
220. "I am blessed to be the servitor of the servitors
Of the Lord that abides at the Ant-hill;
Can even I, who seeking redemption, came out
Of the fettering fold of Jainism, having
Companied with the base Jain sinners that would
In no way adhere to the path of salvation,
Be blessed with this beatitude?" Thus he spake
And moved into the divine street, tranced. (148_)
221. With the encircling devotees he reached the entrance
Decked with festoons and came to the ever-during
Devasiriyan abounding in grace, and adored it;
Passing through the inner entrances of the great shrine --
Verily a Chakravala Mountain --, he beheld before him
The Lord of the great, lustrous and beauteous Ant-hill. (1486)
222. As he beheld Him, he adored Him, he prostrated
Before Him with all his limbs touching the floor;
The hair on his hands, legs and other limbs stood erect;
He rose up; his eyes rained tears, as exceeding love
Welled up in him; he adored the lotus-feet
Of Tirumoolattanar and hymned tandakams. (1487)
223. "My one thought was to behold you!" Thus he
Commenced his decad gravid with all arts
And melted in prayer before the self-effulgent Light
That needs no trimming; he circumambulated
The beauteous shrine and hailed it; with a mind
Brimming with love, he moved out towards
The vast and divine outer entrance. (1488)
224. He reached the Devasiriyan fronting the court-yard
And bathed in the great ruby-lustre; there he sang thus:
"I am the petty filcher that snatched the green fruit
When the ripe ones were there; I adored not the Lord
Of Tiruvaroor in whose flowery gardens studded
With buds, kuyils sing and peacocks dance."
In misery and repentance he hymned, and abode there. (1489)
225. His eyes rained tears which streamed down his chest;
His holy lips sang sweet garlands of Tamil verse
Woven of nectarean words; his mind divine
Was oned with the auric, liberating feet of the Lord;
His hand wielded the uzhavaram, the instrument unique;
Such indeed was his form divine;
Rendering his service to the divine streets that the world
Might thrive, and poised in such service
He moved on humbly hymning and hailing the Lord. (1490)
226. Love-borne, during appointed hours of worship, he adored
The Lord-Dancer at the Ant-hill of Tiruvaroor
Of abiding glory; he hailed him with the flawless
And truthful decad commencing with the words:
"He is the Lord sung by the Bhoota-throng!"
He sang many a decad; devotion welled up in him;
His mind thawed and melted; he throve in love. (1491)
227. He hymned the greatness of the servitorship
Of Naminandi poised in the truth of the four Gospels;
He praised him in Tiruvirittam
In which he hailed the Lord-God; he also hailed
The glory of the Lord who wears honied konrai blooms,
Enshrined at Tiruvaroor Araneri; as was his wont
He rendered service for the stately streets and abode there. (1492)
228. Thinking of Tiruvalivalam where abides the Lord whose
Matted hair sports the river, he there went
And adored the feet of the Lord who is concorporate
With Uma of the sacred breast-band; he hymned
In delight great; he fared forth to Keezhveloor
And Kanrappoor where abides the Lord whose throat
Is like a dark cloud, and sang soulful hymns; impelled
By love unabated, he then returned to Tiruvaroor. (1493)
229. The Lord-God Veeti-Vitangkan was taken out
In a holy procession on the Tiruvatirai-Day;
With servitors standing in the front row, he adored
The Lord with the adoring devotees; behind them stood
Adoring the celestials and munis; he beheld with his eyes
That greatness which diffused divine joy in all
The triple worlds; while thus the unique lord
Of language throve, by the grace of the Lord... (1494)
230. A loving desire uprose in his longing heart
To hail the roseate feet of Lord-Siva who
Presides over Tiruppukaloor; with a willing mind
That still abode at Tiruvaroor, he left somehow
That city and fared forth hailing the many shrines
Of the Lord who shares in His left half His Consort,
The daughter of Himavant - the Lord of mountains. (1495)
231. During that time the godly child had left
Tiruppukali and was visiting many holy shrines
To adore there the Lord whose jewels are snakes;
Having adored the Lord of Pukaloor, the town ever fragrant
With surapunnai flowers, he was then abiding
At the sacred matam of Murukanar of peerless fame
Whose threefold sacred thread was flashing like li_htning. (1496)
232. Having been pleased to hear of the coming
Of Arasu, the servitor ruled by the Lord,
To glorious Tiruppukaloor after having hailed
The Rudy-of-far-extending-lustre at the Ant-hill
Of beauteous Aroor, borne by a longing to receive him
The godly child fared forth encircled by throning devotees. (1497)
233. Hearing of the endearing words that the godly child
Of Seerkazhi dight with tanks where water-crows gather,
Was on his way to receive him, Vakeesar who was
Proceeding to Pukaloor whose river rolls with gems,
Felt supremely happy; when both the holy companies --
True servitors of the Holy Ash --, met, it was like
A confluence of twin seas wrought of moon-rays. (1498)
234. Tirunavukkarasar came to him and paid obeisance
To him and was in turn adored by Sivapuram's scion,
The divinely truthful and godly child of great gnosis;
Addressing him, Sambandhar said: "O Father, be pleased
To unfold the greatness of Tiruvatoor during these days
Of its festival!" Thus told, he who was ever poised
In the truth of the rare Panchakshara spake thus: (1499)
235. "How can I ever describe the happy opulence
Of the Tiruvatirai-Day festival of the Lord
Whose throat is dark and who presides over the city
Of Tiruvaroor in the south and who is enshrined
In the adoring mind?"
Thus he spake and sang the decad which oped thus:
"The canopy is wrought of pearls and the chamaras
Beauteous and golden, are whisked!" (1500)
236. When the son of the blue-throated Lord of gods
Who abides at beauteous Sanbai heard
The divine garland of sweet Tamil verse, he said:
"I'll now proceed straight to Tiruvaroor in the south
Dight with pools and ponds where buds burgeon,
Adore its Lord and then return here to abide with you." (1501)
237. To adore the Lord of Tiruvaroor girt with a great fort
The lord of Sanbai in whose streams lotuses thrive,
Fared forth; the lord of the tongue divine, borne
By devotion great moved into Pukaloor girt
With cool fields fragrant with blossoming flowers. (1502)
238. Tirunavukkarasar abode at that hoary town;
His heart was full of the lucid flood of devotion;
It poured out through his eyes and washed his
Sacred frame; in that ecstatic state he bowed
Before the Lord whose jewels are snakes the sacs
Of which are full of venom. (1503)
239. He adored the Lord of gods, the honey that is
Enshrined in southern Pukaloor, during all
The prescribed hours of worship and hymned Him
In liberating songs of exquisite poesy; performing
Divine service without break he abode there. (1504)
240. To Tirucchenkattankudi that confers glory,
Tirunallaru vast, the shrine Ayavanti
In Satthamankai girt with gardens rich
In flowery trees and Tirumarukal he fared forth
And adored the Lord, the delicate breasts of whose
Consort are cinctured with a breast-band,
And was immersed in joy. (1505)
241. Thus passed his days, a few in number;
Having adored the brow-eyed Lord
Of Tiruvaroor whose matted hair is ruddy
As coral, our godly child that had hailed
From Seerkazhi and had gained the true wisdom
Which is Gnosis, the wearer of the threefold
Sacred thread, arrived at Tiruppukaloor. (1506)
242. When the godly child was to arrive there, Vakeesar
Received him, impelled by great love and abode
With him in great joy; the munificent patron
Sirutthondar also joined them there; unto them
Also came flawless and glorious Tiruneelanakkar. (1507)
243. In that sacred matam of Murukanar, the Brahmin
Of soaring renown, he sojourned with them;
Love linked him with the great many devotees
That came there; poised in his service divine
And alive to its glory, he spent his days there. (1508)
244. (Thirunavukkarasar and the godly child)
Hymned many a decad divine in glorious
And magnificent Tamil; they felt happy;
They expatiated copiously on the glory of devotees
Who were devoted to the golden feet of the Lord
Who shares in His left Himavant's Daughter;
Their minds were oned with the Lord; it was thus, they
Enjoyed the fruit of dwelling in holy company_ (1509)
245. During those days, desiring to render such service,
Fitting and divine, they were impelled to adore
The Lord of ruddy matted hair which dangles
Like clusters of lightnings, in His many shrines;
Hailing flowery Pukaloor dight with auric
And gemmy mansions, they left it. (1510)
246. Saintly Tiruneelanakkar, Sirutthondar, Murukanar
And other devotees of great and pure love, took leave
Of them and departed; the godly child and Vakeesar
Whose minds were oned with the Lord, reached
Tiruvambar of the Lord who conceals in His
Matted hair the Ganga that descended from the heavens. (1511)
247. They went to Tirukkadavoor rich in tanks
Where red lilies bloom, and hailed the auric feet
Of the Lord that smote cruel Death that rose up in wrath,
To death; Kunkuliya Kalaya Nayanar
Attended flawlessly to their needs, and they
In his sacred matam partook of nectarean food
With the servitors of Lord Siva. (1512)
248. They also hailed the Lord of Tirukkadavoor-Mayanam
Of ever-abiding glory, and hymned there
Many melodic and beauteous psalms and there
Abode in joy; they adored the twin feet of the Lord
Whose throat is like a nimbus, took leave of Him
And proceeded to Tiruvakkoor in whose
Beauteous streets chariots ply. (1513)
249. The Lord of Akkoor's shrine is Tan-Tondri-Madam
And its Lord is the refuge of seekers;
They adored Him in abounding love
And with flawless garlands of Tamil verse decked Him.
Then they visited the many shrines of the Lord
Whose matted hair waves in the mind,
And adored Him; then the two reached
Tiruveezhimizhalai of their Lord. (1514)
250. Tirunavukkarasar who came (first)
To Veezhimizhalai and the godly child of Seerkazhi
Were received by Brahmins and servitors
Of the Lord who is unknown to Vishnu-the wielder of disc,
In love that welled up from their hearts;
These adored them and they hailing these, moved in. (1515)
251. The Brahmins decked the mansions that stood
Circling the shrines; their thresholds and pials
Were decorated with plaintain trees, leafy areca trees
And beauteous lamps; they carried with them pots
Of holy water; the city flourished in greater glory;
Vakeesar whose glory for ever grows
And the godly child wee thus received;
In sheer joy all of them fared forth to the temple
Of the celestial Vimana. (1516)
252. They moved into the temple where the Lord
Of Veezhimizhalai who wields as bow the ruddy auric hill,
Abides willingly; they circumambulated the shrine;
They adored Him from the entrance;
They moved in and came near the triple-eyed Lord
Of ruddy matted hair who rides the victorious Bull;
Vakeesar fell at His roseate feet, rose up
And trembled in sheer ecstasy. (1517)
253. Folding his hands he adored His feet;
Love in him began to melt; his eyes rained tears
On his body; then he hailed the Lord
In a garland of words which oped thus:
"They that reach not the Lord of ruddy matted hair
Reach but the evil way!" He hymned this
Redeeming tandakam and stood riveted in love. (1518)
254. Of yore, Brahma and Vishnu could not
Behold the crown or foot of the Lord who is verily
And auric hill of beauty; He is enshrined
In beauteous Veezhimizhalai with water well-endowed;
Him he hailed; unable to part from Him,
For many a day he hailed Him there;
The tow tapaswis of truth and the servitors
Abode there where Brahmins abide. (1519)
255. After a few days when he thus throve
In sacred service, as rains failed, the Ponni
Of unfailing foison, ran dry; food grains that grow
By water became scarce; many lives caught
In this utter want, came to be immersed in misery;
Indigence spread everywhere. (1520)
256. When thus the world was involved in a famine
And men languished in misery, unto the godly child
And Tirunavukkarasar, with His hands displaying
The fawn and the mazhu, the Lord appeared in their dreams;
The Lord of ruddy matted hair who presides over
Tiruveezhimizhalai spake to them thus: (1521)
257. "The plight of times shall not afflict your thought;
Yet to give _nto them that adore you, We give you!"
Thus He spake, and, even when they were beholding
The full glory of His form, He disappeared.
Unto each of the glorious two, the Lord of Veezhimizhalai
Granted a gold coin as the daily allowance,
And this was witnessed by the whole world. (1522)
258. On the eastern and the western pitas of the Vimana
That descended of yore from the heavens,
For the lord-patron of Pukali and for the lord
Of language, He placed a coin of gold as allowance
Everyday; the two could thus with numberless devotees
Partake of food there where they abode. (1523)
259. "By the grace of the Lord of the celestials whose throat
Has the tint of the dark night, manifold foison
Grows apace; may all the servitors of the Supreme
Gather here to eat." Thus by beat of tom-tom
They announced twice and fed all; chill penury
Was thus done away with. (1524)
260. He indeed is the holy son of the Lord who,
For the redemption of the world, drank the sacred milk
Of Himavant's Daughter's breasts, the Consort
Of the Lord of Veezhimizhalai; he was
Granted a coin which suffered a discount;
As Vakeesar was a servitor who rendered
Manual service, his coin suffered nothing in exchange. (1525)
261. By virtue of the coins granted as allowance by the Lord
In whose crown courses the river, the sacred matams
Of the two were endowed with endless provision;
When servitors ate in joy, interminable was the supply
Of food; the world acclaimed this growing glory;
As the spent their days in joy .... (1526)
262. The hostile days ended; rumbling clouds rained;
The flood cooled the world; food-grains grew;
Prosperity ruled; the two servitors -- the true cause
Of world's redemption --, hailed the Lord in garlands
Of words; they were then possessed with a desire to adore
The blue-throated Lord at His other shrines. (1527)
263. Adoring the great Ruby-of-Veezhimizhalai rare
And parting from Him in great reluctance,
They reached and hailed Tiruvanjiyam
And hymned melodic and liberating verse-garlands;
The two of endless glory then reached the outskirts
Of opulent Tirumaraikkadu. (1528)
264. In Tirumaraikkadu, pretty girls gather pearls
In the yards of saltpans girt with sweet gardens
Of punnais blooming with fragrant flowers;
They entered the temple of the Lord, who wields
The auric hill as His bow, and circumambulated it;
Then the prince of Pukali and the lord of language
Came before the divine presence. (1529)
265. In that shrine near the backwaters of the sea
The universal Vedas performed pooja for the Lord-Brahmin
On whose matted hair snakes do dance,
And securely barred the strong doors of the shrine;
From that day till this day the doors remained closed;
They adored those doors, immense and beauteous. (1530)
266. As none competent to open the door locked
By the hoary Vedas had, till then, come there,
Devotees performed pooja for the lord and adored Him,
The annihilator of troubles, passing through
A threshold nearby; they of endless glory great
Witnessed this and were also informed of this
By those who were there present. (1531)
267. Hearing of this, the prince of Tonipuram said:
"O father, be pleased to hymn and unbar the doors
Of the Lord of gods unto whom the lofty and sublime Vedas
Offered pooja, that we two may without let,
Straight proceed to worship Him." Thus told,
Glorious Tirunavukkarasar.... (1532)
268. Prompted alike by his inner love and the gracious words
Of the godly child, sang the hymn beginning
With the words Panni neru Mozhiyal.
The Lord, the wearer of the pellucid Ganga desiring
To hearken to the sweets of the whole of the decad
When he sang thus: "You consider not; You are without mercy!" (1533)
269. By the grace of the True Ens abiding at the woodland of the Vedas
The Gemmed doors lustrous oped wide before them,
The loving devotees; the lord of language and scriptures
Along with the Muni of Gnosis, adored Him and fell
Prostrate of the ground; the reboation of the celestials
And the Vedas far exceeded the_roar of the seas of the world. (1534)
270. To the great delight of devotee-throngs,
The servitor ruled by the Lord and the cub of Siva,
Immersed in the flood of joy, moved into the presence
Of their Lord and bowed before Him; they hailed
And hymned Him in garlands of melodious verse;
Their minds and even their bones melted;
They worshipped Him and moved out reluctantly. (1535)
271. Vakeesar who stood without said: "That these doors
Which were oped by grace, might remain closed as before,
And the opening and closing might become customary,
You be pleased to hymn the closure of the gracious doors."
Thus he addressed the Kauniya of Pukali who partook
Of the breast-milk of Himavant's daughter mixed with Gnosis. (1536)
272. Even as the adept of Tamil, the ruler of Sanbai,
To honour the virtuous words of Tirunavukkarasar
Began his decad, by the grace of the Lord in whose forehead
Is a beauteous eye and whose throat is blue-hued,
Pat closed the doors; even when the first hymn was
Sung, the strong doors closed shut. (1537)
273. Beholding this, the godly son and the Lord's servitor
Grew happy; they said: "Thus are we by the Lord graced!"
They adored Him; then the godly child sang
And brought the decad to a close, adored
And bowed low; these doors of the threshold
Fronting the Lord came to be oped and closed
Every day since that day. (1538)
274. All the devotees wondered at the happenings; they were
Thrilled and the hair on their bodies stood erect;
Tears rained by their eyes washed their bodies;
They adored the feet of the two whose peers
Could be eyed nowhere; our great one of Seerkazhi
And Tirunavukkarasar then left for the matam. (1539)
275. Vakeesar ever poised in truth thought thus:
The doors would not open betimes when I hymned;
They closed shut with ease quickly, when he hymned;
Lo, I languished in my longing, not conning
The will divine of the Lord!" He grew sorry and was
Scared; he sought a corner of the matam and down
He lay there; he closed his eyes as in sleep,
But was in a state of awareness. (1540)
276. His mind meditated on the feet of the Lord,
Verily the Ruby of ever-abiding opulent Maraikkadu.
While thus he slept a conscious slumber, the Lord
Who shares Uma in His frame, blazing with the beauty
Of the Holy Ash on His frame, appeared
Before Him and bade him thus: "We will be
At Vaimoor; follow Us there!" (1541)
277. Thus illumined, he sang; "He said: 'Come'
And went away; what may his be?"
He rose up resolved thus: "If this be the grace
Of our Lord, I will hie, for sure." He left
The woodland of the Vedas and proceeded swift;
The Lord of all genesis led him in the very form
In which He manifested before him. (1542)
278. Tirunavukkarasar who left the glorious town
Was like one who could not quaff the nectar, though
One held it in the hand in boundless love;
The Lord of matted hair where the Ganga courses
Went before Him; he went after Him covering
A great distance; he could not reach
The glorious One maugre his efforts. (1543)
279. It looked as though He would give him darshan close by;
But then He only pointed to him a beauteous shrine
Into which He entered; the servitor who came
Chasing Him went after Him swiftly;
Of this the eternal prince of Pukali, heard,
And there arrived in all haste. (1544)
280. He grieved sore that He took him there making it
Appear that He was close by only to disappear;
"Maybe it is fair that You concealed Yourself from me
That caused the doors to ope, not comprehending
Your sacred intent; but yonder is he who is
Flourishingly poised in the prowess of servitorship
And who hymned the doors into shutting; Oh Lord!"
Wherefore do you hid?" Thus sang he. (1545)
281. The Lord who was invisible to Brahma and Vishnu
Though they went in search of Him, manifested
Straight before the lord of Tiruppukali dight
With lofty mansions; he beheld the Lord that sported there,
And adored Him; he pointed to Tirunavukkarasu,
Who too beheld Him and hailed Him with the hymn
Which op_ned thus: Pata atiyar. (1546)
282. The Lord that gained the garlands of Tamil, vanished;
Then they reached glorious Tiruvaaimoor
And circumambulated the temple; the two great servitors
Of the Lord who wears the crescent,
Adored and hailed and hymned the Lord;
Their love for Him soared more and more, and they
Willingly sojourned in that town together. (1547)
283. The servitor ruled by the Lord sweetly sojourned
With the godly child there; devotion welled up
In him more and more; he hailed the feet
Of the Lord of Vaaimoor and decked Him
In loving devotion with verse-garlands; then
With the muni of Gnosis he returned to Tirumaraikkadu
And adored the feet of the Pure and purifying One. (1548)
284. He adored the Primordial Lord and there performed
Proper and possible service; when he thus abode there,
Some messengers from the flawless paragon
-- Pandi-Ma-Devi, the daughter of the white parasoled
Chola and consort of the Pandya king --,
And the chief minister Kulacchiraiyar
Came there seeking the prince of Pukali. (1549)
285. They came to the matam in Siva's Tirumaraikkadu
And had their arrival announced to the godly child;
Then they came to his divine presence and adored him.
He was happy to receive them and enquired of them
If they were free from trouble; then they said:
"You are the avatar, come to redeem the world!
Can trouble beset them that think on your feet twain? (1550)
286. "When the sempiternal Savism, the way of the Vedas, is there
The Jains who are adepts in demonstration
The false and base religion to be true, perform
Evil deeds galore; we can endure them no longer."
When the sacred Brahmin of Sanbai heard this
Up he rose invoking of the Holy Ash, firm-resolved
To undo the working of the cruel ones and make
Resplendent the primordial Saivism. (1551)
287. Thus spake then Vakeesar to the hero of Pukali;
"The filthy, unwashed, diabolic Jains are great experts
In variform evil acts of truculent black art;
The evil deeds they did to me in the past were a legion;
Woe's me! I'll not suffer you to go there." (1552)
288. When he spake thus, the godly child said:
"I long to go forth to behold the two who hail
They glory of the Holy Ash infinite; there'll I
Unseat the Jains -- doers of evil --, and annihilate
Their way; I'll do nought else; behold this!
This is your mandate indeed!" (1553)
289. The godly child added further: "I am going
There for sure; you may please refrain from coming
With me; I'll myself extirpate all the deception
Of the Jains." He also spoke to him of all
That should be done in furtherance of his mission;
Unable to dissuade him, Tirunavukkarasar
Stayed there; love-borne the chief of Gnosis
Fared forth to the Tamil country. (1554)
290. When the prince of Venupuram was gone,
Vakeesar who took leave of him and there
Abode, hailed the Holy One that abode in love
At Maraikkadu, in melodic verse; he was then
Impelled by a desire to adore the feet of Thanu
Enshrined in Tiruveezhimizhalai. (1555)
291. He left the place with the leave and grace of Him
Of Tirumaraikkadu girt with gardens;
He resolved thus: "I'll go to Veezhimizhalai
Of Him, the Eater of the poison churned out of sea."
He adored at well-known Nakai-k-kaaronam
And other shrines and hymned pious psalms
At Tiruveezhimizhalai of the Lord. (1556)
292. He adored Veezhimizhalai reaching its outskirts;
He hailed in melodic hymns the Lord-Author
Of the Vedas enshrined beneath the Vimana
There brought by Vishnu -- the holder of the disc
In his right hand -- from the empyrean;
During his sojourn he was possessed by a desire
To adore the lord in His other shrines too. (1557)
293. He fared forth on the bank of the Kaveri rich in water,
Adored at the shrines and moved onward;
He reached Avaduturai where the Lord graced
His Consort who was in the form of a cow, and adored
His feet; there Tirunavukkarasar hailed
The act of the Lord who granted unto the partaker
Of Gnosis, a thousand coins of ruddy gold
For his hymns; thence he moved in_ adoring many shrines. (1558)
294. When he reached Pazhayarai of the Lord
Of ruddy matted hair and moved in, he desired to adore
With folded hands, Lord-Siva in the Northern Shrine
Kept screened and concealed from others
By the deluded Jains; this he divined and on enquiry,
Was told that the Vimana there was a façade
Of the Jains; he could not endure this and grew heart-sore. (1559)
295. He went to a place near that pseudo-Vimana,
Meditated on the roseate feet of the Lord who wears
Fragrant petalled konrai blossoms and prayed thus:
"The brainless Jains have caused a concealment
In deception; may You Oh Lord, be pleased
To extirpate their fraud. (1560)
296. "I'll not quit this place without beholding You
In Your true splendour!" Thus he addressed
His resolute prayer to the Lord, and Vakee3sar
Who was bent upon the fulfillment of his wish
Remained there abjuring food; the Omniscient
Who knew of it, to help His servitor hail Him truly,
Appeared in the dream of the King of the realm
And firmly and duly apprised him of all. (1561)
297. "Having been concealed by the brainless Jains
We abide invisible to others!" Thus spake
The Lord and pointed to the king the marks
Of identification; then spake the Lord:
"That Tirunavukkarasu may duly adore Us
Destroy their unholy deception and expel them."
Thus graced the Lord the King; he rose up
And folded his hands above his head in adoration. (1562)
298. The king spake of the wondrous vision he had
In his dream to his ministers and with them
Hastened to that place and discovered the shrine
With the help of the marks indicated to him by the Lord
Of the celestials, and also the deception of the Jains;
He adored the sacred feet of Vakeesar who unearthed
Their foul-play; total did he their fraud uproot. (1563)
299. Like stubbles mashed by trampling tuskers
The assembly of the thousand Jains was pulverized
And the Jains were driven away; the lofty king
Raised a resplendent Vimana for the Lord;
He arranged for the daily pooja, lavishing
Endowments therefore and adored the Lord.
Tirunavukkarasar of godly wisdom moved
Into the presence of the Lord and hailed Him. (1564)
300. "Even though the Jains -- pluckers of hair
From their pates and mere eaters --, hide You by reason
Of their false and hare-brained plight
Can they truly conceal You?" Thus he hymned
His invaluable and truthful kuruntokais;
He moved out and sojourned there; then he
Proceeded to hail the many shrines of the Lord
Who wields the three-leaved trident. (1565)
301. He adored and hymned in garlands of Tamil verse
The Lord -- the Rider of martial Bull -- in all
His shrines situate on both the banks of the Kaveri
Coursing with swelling flood; received by devotees
Of universal renown and endless servitorship,
He came near Tiruvanaikka where abides
The Lord of the red-eyed Bull. (1566)
302. He adored the ankleted feet of the Lord
Who had bestowed grace on the spider and hymned
Many a garland wrought of sweet redeeming words;
He then adored at the hill of Tiruverumbiyoor
Where is enshrined the Lord of ruddy matted hair
And hymned Him; then he adored the Lord
At the effulgent hill op Tiruchirappalli and at the hill
Of Karkkudi, and fared forth to the prosperous
Tirupparaitthurai to adore Him there. (1567)
303. At that shrine and at other shrines nearby he adored;
There he rendered his handsome manual service
And hymned Him in decades divine; by His grace
He crossed the Kaveri and reached its other shore;
Then he fared forth to Tiruppaigngneeli, where
The Lord -- the wielder of the bow --, who burnt
The triple hostile cities, abode. (1568)
304. He grew sore and tired on his way; he languished;
Thirst and disabling hunger assailed him;
Yet he wasn't perturbed in mind; the lord
Of language moved on; the brow-eyed Lord
Who presides over Tiruppaigngneeli girt
With beauteous gardens desired to relieve the distress
Of His servitor. (1569)
305. The Lord who could not be eyed by Brahma
Who winged up as a swan, and also Vishnu
Who as a peerless hog burrowed the earth,
Caused a garden and a pool to materialize;
To act as his guide, He assumed the form
Of a Brahmin wearing the Holy Ash; He had
With Him food neatly packed and He awaited the coming
Of the unique lord of language. (1570)
306. When the king of servitors came near His presence
The Lord-Brahmin that rides the red-eyed Bull,
Addressed him thus; "You are very much fatigued
By reason of your long walk; I have with Me food
Neatly packed; partake of it; drink of the water
From this swelling pond; be refreshed
And then proceed on your way." (1571)
307. knowing it to be the grace divine of the Lord
When the holy Brahmin offered him the packed-food
As though He were one already known to him
Tirunavukkarasar thought not of aught else;
He received it, ate it in relish, drank the water,
Washed his hands and feet and felt refreshed. (1572)
308. The Brahmin then addressed him who stood refreshed
Having been relieved of his fatigue, thus:
"Where are you bound for?" In reply Arasu said:
"I am on my way to Tiruppaigngneeli
Of the ineffable One." Hearkening to this the peerless One
Saying, "I too am going there" proceed with him. (1573)
309. The great Brahmin who came with him, vanished
When they neared Tiruppaigngneeli; the lofty one
Of true askesis then burst into a hymn thus:
"O the great mercy of Him -- the Dancer --, who
Deemed even me worthy!" He sang, fell down,
Rose up and shed tears in ecstasy. (1574)
310. He reached the temple of Tiruppaigngneeli
Where the Supreme One is enshrined in grace,
Adored the Lord of the dark and beauteous throat
And felt delighted; in devotion true and melting love
He hymned adorable garlands of Tamil, rendered
Manual service divine and sojourned there in love. (1575)
311. He then fared forth to hills divine and shrine galore
Where the Lord abides in love and adored them in love;
He sang melodic hymns and psalms rich with boons;
By the grace of Ammai-Appar, Vakeesar moved northward
And arrived at Tiruvannamalai of the Primordial Lord. (1576)
312. He adored Tiruvannamalai whose Lord is
The Rider of the red-eyed Bull, and circumambulated it;
He ascended the great hill and adored the King
Of great Grace who straightway lavishes grace
On devotees that thrive in loving servitorship;
Bliss was his; thus did he demonstrate the glory
Of the anubuti of a life so blessed, to be
Even superior to moksha. (1577)
313. Him who is like a beauteous hill on a hill inaccessible --
The One who is like unto nectar
To beholding devotees steeped in insatiable love,
The One who devoured the uneatable venom
Of the main to save the celestials --,
He worshipped with a melting mind and hymned
Melodious decades of dulcet Tamil; he hailed Him,
Extolled Him and rendered service unto Him. (1578)
314. He hailed the feet of the Lord of matte hair
Whose jewels are snakes; when thus he served
Hailing him, he desired, in unabated love,
To adore and render fitting service for the Lord
In all His shrines on earth where he abides in joy;
Impelled by grace he moved onward
Towards the beauteous Tondai-Nadu divine. (1579)
315. Borne by a love to render service, he crossed
Hills and dales, forests and jungle-rivers, and many towns
Rich in mango-groves and cool fields;
The lord of logos thus reached the great Tondai-Nadu
Where he first visited Tiruvotthoor girt
With gardens rich in cool and soft blossoms. (1580)
316. The matted hair of the Lord glows crimson
Like the crepuscular sky; He is Lord of the celestials
Abiding at Tiruvotthoor; into His temple he entered,
Made his sacred round, adored him before His
Divine presence; hymned and rained joyous tears;
He decked the Lord of triple eyes with divine tandakams
And other fitting garlands of words,
And stood poised in His service. (1581)
317. Having adored the Lord of the erubescent matted hair
Of Tiruvotthoor, he took leave of Him; thence
He visited the many shrines of the Lord
Who for the prosperous redemption of the worlds
_evoured venom, and adored Him there;
He then reached the outskirts of Kanchi
Girt with a great rampart and hailed by the whole world
As the shrine divine where the Lord grew lissome
When His Consort hugged Him closed. (1582)
318. For the redemption of the world, him
The Lord of Tiruvatikai, by His great grace, afflicted
With a dire ache of stomach and straightway claimed;
We are graced with his arrival." Thus the citizens
Of Kanchi whose visages bloomed in joy
Like lotuses that burgeon in the morn,
Felt delighted in their minds. (1583)
319. In the streets dight with mansions and in all
Beauteous entrances they planted festoons;
Long-leaved plantains and bunches of areca
Were fastened; rows of pots filled with water
And blazing lamps were everywhere; they reared
Fragrant bowers where hung garlands woven with
Petalled flowers; streamers that wafted
In the wind were hoisted; thus they decked
The vast and beauteous city, Kanchi. (1584)
320. They blazed in their habit of servitorship divine;
They thronged to receive the lord of language on his way;
They had with them brooms divine and other
Serving tools -- unknown even to the celestials --, plied
In the service of the streets divine; these devotees of the Lord
Whose matted hair is decked with Indai-chaplets,
Received him in their strength. (1585)
321. He paid obeisance to the glorious servitors
Who adored and received him; Tirunavukkarasar,
The one ruled by the Lord whose beauteous neck
Is dark like the rumbling cloud, move into the city
Of Kanchi girt with a fort, and reached
The temple of the Lord on whose matted hair
The celestial river descended in smashing leaps. (1586)
322. He prostrated before the Temple-Tower and rose up;
He moved into the opulent yard divine;
He made his sacred round of the beauteous shrine
Of Ekampa Nathar, the Lord of Genesis,
The Ruler of Kanchi; he beheld the Lord
Of Vita Immortalis whose golden frame grew supple
When the daughter of roseate and auric Himavant
Hugged Him; he adored Him and stood poised
In steadfast devotion. (1587)
323. Tears cascading from his eyes gushed in waves
On his frame, thrilled to its roots in every pore
Of hair; his bones were tossed with the waves
Of melting love; his eyes reveled in the bliss
Of vision divine for which they were created;
Becomingly enshrining Tiruvekampar
In his mind, he hymned Him. (1588)
324. "He is unknown to the deceptious hearts, all evil!"
Thus he oped his adorable decad, a garland
Of words divine; then he moved to the place
Beyond the divine yard of the Lord, the Rider
Of the Bull who burnt the triple cities of foes,
The Lord that wears as garlands white-fanged snakes. (1589)
325. Even when he was rendering with all his heart
The manual service divine with his uzhavaram
In great love, he also hymned variform decades,
Manifold and multifoliate; he made his
Sacred round at Kanchi-Mayanam of the Lord
Of dark throat and hailed it soulfully;
There he sojourned willingly. (1590)
326. He adored at all the shrines in great devotion
Commencing from Tirumetrali of the glorious city
Of fortressed Kanchi, where the Lord of matted hair,
Whence courses the Ganga, ever abides; he hailed them
And in choice blossoms of Tamil words wove garlands
And decked the Lord; rendering fitting service
He abode there. (1591)
327. As he thus abode there in that city, he came
To ever-during Tirumal-Peru and hymned in Tamil;
He visited many a shrine of the Lord in whose
Crest doth rest the crescent, and adored them;
Borne by love, great and perennial,
He returned to Kanchi. (1592)
328. There he hailed Him thus: "Behold Ekampan!
He is enshrined in my thought." He came
To the divine presence of the Lord who is concorporate
With His consort, the Rider of the beauteous-eyed Bull,
The Wearer of serpents as jewels, the One whose frame
Is smeared with the Holy Ash of ever-increasing weal. (1593)
329. Having adored the Lord of beauteous Kacchi Ekampam
He desired to adore the other glorious s_rines
Of the Lord who sports on His matted and dense hair
The crescent; he passed through the region where crops
In fields are irrigated by the stream of honey
That gushes forth from the lush drupels.
Of jack-fruit, and came near Tirukkazhukkunru
Where the Lord that wears the hide
Of the pachyderm of strong trunk, abides. (1594)
330. He adored the Dancer's feet in glorious Tirukkazhukkundru
And composed many a garland of tamil verse; he hailed
The Lord who wears the crescent in His crown in His
Many other shrines and reached Tiruvanmiyoor
On the shore of the great and vast sea. (1595)
331. Reaching Tiruvanmiyoor whose Lord is verily
The true panacea, he humbly adored its Lord
And hymned Him in Tamil of supreme and sublime truth;
He also adored in the nearby shrines of the Lord
Who ends the embodiments of lives;
The king of Tamil thus came to Mylapore
Girt with gardens rich in fragrant blooms. (1596)
332. Like peacocks that thrive in hills, clouds flourish
On the tops of mansions there; he adored
The feet of Lord Sankara at divine Mylapore,
A city glorious on earth; then the wielder of uzhavaram
Proceeded on the shore washed by waves
And reached Tiruvotriyoor. (1597)
333. Devotees poised in servitorship made the beauteous streets
Of Tiruvotriyoor, the lustrous cit of uberty, still more
Resplendent; they decked it with streamers,
Garlands, bunches of areca and goodly plantains
In exquisite order; they filled with water
Pots of gold; they lit lamps and arranged them in rows;
They burnt frankincense; thus they received Vakeesar. (1598)
334. Tirunavukkarasar adored the entrance-tower
Of the shrine of Tiruvotriyoor where is enshrined
The Lord who wields the sturdy hill as His martial bow;
With devotees blessed with the wisdom of Oneness
He moved in and made his sacred round in melting love;
He folded his hands in adoration of the Lord
Who will, for sure, end the very name of embodiment. (1599)
335. He hailed the Lord Ezhutthu Ariyum Peruman,
He prostrated flat before the Lord and rose up;
His body thrilled in its every pore; his hair
Stood erect; his eyes showered tears and he
Experienced an ecstatic mysterium tremendum. (1600)
336. "Lotuses buzzed over by bees!" Thus he oped his divine
Tandakam which he hymned in melodic words;
Thus he hailed the Lord and in bliss beheld
The form divine of the Lord in whose matted hair
Courses the celestial flood, the Ganga; his hands
Folded in adoration; he then moved out. (1601)
337. He rendered service divine in the vast and beauteous
Yard resplendent; he sang many adorable
Kuruntokais and Tiruviruttams treasured by all hearts;
He melodised Tirunerisais in full throated ease;
He adored the Lord with his hands, and sojourned
In that city of foison for full many a day. (1602)
338. During his days of sojourn, he visited many
Beatific shrines of Siva and adored the Lord there
In love; Him of Tiruvotriyoor he hailed;
Blessed with His grace he departed from Tiruvotriyoor
Well-endowed with the wealth of water; he came
To Tiruppasoor the Lord of which shares Uma in His frame. (1603)
339. When he reached Tiruppasoor, the love in his mind
Began to swell as ardent devotion; for the deliverance
Of the world the Lord is there enshrined in a bamboo;
He adored the Lord who burnt the triple cities
Sparing in the process the lives of three devotees,
Prostrated before Him and rose up. (1604)
340. "He, the First One, burnt the triple cities of yore!"
Thus he oped the heart-melting hymn;
Songs in Tirukkuruntokai
Tandakam, metrical Tirunerisai full of rhythm
And other psalms in Tamil he melodised, and blessed
With the grace of Our Father he desired to march onward. (1605)
341. He left the beauteous town and adored the Lord
Whose throat is blue with the hue of poison
In all His nearby shrines in delight great;
He reached and adored Pazhaiyanoor Tiruvalankadu
Where abide the noble members of the glorious clan
Who never swerve from truth, ever-poised
In the way, lofty and sublime. (1606)
342_ "He is the opulent One of Tiruvalankadu!"
Thus he hailed Him in ever-glorious tandakam great
And many other supremely truthful garlands of Tamil;
In great devotion, he hailed the Lord in the other
Shrines, and moved northward. (1607)
343. He crossed many towns, long ranges of hills
And jungles spreading thick, reached Tirukkarikkarai
And adored its Lord who confers on devotees the godly way;
The great king of hoary arts reached the great hill
Of Tirukkalatthi where throng celestials behind
Rows of servitors. (1608)
344. In the vast and divine waters of the divine river
Ponmukali he had his ablutions; he prostrated
At the foot of the hill-range of Kalatthi in worship,
Rose up, ascended the ever-during hill of the Lord
Who rides the red-eyed Bull, and made his sacred round. (1609)
345. He fell on the ground and adored the Lord who wears
A white ear-ring of chank; -- the Lord who is
Verily a shoot of the mountain, the Lord who is
The Genesis of the Vedas --, and rose up; his great
And loving mind and his eyes were steeped in joy;
Ecstatically he hymned the Lord thus:
"He abides in my eyes!" Thus he sang the divine tandakam. (1610)
346. Near unto the Lord who is the crest-jewel of the hill
Stands enshrined Kannappar whose strong hand wields
The bow; he adored His feet and his roseate feet
Together; tears flooding from his eyes cascaded
Down his frame; folding his hands above his head
He bowed, and then moved out of the shrine. (1611)
347. He rendered possible service in the divine hill sky-high
And adored on the hill the feet of Thanu; an inkling
Linked his thought with the divine Mount Kailas;
The master of truthful arts desired very much to behold
The great beauty and poised of the Lord at Mount Kailas. (1612)
348. He adored the Lord of the beauteous hill who is
The Remedy sure for the illth of embodiment;
Endowed full with His grace, in spiraling love
He moved northward; he crossed mountains great,
Forest-rivers and lands stretching continuously
And reached Sri Parvata where is enshrined
The Lord of the red-eyed Bull who is Vishnu. (1613)
349. Vidhyataras of great prowess, celestial Devas,
Yakshas who move in the eternal regions, Kinnaras
Who are celestial musicians, dwellers of Naka-Loka,
Kamacharis who can travel anywhere at will
And wise ones poised in Silence, here adore the Lord,
And are blessed with boons; he adored this divine hill
And hailed it in Tamil, magnificent and munificent. (1614)
350. He moved onward impelled by a love to adore
The Mount of Kailas the Lord of which wears
The garland of Atthi and wields the trident;
No other desire had he; wondering devotees flocked
To him and he crossed the Telugu country
And reached the realm of Karnataka. (1615)
351. He moved out of the limits of Karnataka and crossed
The interfluent woods, fords, beauteous and holy,
Rivers, long mountain-paths, countries that thrive
In great foison; these that defy number, receded
As he marched onwards; he came to the country
Of Malava rich in gardens of dense and stately trees
Over whose tops the sun wheels his diurnal rounds. (1616)
352. He crossed the whole stretch of that country and also
Forests, impassable; he passed through the land of Lada
Glorious for its eelymosynary dharmasalas
And crossed cloud-capped hills, forests and rivers
And reached the land of Madhya Pradesh rich in fields
Near which lotuses burgeon. (1617)
353. He crossed it and reached Varanasi, circled by the Ganga;
There he adored the Lord whose matted hair
Flashes like lightning; he left there
All the devotees that following him;
Departing from the bank of the Ganga, the great
Lover of God -- the lord of language --, moved onward
And reached the sylvan range of hills. (1618)
354. The trees in the woods swept the very heavens; they were
Pathless woods inaccessible to men; yet as constant love
Was welling up in him, abjuring food even in the form
Of leaves, fresh of dried, tubers and fruits,
All alone he fared forth towards the huge mountain
Of_the peerless Kailas; on he marched during night also. (1619)
355. When the loving one thus marched on, braving
The night, even wild beasts were afraid to come
Near him to cause him harm; cobras that would
Venom spit, held on their hoods gems for lamps;
He went through the forest in which even Devas
Would not venture to set foot as lone travellers. (1620)
356. In the forest, during mid-day fierce, the sun
Smote cruelly; its rays spread everywhere and the ground
Was full of fissures through which fire blazed
Even down to the bourne of the Naka-Loka; the rays
Of the sun that invaded the hot shades in the fissures
Of the fiery and destructive wilderness, were thus
Flaming hot; yet he that was poised
In true, steadfast tapas marched on. (1621)
357. He thus marched on, night and day, through the wild
Wilderness and his lotus-feet upto ankles withered away;
Yet, would he detach himself from his thought fixed
On the argent mount where abides Ammai-Appar?
He leaped onward with the sole help of his hands twain. (1622)
358. His hands and wrists, disjointed, withered and wasted away,
Yet the great desire bred by his loving heart poised in truth
Grew more and more; the servitor of the blue-throated Lord
Prone on the dense gravel fiery whence smoke rose aloft,
Pushed his way with the aid of his chest. (1623)
359. The flesh on his chest wore away; the bones thereof
Were cracked and thrown out of joint; his whole body
Was a total wreck; yet impelled by the arodour of life
Sustained by a heart love that ached for the darshan
Of the Lord, the godly devotee
Rolled and rolled on his way in that forest wild. (1624)
360. Thus he rolled on the long way; his entire body wasted away;
His divine heart had truly reached the ineffable
Mount Kailas; he could do nought else as he could
No longer move slowly or gently as all the limbs
Of his body had withered away; so the leonine servitor
Of Tamil, lay on his way, undone. (1625)
361. The Lord would not bless him of such plight to reach
Kailas; to help him hail Him hereafter too, on earth,
In Tamil -- sweet and sempiternal --, the Supreme One
Who wears snakes for His jewels, in the habit of a muni,
Came walking, taking with Him a great pool of pure water. (1626)
362. He reached him and straight looked at him sorrowing;
The servitor too looked at Him; he then asked him;
"Why have you come here with all your limbs wasted away
And sore grieving, to this wilderness?" (1627)
363. The Muni was dressed in valkala; on His chest lay
The triple sacred thread; His crest of matted hair
Glowed with lustre; the Holy Ash blazed on His person;
The flawless devotee true looked at Him that regarded
Him kindlily; he was impelled to articulate
A few words by his inner consciousness. (1628)
364. Spake thus the great one: "O Muni! I am borne here
By a longing to worship in love the Lord of Kailas
In the north, the locks of whose Consort are buzzed
By bees; this indeed is my humble mission. (1629)
365. "Is the beauteous Mount Kailas easy of access
To the humans earth earthy? Even the celestials
Who wield weapons like sharp spears, cannot reach it;
Oh what folly is this that impelled you
To come to this wilderness, wild and hot?" Thus He. (1630)
366. "Your sole duty is to return." When the Muni on whose
Shoulder bright and body beauteous, lay dangling
The triple sacred thread, spake thus, he would not agree
With him; he but said: "Without beholding my Ruler
Enshrined in Kailas, I'll not return with this --
My death-bound frame." (1631)
367. Well aware of his resolutness, the Muni moved
And vanished into the heavens; with His unbodied voice
He addressed him thus: "O lofty and sublime
Navukkarasu, rise! "Thus bidden, up he rose
With a flawless body which glowed with a lustre rare. (1632)
368. "O Glorious One! My Redeemer and my Nectar true!
O Lord of the Gospels who, hid in the skyey expanse
Confers grace on me! The beauty of Your Majesty
As throned in the Kailas, I long to behold with my eyes!
May You mercifu_ly grant me this beatitude!" (1633)
369. The Lord eyed the servitor that rose up after his obeisance
And with His grand ethereal words commanded him thus:
"Get immersed in this pool and behold the vision of Ours
As in Kailas, in great and flawless Tiruvaiyaru." (1634)
370. He wore as it were on his crown the grace of the Lord
Who rides the Bull, and adoring Him, hymned in love
The decad which oped thus: "He was other than the Empyrean
And the Empyrean too!" The devotee blessed with the puissance
Of grace, chanting the Panchakshara entered
The pool and into in immersed, as commanded. (1635)
371. Who can ever comprehend the glory of the divine grace
Of the Primordial Lord? The illuminant and tapaswi
Immersed into the pool of the snowy mountain
And rose out of a pond at Tiruvaiyaru where the Lord
Who is joyously concorporate with His consort Uma, abides;
The whole world wondered at it. (1636)
372. He ascended the bank of the tank where blows the breeze
Of flowery fragrance for ever; the divine grace of the Lord
Lit up the whole of his inmost consciousness; he said:
"Oh the mercy of the Lord!" He was now bathed by the pool
Of tears which gushed forth from his eyes twain. (1637)
373. The servitor was on his way to adore the roseate feet
Of the Lord of Tiruvaiyaru, the streets of which
Were rich in wafting streamers; all species of life,
Movable and immovable, companied with their mates,
Glowed alike there in that town in splendour;
This he beheld. (1638)
374. Even as the Lord is enthroned in the argent and divine
Mount of Kailas with His Consort, the liana of the auric
Mountain, He was beheld here too; all the variform beings
Were here very like the forms of Sakti and Siva;
Them did he thus behold, and adored; the great one
Of ever-during askesis then came before the Lord's temple. (1639)
375. The great temple in truth is the great Mount Kailas;
Vishnu, Brahma, Indra and other great Devas
Awaiting the darshan of the Lord hailed Him aloud
In song and prayer; this sound pervaded everywhere;
The Vedas of Thanu too chanted individually. (1640)
376. Devas, Asuras, Siddhas, Vidhyataras, Yakshas,
Tapaswis great and munis glorious stood thronging;
The numbers sung by Apsaras whose lily-blue eyes
Rolled like Vaalai fish, blending with the beat
Of matthalas, drowned the roar of the seven seas. (1641)
377. The Ganga, and all the great and divine rivers
Thither gathered as holy waters and hailed Him;
The great leaders of the hosts of Siva who were eyed
Everywhere, adored Him; Bhootas and Vetaalas hailed Him
With may a musical instrument. (1642)
378. They that gathered there thought that two indeed
Were in number the argent hills; thus stood the red-eyed
Bull who is Vishnu, in the forefront; Nandi who
Made his avatar in that holy town by reason
Of his tapas of yore, stood rejoicing in his stewardship,
Between the Rider of the Bull and the devotee-throngs. (1643)
379. The lord of logos beheld before him the Lord,
Verily a hill of coral blazing in great effulgence,
Enthroned, on the argent mount with His Jasper liana.
Even Him, the God of endless munificence whose left is
Shared by the daughter of Himavant great, he beheld. (1644)
380. He devoured with his eyes the sea of bliss beheld by him;
He folded his hands (above his head), fell prostrate
Before Him and rose up; his body quaked in ecstasy;
He danced; he sang; he wept; who can ever describe
What the holy servitor experienced in the presence of the Lord. (1645)
381. The tapaswi of endless askesis who was blessed
With a flawless love to partake of the nectarean grace
That he eyed before him, in soaring joy, hymned
The auric Lord of matted hair in adorable tandakams. (1646)
382. His mind was steeped in delight pure; the Lord with His
Consort was enthroned before him as in the Kailas;
Even as the holy devotee stood transfixed in adoration
The Lord made his beauteous vision as revealed
In Tiruvaiyaru recede far, far away. (1647)
383. As the Lord that revealed His form cau_ed it to vanish
The servitor of the Feet divine stood bewildered;
He ached for the joy in which his soul reveled till then;
He thought: "This too, peradventure, is the grace of the Lord
Of ruddy matted hair!" He stood composed and in joy
Hymned his visioned experience for the deliverance
Of the world. (1648)
384. His decad oped thus: "The Lord whose Consort is
The daughter of Himavant wears a chaplet, wrought
Of the beauteous crescent." He hymned many a divine
Tandakam of flawless Tamil verse and made known
The message thus: "At Tiruvaiyaru I beheld
All species of life -- moving and stationary --,
Reach the Lord-Author of the Gospels, companied
With their consorts." Hailing thus, there he stood rapt. (1649)
385. He beheld the Lord, adored Him and hailed
The brow-eyed One with divine tandakams,
Kuruntokais, nerisais and virutthams galore;
Singing, adoring and rendering service divine,
He sojourned at Thiruvaiyaaru presided over
By the Lord of the celestials. (1650)
386. From that ever-abiding town, he visited many
Lofty and sublime shrines commencing from
Tiruneitthaanam and adored there; he hailed
The Lord of Tirumazhapadi and decked Him
With holy garlands of Tamil verse, and rendered service;
Hailing the Lord inaccessible to Vishnu and Brahma
He arrived at Tiruppoonthurutthi. (1651)
387. There arriving, he moved into it in love,
Came to the shrine of the Lord Dancer, made
His sacred circuit and worshipped the Lord;
In loving devotion he prostrated before the Lord;
The inseparable love with which his heart was full,
Began to swell and soar more and more;
His eyes rained tears; of himself he was oblivious. (1652)
388. He hymned his loving tantakams thus: "I have
Beheld the Lord of ruddy matted hair, enshrined
At Tiruppoonthurutthi; He is the Rider of the hill-like
Bull; He is the One never false!" Impelled by love
He hymned the Kuruntokai whose import is:
"We abide at the Feet divine!" (1653)
389. Divining the will of the Lord that he should there
Abide, he hymned the Lord in the adorable decad
Of swelling Tamil verse thus: "We hail the Feet!"
Rendering service he sojourned there; by the grace
Of the Lord, he raised there matam divine
Laved by the rays of the moon and the sun. (1654)
390. Variform tantakams, unique tantakams of adoration,
Divine tandakams which enlist the holy shrines
Where the Lord who does away with misery, abides,
Tiru-Anka-Malai which reveals the way of deliverance
And innumerable tokai-decads, he hymned
And thus he hailed Him and there abode. (1655)
391. Meanwhile the godly Brahmin-child of Sanbai city
Having shattered into smithereens the doctrines
Of stony-hearted Samanas cruel, made straight
The stoop of the Pandya and blessed him with grace,
And having achieved the spreading of the splendour
Of the Holy Ash, was then proceeding to Poonthurutthi
Girt with the Kaveri, where Vakeesar was sojourning. (1656)
392. The godly child arrived at the land enriched
By the Ponni of foison, from the Tamil land sweet;
He heard of the sojourn of Vakeesar at Poonthurutthi
And resolved thus: "I'll hasten to meet him"
He arrived at the outskirts of that fecund town. (1657)
393. Having heard of the coming of the master of Tamil
Of Sanbai, Vakeesar of great glory -- hailed
By the whole-world --, rejoiced; impelled by a love
To adore him and feast his eyes with the joy
Of his sight, he fared forth to receive him
With a mind steeped in delight great. (1658)
394. The prince of Sirkazhi was on his way; there
He came and melted into the holy throng;
The loving servitor who was in its thick, adored him
Unseen; he then resolved thus: "The beauteous palanquin
Decked with pearls bears him that hat come to confer
Deliverance; I'll bend this body and bear it." (1659)
395. Unseen by any one and incognito, he joined
The bearers of the beauteous palanquin of pearls
That bore the godly Brahmin-child of Pukali;
With them he bore it; great was his rejoicing;
None could recognize him at all. (1660)
396. Whe_ the saintly child -- the great muni of Gnosis --,
Neared Tiruppoonthurutthi, he asked: "Where indeed
Is Appar?" Vakeesar, melting in love, replied thus:
"Your servitor, blessed with the beatitude
Of bearing your feet divine is (only here." (1661)
397. Hearing this, down he descended impetuously;
Scared and agitated he adored the king of servitors;
Even before he would adore him, Vakeesar, the divine
Patron, adored him; all the devotees of the Lord
Whose hand displays a leaping fawn, hailed them
And uproarious was their acclamation. (1662)
398. The prince of Kazhumalam graciously companied
With him; he adored the flowery feet of the Lord
Of Tiruppoonthurutthi over whose gardens floats
The lovely moon, -- the Lord whose hands divine
Sport the mazhu and the fawn; he adored Him
In melting love and grew delighted; he hailed Him,
And there abode with Vakeesar. (1663)
399. Vakeesar of immaculate glory hearkened
To the rare tapaswi who narrated to him how he
Vanquished the cruel Samanas in disputation,
How he cured the hunch-backed Pandya
And how he in the land made rich by the cool waters
Of the Tamparaparani, caused the spreading of the glory
Of the Holy Ash infinite. (1664)
400. Of the compassion great of the Pandyan's Consort
Poised in virtue and glory and of Kulacchiraiyar's devotion
The Lord of Gnosis so enchantingly narrated
To Vakeesar of endless glory that he desired to fare forth
To the Pandya kingdom, resplendent on earth. (1665)
401. Tirunavukkarasar of spiritual puissance told
The divine muni of Brahmapuram that he should
Hail the Lord in all His shrines of great Tondai Nadu.
Thereupon the godly child adored
The Lord of Tiruppoonthurutthi who burnt
The triple cities, and left the town. (1666)
402. The kingly servitor blessed with the great grace
Of the Lord, left the town and moved southward
To reach the Pandya country; he adored the Lord
At Tirupputthoor, rapturous to behold; he came
To Tirualavai of Madurai whose streamers
Waft aloft touching the moon. (1667)
403. He moved in and came to the shrine of the Lord
Who presided over the Academy of Tamil, making it
Perfect in the company of perlustrating poets;
He made his sacred circuit and adored the Lord
From the outer shrine; moving in, he hailed
The Lord of the great and puissant Bull who is
Vishnu, and was steeped in joy. (1668)
404. Immersed in nectarean bliss he hymned the Lord
Of matted hair thus: "Lo, He self-manifested!"
Thus sang he, the tapaswi, in exquisite Tamil
His tandakam; desiring to emerge out of the shrine
He adored the Lord with folded hands;
His holy mind reveled in bliss. (1669)
405. The glorious Queen of the Pandya, the King
Who had his hunchback cured by taking
To the way of the Holy Ash and Kulacchiraiyar
Extolled by the world, adored the feet divine
Of Vakeesar in love insatiate; thus hailed
By them he there abode. (1670)
406. He adored the red-rayed Lustre enshrined
At Tirualavai, the Lord-Grantor of the splendorous work
Of rich import; he hymned Him in divine tandakams,
Tirunerisais, and other great and truthful decades
Of Tamil; he rendered service with all his heart;
Then came he to Tiruppoovanam whose Lord
Reduced to cinders the triple skyey cities. (1671)
407. At Tiruppoovanam from whose mansions waft
A forest of flags, he was blessed with a darshan
Of the manifested presence of the Lord, unknowable
To Vishnu, even; he adored Him and hailed Him
With the tandakam which oped thus: "Behold Him
Of the beauteous trident!" He left the town
And visited many a shrine of the Holy One whose
Frame divine is smeared with the Holy Ash. (1672)
408. His thought hovered on the Lord decked with pigngnaka
Who delivered prince Rama from his sin
Of decapitating the ten heads of Ravana of Sri Lanka
In the south; great joy possessed him; with a mind
Melting in love, the lord of logos prostrated before
The Lord and rose up. (1673)
409. He stood before the First One peerless, hailed
By the celestials -- Lord Sankara _f Sri Rameswaram --,
And in words surcharged with devotion, Him
He hymned in Tirunerisais and other forms of verse
In Tamil; rendering service divine which ushered
Growing weal, Vakeesar there abode. (1674)
410. He abode there; blessed with the grace of the Lord
Who sports an eye in His forehead, he left the town
And visited Tirunelveli girt with fields, in the land
Divine of swelling Tamil, Tirukkanapper of the Lord
Whose red-eyed mount is Vishnu and all other shrines
Where the Lord abides, and adored Him. (1675)
411. Adoring the Lord, in multifoliate forms
Of rich Tamil verse, he hailed Him; he rendered
Flawless service; his mind melted in love;
His eyes rained ceaseless tears; he was poised
In an awareness of chinta knit to the feet of Siva. (1676)
412. He traveled throughout the land of Tamil sweet,
Dight with pleasant gardens, and adored the Lord
Whose jewels are snakes, in His shrines; he came
To the land of the Ponni, revisited the shrines situate
In the wealthy towns girt with uberous waters
And adored the Lord there; then the annihilator
Of the falsity of bondage, arrived at flowery Pukaloor. (1677)
413. He adored the feet of the Holy One abiding
At flowery Pukaloor dight with pools formed by nature;
With a melting mind and in devotion deep
He daily rendered manual service in the courtyard
Divine of the shrine; he abode there in love
Hymning numerous garlands of Tamil verse
Surcharged with the message of deliverance. (1678)
414. Divine tandakams which hail the sempiternal Lord,
Tani-tandakams of great glory, divine tandakams
Which hail and enlist the shrines of the Lord
Of (Tillai's) forum, contrite nerisais on the Lord
Of matted hair who wears konrai blooms
Adorable nerisais and decades such like, he sang. (1679)
415. The decad of Ar-uyir-Tiruviruttham,
Quintessential Dasa-Puranam, the decad
Of Pava-nasam hailed by the whole world,
Divine decades straight apostrophizing the Lord
And other decades, he hymned extolling the Lord,
Verily the Grantor of grace that is immense as the sea,
To His servitors. (1680)
416. As thus the kingly servitor rendered service there,
To demonstrate the sublime state in which
He was established, the Lord in His grace, caused
Gold and ninefold gems dazzle in the beauteous courtyard
Of the shrine, wheresoever he plied his uzhavaram. (1681)
417. The ruddy gold and ninefold gems filled the heavens
With their lustre rare; our lord, Tirunavukkarasar,
With his uzhavaram scooped them with the gravel
In the courtyard and alike threw them away,
Into the temple tank where fragrant and soft
Lotus-flowers glistened. (1682)
418. This but words which mark things as grass and stones,
As gold and gems; beyonding this he was poised
Firm in the supreme state of non-differentiation;
Before him the holy servitor, by the grace of the Lord
Of Tiruppukaloor, descended down from the heavens
Damozels whose brows put to shame the bows. (1683)
419. Like lightning of the sky they came down
Flashing beauty; nectarean airs which issued
Tunefully from the kendras of music
In golden notes of linked sweetness, flowed
From their glowing lips of ambrosial fruitage;
Their lily-eyes burgeoned as they melodized. (1684)
420. Their feet soft as the shoots of the celestial Karpaka
Moved in nimble dancing rounds; their hands
Whose fingers were verily roseate buds of kantal
Swayed, swung, locked and unlocked in artful postures
Of dance; their battling eyes carp-like, moved
And rolled, in keeping with the movement
Of their comely hands; like auric lianas wondrous were they
That there danced lissom. (1685)
421. They danced, sang, showered flowers and would
Come near as though they would have union;
They would unloosen their braided locks
And with their hips swaying lithe, would gently trot;
Back would they come companied with the God of Love;
In growing splendour they would cause their long garments
Strategically slip in impassioned love. (1686)
422. When the heavenly Apsaras disported thus
In varied _anton gambols, the lofty one of sublime tapas,
Ever-poised in the truthful awareness wrought
Of melting love that links irremovably his thought
With the feet of the Father, plied himself
In divine service with unwavering chittham. (1687)
423. Addressing them -- the embodied twyfold deeds
Which would push one into the bewildering sea
Of birth and death --, he said: "What is it that I lack
That you should fulfil it? I am a servitor
Of the Lord of Tiruvaroor." This said, he hymned
The divine tandakam which oped thus:
"This ocean great of bewildering falsity." (1688)
424. The Apsaras, nathless, neared him and indulged
In all libidinous deceits resorted to by the lust-borne;
Unable to shake him from his peak
Of undifferentiated oneness, and totally stymied,
They adored him and from him departed. (1689)
425. All the seven worlds coming to know of this, his state,
Hailed him to gain that beatitude; Vakeesar has
Now the very form of loving bhakti ever-during;
The time for getting oned with the Lord whose matted hair
Dazzles like lightning, -- the Ens Entium --, drew near;
He there abode for a few days. (1690)
426. His consciousness, will and deed which direct
His inner sensorium had oned with Him; he hymned
Many a divine viruttham, impelled by his past good, thus;
"The Lord of Pukaloor would sure for ever keep me
That had taken refuge in Him, under His redemptive feet." (1691)
427. He hymned the ever-during tandakam divine
Hailed by all the worlds inclusive of this earth, thus:
"O Holy One! I am coming to Thee!" He completed
The decad; his form was now that of Siva's blissful
Gnosis, seldom accessible; the kingly servitor ruled
By the Lord came to abide for ever under the roseate feet
Of the Supreme One. (1692)
428. On the Sadayam day of Chitthirai his ascension
Took place; the heavenly ones showered flowers
Which overflowed and filled the earth; the five
Celestial tuntupis resounded in the realms ethereal;
All lives from Brahma onwards
Were filled inly with great joy. (1693)
429. The humble servitor that I am, I historicised
The life of godly Tirunavukkarasar, adoring
That divine muni's roseate feet-very like soft
Fragrant flowers-, as it lay within my knowledge;
Adoring him as before and blessed with his grace,
I will now narrate the servitorship of Kulacchiraiyar
Which is truly glorious and boundless. (1694)
----------------
Stanza Line
1 Tirunavukkarasu : The supernal lord of Logos.
Vakeesar : The King of speech.
He was named Marulneekki (Remover of flaw and nescience) by
his parents; he was given the name Dharmasena by the Jains; he
was named Tirunavukkarasu by Lord Siva; he was called Appar
by St. Thirugnana-Sambandhar.
In his former incarnations he was Suthapa and Vakeesa.
2 It looks as though that the very buildings in this holy land, like
Siva, wear the moon in their crest. Siva-saroopam is thus indicated.
There is a pun on the world "tukal". It means (1) dust and (2) defect
or flaw. The dust of the soil is no defect of the soil. Indeed it is
that which makes for its fecundity. It is, to borrow the words of
Tagore, "healthy dust."
3 Siva is adorned by a river; so too is this holy land. The flow of
the river is to be likened to the flow of the Lord's grace.
5 5-6 Freshes ever flow amain and damage the sluices.
7 3 Kootal means : (1) the crest of an areca-tree;
(2) the coiffure of a women.
12 Sivam : Here it means Saivism.
45 Evil past : The result of evil deeds done in past life or lives.
71 1 Deathless decad : Saivites believe that his decad is a sure
remedy for all aches that afflict the bowels.
This will be recited so long as Tamil is spoken
in any quarter of the globe.
2 Cruel and kind : Lord Siva was cruel to our Saint only to be
kind. It is common knowledge that the punitive
act of the parent is in the interest of the child.
5 Life and Grace : Real living commenced for our Saint only after
this event. Thus_he understood the grace of
the Lord to be.
6 "And chiefly Thou O Spirit, that dost prefer
Before all temples, th' upright heart and pure."
- Pradise Lost, Book I, Line 17 - 18.
8 Clear wisdom. With the advent of grace, the mind and intellect of our Saint
was clarified. Wisdom in the context means Godly knowledge. Compare the
words of Vali to Rama on the eve of his death.
The Accuser Vali turned a worshipper when God endowed him with "Pati
Gnanam". He said:
Unto me, the cur of a slave, at the hour of death,
You, by grace, granted wisdom."
72 1 cf. (i) "........Quivering frame
I clasped adoring hands; my heart expanding like a flower
Eyes gleamed with joy and tears distilled."
- Tiruvachakam, Tr.G.U.Pope.
(ii) "With floods of gushing tears, and frame with transport
filled, in joy and love" Ibid.
4-5 Flood of Your Grace:
Our Saint had fallen into a pit. By his effort, it was impossible for
him to climb up. God flooded and My-ness, he became light as a
feather and could float. As the flood-level gradually rose he too
rose up and eventually got out of the pit.
7 Do I merit this? The eternal question of every reformed soul.
73 2 Disguised as truth:
The motto of Jains is "Yes and No." Lack of certainly is the breeding-ground
of falsehoods. Their very austerity, rigid and inflexible, was nothing but
puffedup falsehood. With them the cowl never made the monk. Theirs was
a religion perpetuated by clouded definitions and bogus values. They would
rather hand themselves than correct their false moralisms and occult
inaccuracies.
4 The intolerant Jains:
The religious intolerance of the Jains during the time of our Saint knew no
bounds. Even to see or hear of a non-Jain was pollution for them. Their
concept of "Kandumuttu" and Kettumuttu" has no parallel in the world, for
rank acerbity.
6 Debt of gratitude:
Can ever man render adequate thanks to the Lord or His grace? The only
thing he can do is to adore. Our Saint now clarified in intellect realized
that the cruel ache was but a Deus ex machina. It could not therefore be
requited. It could be and ought to be, adored.
When the Brahmin conveying the message of Rukmini to Sri Krishna returned
to inform her of his successful mission, she only fell at his feet and
worshipped him.
Saivites consider that the entire world of Saivism owes a great debt to the
ache of our Saint. It was indeed no malady but truly a remedy.
77 Uzhavaram is a spud-like instrument.
104 The doctrine enunciated in Jeevaka Chintamani, a Jain work, is: "Nalvinai
udaiya neerar nanju unin amuthamakum; allathel amuthu nanjaam."
(If worthy men of piety eat poison, it will be but nectar; for others even
nectar is poison). It is strange that the Jains would not respect their
own doctrine.
A Niti-Sastra of Tamil says: "Water cosumed by snake turns into poison;
by cow into nectarean milk. Even so, knowledge of the wise is light and
knowledge of the base is delusion."
The culture of Saivism as demonstrated by Tirunavukkarasu is the one
adumbrated by the sacred Kural which says: "Those who desire to be
styled the very pink of courtesy will drink off even the poison that hath
been mixed for them before their own eyes."
The decad sung by Tirunavukkarasar on this occasion is unfortunately
lost. However the Thevaram hymn beginning with the words: "Thunjirul
kalai...." Contains an unmistakable reference to the event.
Readers may find a parallel in the life of Socrates who however died
of the poison.
112 The eight elephants that guard the cardinal points are:
(1) Airavata in the east, (2) Pundarika in the south-east, (3) Vamana in
the south, (4) Kumuta in the south-west, (5) Anjana in the west, (6)
Pushpadanta in the north-west, (7) Sarvabhooma in the north and
(8) Supradipa in the north-east.
115 Sunna Venn
cantana Santu : These words means: "Holy white ashes
and sandal-_aste."
Our translation is in keeping with the original in which the historical
present tense is resorted to by St. Sekkizhar.
121 Mutti : The practice of mantric incantation.
126 Sol Tunai Vetiyan : The Lord is the Author of the Gospels
which ever abide aide aidant.
130 Varuna : The Marine God.
The prayer of the Rg.Veda quoted below can be seen to be full of
significance in this context.
"Loosen the bonds, O Varuna, that hold me, loosen
the bonds above, between and under."
Book I, Hymn XXIV, 15, Tr.R.T.H.Griffith.
131 The Lord of the
Logos : Tirunavukkarasu.
147 Manifold service : Service by thought, word and deed.
161 Boundary : The inner boundary of the city.
165 5 Thiru Anukkan Tiru Vayil Gopuram.
187 The house of a holy person is called a matam.
190 Inasmuch as the Lord is said to abide during day at Tirutthurutthi
and at night at Velvikkudi, both the shrines are deemed to be
one only.
196 Moist feet : When celestials that are decked with honied
chaplets fall at the feet of the Lord and adore
Him, His feet get wet with the honey that
gushes forth.
249 7-8 They did not come to Tiruveezhimizhalai together. St.Appar would
proceed and reach reach the place of pilgrimage first. Then the
godly child would arrive there in his palanquin. See stanza 527 of
the Puranam of Tirugnanasambandhar.
290 Thanu : The pillar, The pillar of Fire; Lord Siva.
335 The first line of the original contains a beautiful oxymoron. Siva is
here called 'The Lord that knows the words." The words (of the
Gospels) however are unindited.
363 Valkala : A garment made of the bark of trees.
394 The word "thazhum udal" in the original may not mean, "the base
body." St.Appar deliberately wasted his body away in his pilgrimage
to the Kailas. Stanza 1632 informs us that in the range of the
Himalayas he was blessed "with a flawless body which glowed
with a lustre rare." Since then, his was a frame divine, one that
was ethereal. The late-lamented Kudantai Sundaresan once told us
that St.Appar was very tall in appearance. Sambandhar the child
was about four feet six inches or so in height at the time relevant
for us. The palanquin granted to him, when he was a child, would
have been a pretty small one. If St. Appar should bear it, he had
to bend his body low.
412 Pukaloor means "The town of Refuge".
427 3 cf. "I will arise and go to my Father"
St. Luke, XV.18.
Sincere thanks to Sri. T N Ramachandran of thanjavur, for permitting his English rendering of the holy text periyapurANam be published here.
See Also:
1. thirun^Avukkarachu nAyanAr purANam in English prose
2. திருநாவுக்கரசு நாயனார் புராணம் (தமிழ் மூலம்)
3. thiruththoNDar purANam main page
4. 12 shaivite thirumuRais
Related Content
Thoughts - 64 th Nayanar
Thoughts - Importance of rituals
How I am, so is my Lord
Description of sankaranArAyanar
Enslaves and Dances with me !
