English (machine translation)

Translation of Tirukkurrala Malai (Tirukkuṟṟāla Mālai)

Language: English
Extent: 103 passages, 4,518 words
Text: complete digital text
Source: pramana-mt · Machine translation by Gemini 3.8 Flash (2026-10-06) of in.vernacular.tamil.late.tirukkurrala_malai · Machine output without human authorship: no copyright is claimed (CC0 1.0). The original text keeps its own…

Text

1

Invocation
To establish a verse garland bearing the holy name of Kuṟṟālaliṅgar, / the supreme Lord praised throughout the earthly sphere: / the pair of red feet of Kandan of Centinakar, the companion of the elephant-faced god / adorned with rutting fluid flowing over garlanded tusks, is our protection.

2

Text

3

When shall I learn the sacred verses of the Three of sacred songs / and bestow boundless love following their path completely toward you? / Accessible to the gaze of the maiden Kuḻalvāymoḻi, / belonging to the toṇṭar who renounce all cravings for women, land, and gold, / O dweller of Kuṟṟālam!
..

4

Instead of staying on your path for my own elevation, / I took the path of "I" and "mine" and became trapped by the Five. / To dispel my impediment, I see no great relation except you; / the child in your hand is entirely / a surrender to you alone; behold your sacred word! / O dweller of Kuṟṟālam!
..

5

(*The word Tiruvācakam here may be an interpolation.)

6

I remained deeming gold supreme, / and deeming the pleasures of love-quarrels in union with lightning-like women supreme; / when Yama's staff arrives, I shall see no other refuge hereafter. / Grant the attainment of your aruḷ! / Holding you as supreme, I have reached you for refuge, / O dweller of Kuṟṟālam!
..

7

When prosperity came, joy arose; when it was lost, yearning arose; / thus I became weary; even when steeped in the blissful learning of devotees, / I am not cleared of doubt. Clarify me fully, behold! / You who are devoid of surging effort and sluggish sleep, / O dweller of Kuṟṟālam!
..

8

I am not capable of praising your rare aruḷ / and abiding [peacefully] knowing that what is ordained for my sustenance will arrive. / That the confusion of birth may cease, appear as my guru— / O you whose sole weapon is a gentle smile / that destroyed the forts of the three [demons] long ago, / O dweller of Kuṟṟālam!
..

9

Parents do not know the suffering of their children; / even if they know the child's suffering and share it even slightly, they cannot endure it. / Beyond father and mother, is there any true kin except you / who can see my insatiable hunger, feed me nectar, and heal my disease? / O dweller of Kuṟṟālam!
..

10

When shall I reach divine Tirikūṭam where the Vedas disport, / bathe in the ghat of the Northern Waterfall, and worship you? / In all the vast groves, while six-winged bees sing melodies, / mango sprouts with rosy hands feed distilled nectar-honey, / O dweller of Kuṟṟālam!
..

11

What is the use of merely reciting by rote like parrots? / Grant the blessing to drink the milk of your mercy like children! / O you on the Citrānadi where parrot chicks sing pestle-songs, / you have thoroughly plundered the hearts of toṇṭar who set their love on you, / O dweller of Kuṟṟālam!
..

12

Desiring solely after wealth, like a harlot / who does not remain in one man's house, my heart resembles her, behold! / O you whose feet are like lotuses worshipped by the celestials, / who become the all-filling, perfect nāda and bindu, / O dweller of Kuṟṟālam!
..

13

When conceived, disease caused by karma resides within; / while the form grows in the womb, disease presses hard; / and the jaḍa that remains after birth is also disease— / placing my trust in this, I have taken a birth that thoroughly melts me away, / O dweller of Kuṟṟālam!
..

14

When the disease of birth—budding with karma, swelling, harboring the five senses, / and filled with pus and multiple malas—ripens and comes, / give me your pair of flower-feet as the medicine to dispel it / without the knife of the dharma physician! / O dweller of Kuṟṟālam!
..

15

Will penance be attained so that countless moments become a single instant, / allowing one to contemplate your path without wavering? / O bridegroom of Goddess Umaiyampikai, / called Sundarī, Kōmaḷai, and Śyāmalā, the daughter born of the Himalayas / surrounded by the Caṇpakāṭavi, / O dweller of Kuṟṟālam!
..

16

Because of delusion caused by women with flower-adorned hair, my mind, buddhi, / citta, and ahaṅkāra strike me down; have compassion on me who am perishing! / O light within the circle of the oṅkāra, / praised and meditated upon by those whose hearts yearn with unebbing streams of tears of love, / O dweller of Kuṟṟālam!
..

17

What was it like to exist beforehand in primal form? What karma-form / attaches to whoever takes form later as a sprouting embryo? / What is this form of mine that stands cherishing its limbs? What is this that is called 'I' thereafter? / What is your form that sets me dancing? Tell me, / O dweller of Kuṟṟālam!
..

18

Did the soul take stand in the impermanent body, or in the place where the soul stood
did all bodies take their stand? Is it that the natural forms
and souls are many, or is it one? Is it external, or inimical, or related?
Without hesitation, speak the single path, O Kuṟṟālattuṟaipavanē!

19

When days of fortune arrive, their house is a market crowd; when days of income cease,
it resembles a monastery after the festival has ended; considering this,
look at me spending heavy days, my Lord! Tell me,
on which single day, after many days, shall I behold you, O Kuṟṟālattuṟaipavanē?

20

Having been a fragrant child, and the husband of young women,
when that season of desire fails, even those women
shrink in distaste as old age takes hold, turning to skin and reeking with foul odor;
when will this rotting inert physical body depart, O Kuṟṟālattuṟaipavanē?

21

If you set out to reform, you can reform crores of universes;
is it hard for you to reform my mind? To remove the misery
of karma that shows affliction, grant me one word of assurance,
you who gave one half to Kuḻalvāymoḻi alone, O Kuṟṟālattuṟaipavanē!

22

Those who do not know how to behold you clearly and praise you seek only base food
and vain sleep; those devotees who behold from afar,
in the flood of divine grace, and practice śivayoga sleep—
would they ever think of food and sleep, O Kuṟṟālattuṟaipavanē?

23

With the full praṇava as the trunk, the four Vedas as long boughs,
the proclaimed śākhās as branches, the four goals of life budding forth,
in the divine Kuṟumpalā where the fragrance of wisdom diffuses without lack,
O three-eyed fruit abiding there, O Kuṟṟālattuṟaipavanē!

24

Though all forms are one, abiding here and there, the good
and the evil are played out by you; likewise, when considering my attachment of bonds
that teaches ignorance in the mind, can it ever be equal
to the delightful love of your devotees, O Kuṟṟālattuṟaipavanē?

25

So that I may bathe in the waterfall ghat, smear the sacred white ash, unite
with your devotees, and come before you, where conches lay their eggs, to praise you,
show me the path that does not lead back to the womb of karma-born embodiment, O blue-throated Lord,
you whose form has no equal, O Kuṟṟālattuṟaipavanē!

26

Renouncing love for delicate women that overcomes even the aged, to stay with you
for even half a mātrā, the Five run and agitate; if seeing those with true intent
who praise you, and ignoring them, the mind shuts its door,
is it fitting to blame another, O Kuṟṟālattuṟaipavanē?

27

"Who am I? What is my body? What is consciousness? You who placed me here—
who are you?"—I am a simpleton who understands nothing; showing compassion
so that I may plunge into the divine honey-like Gaṅgā of Śiva in the dense Caṇpakāṭavi,
banish this birth of flesh, O Kuṟṟālattuṟaipavanē!

28

Neem is a sweet confection for the worm; the snake with virulent poison
is ambrosia for Garuḍa; because you feed various living beings
in diverse measures according to their karma, I will not preserve
this food of karma; feed me the ambrosia of divine grace, O Kuṟṟālattuṟaipavanē!

29

Even if I say: "Eat the unwaning fruit of wisdom for the fierce hunger of spiritual ignorance
and go!", the Five do not permit; when will that day come, without the mind
grieving in bewilderment, when entering your divine grace, like the homeowner and the thief,
we become one, O Kuṟṟālattuṟaipavanē?

30

How shall I instruct and correct my intellect
that is bewildered the moment one speaks of "gold"? Like a mother who gave me birth
and gave food made of pure rice, teach me, saying: "Meditate in your heart
upon reality as it truly is," and bestow your grace, O Kuṟṟālattuṟaipavanē!

31

I am bewildered within this reeking hut [of the body]; speak a word of comfort
so that seeking you, my mind may find clarity, O honey of Śiva's bliss
well-springing as an abundance of divine grace in the lotus-mind of those
whose hearts cool through accumulating love within, O Kuṟṟālattuṟaipavanē!

32

Like the appearance of bubbles on a river, you make all crores of universes
appear and in a mere moment dissolve them; you appear before those who declare
and praise your glory in the poems of the sacred ghat; come to me
before Caṇḍa drains and drinks my life, O Kuṟṟālattuṟaipavanē!

33

If it receives enough food for strength, it walks; if slightly reduced,
it lies like a cripple; if in excess, it afflicts; like an old debt,
it demands its daily bribe—is it easy to live
with this wretched body, O Kuṟṟālattuṟaipavanē?

34

Like the face of a crop seeking the face of rain, see, my mind / seeks the face of your well-fashioned conch-earring! / While konṟai adorning your braided hair and the vilvam's / leaf-cluster sway on your head, and Vedas sing, / standing in the Citrasabhā with a deer leaping from your hand, / O dweller of Kuṟṟālam!

35

When will it unite with the firm reality devoid of change, / freed from the disputations over superficial matter? / Great flood of benevolence for loving devotees who contemplate [you]! / True life of Śiva-bliss for those who never abandon silence! / O dweller of Kuṟṟālam!

36

Seeing all of worldly life to be a fiction, / I did not revile it as a dream from which one wakes; / I, who have no right way, lack what is needed to repudiate it—protect me, / O essence of manifested wisdom, O dweller of Kuṟṟālam!

37

For those who think [you are] formless, you assume formlessness; / for those who think your essential nature is only within their own knowledge, you assume form; / you conquer the ancient three worlds in battle, you create and protect them; / see, your divine play is no ordinary sport, / O dweller of Kuṟṟālam!

38

Even if they are victors winning battles that have never known defeat, / can they ever overcome cruel karma by their intellect? / If they part from your action, / even those who know good will become beggars; / if they attain the glance of your grace, / those who know nothing will rule the world, O dweller of Kuṟṟālam!

39

Bestow the grace of placing upon my head the lotus-feet / with golden anklets, supreme over all beings such as the elements! / O destiny above Brahmā who creates the great earth! / O fruit that ripens without seed! / O awareness that comprehends without being taught, O dweller of Kuṟṟālam!

40

Why did you create a birth never before created? / Was it only to cast me into the frenzy of the five elements and bull-headed passions? Is it poison? / Weakened so very much, I have become the lowest; take pity on me! / You have taken Gaurī as one half, O possessor! / O one with braided hair of karantai, O dweller of Kuṟṟālam!

41

Tossed by waves of piled-up grief and pleasure, / lest I perish entering the trembling ocean of births, / lift me up, see, and board me upon the raft of your grace's supreme bliss, / O one without beginning or appearance, O dweller of Kuṟṟālam!

42

If the two ears hear, desire is slight; / but seeing with the two eyes, I was seized by swelling desire, babbling in immense foolishness; / not blackened by [chastening fire], I am scorched and in pain; / rule over this heart that does not soften with calmed thoughts toward you, / O dweller of Kuṟṟālam!

43

Even if gold as massive as golden Mount Meru were heaped up, see, / my intellect still thinks of seeking more and more! / To extinguish my karma, with compassion eightfold greater / than [my faults] against me, at what time will I / fix my mind upon you, O dweller of Kuṟṟālam?

44

Even if I endure lust for many days, see, / hunger cannot be endured by me for a single day! To whom shall I tell this? / If I tell, I see no one with discriminating wisdom; / when I look around, nowhere do I see anything other than your feet, / O dweller of Kuṟṟālam!

45

Falling into the lust for women with gem-decked breasts, without deceit, / protect me from descending into evil hell! / Belonging to those whose minds are not seized [by worldly things] but united with true wisdom! / O one with a forest of matted locks holding serpents, adorned with the crescent moon, / O dweller of Kuṟṟālam!

46

Among the kings who ruled the world without divergence, / there is none whose body was not burnt to ashes in this wide earth! / I said, 'Look upon a way not to fall into the thicket of lingering, bound karma!' / Yet as I spoke, my mind felt no remorse; what shall I do, / O dweller of Kuṟṟālam?

47

Before the messengers of Yama come fiercely, swiftly, / drawing their swords, cornering and intimidating, come to me! / O dweller of Kuṟṟālam, where the female monkey sits, twisting its white tail, / curling, leaping, devouring jackfruit, choking, / roaring, strutting, and dancing!

48

Before the twilight when Yama comes like darkness before a blind monkey, / growing enraged to snatch away the life, come to me! / O dweller of Kuṟṟālam, where [a monkey] having eaten fruit pats it, / leaps toward another female, and slipping from a branch overflowing with honey, / falls, roars, squats, and dances!

49

To put an end to wandering about singing worthless songs, / when will I attain clarity by singing daily songs of Śiva? / O one possessing the garland of heavenly songs and the penance of the Vedas! / O one possessing the konṟai garland! / O one possessing the great hall of joyous dance, O dweller of Kuṟṟālam!

50

When shall I meet the forest of red matted locks holding the waxing crescent moon, / and the feet that bestow liberation to those who praise them? / On all the mountain slopes, gathering and scattering pearls and gold on both sides, / on one side the waterfall continually leaps and plunges, O dweller of Kuṟṟālam!
..

51

Can those gifted with eyes bear to part from the grove of campaka, Tirikūṭam, and the great Citrā river? / Born a doer of [bad] deeds, have pity on me who am afflicted with wounds! / Where in the night every golden mansion sheds light like bright daylight, / O dweller of Kuṟṟālam!
..

52

Whatever one plans at length, you alter into something else; whatever one has never thought of, / you reveal and then conceal just as quickly; protect me with your aruḷ! / By the strings that you pull and shake, nourishing and granting sleep / to all precious living beings, O dweller of Kuṟṟālam!
..

53

Knowing delusion to be ruinous, I have not forgotten the passions in my heart; renouncing deceit, / I have not forsaken household life that pursues and terrifies me; wandering round and round, / I am utterly exhausted; take pity! Kinsman forever to those devoid of desires, / nectar of true wisdom, O dweller of Kuṟṟālam!
..

54

Is it not right for poets to spend all their spoken speech in speaking of you / and to live mounting the steed of your immense aruḷ, instead of singing of base fools / with shame, suffering hardships, and standing on the needlepoint / of cruel Kali? O dweller of Kuṟṟālam!
..

55

You exist like the fragrance within a flower full of honey; / without drinking to the full the clear, rare ambrosia of the bliss of your grace, / is it good that I, bewildered, have set my inner desire every day / upon the corrupt flesh of this body, stinking like washermen's steam? O dweller of Kuṟṟālam!
..

56

Diminishing when they diminish, filling when they fill, you have declared yourself / within everyone's form; who can truly know your form? Make me flourish! / Abiding in the Caṇpakāṭavi encircled by mountain slopes where waterfalls resound and dance, / you have pervaded the worlds, O dweller of Kuṟṟālam!
..

57

Utterly deluded, thinking food and sleep to be the sole purpose of life, / a great luster, dispel the infatuation I have contracted! / O you who delight in the pleasure of woman, partner of Kuḻalvāymoḻi, / yogi who never parts from the mauna of true wisdom, lover of spring splendor, O dweller of Kuṟṟālam!
..

58

Reveling in infatuation for women of milk-sweet speech with hair swarming with bees, / I have faltered every day; kicking cruel Yama, / you took [Mārkaṇḍeya] so the unwaning sage might live; to preserve the immortals, / you consumed poison; look upon me as your refuge, O dweller of Kuṟṟālam!
..

59

Grievously afflicted by the assault of severe hunger, grant your grace / to conquer this Kali age struck by karma! / Seeing the right moment, like the god of love contending against the music of youthful women of jubilant speech, / the loud black cuckoo calls, O dweller of Kuṟṟālam!
..

60

All manual labor is an ancient burden; if, fearing it in my mind, / I do nothing, severe hunger is a burden; if I work to eat, / disease in this false body is a burden; standing here, I lament; / graciously remove my helplessness, O dweller of Kuṟṟālam!
..

61

Grant me grace not to go and bow to wicked men, / but to praise your devotees, desiring to come into this world! / From the peak of Tirikūṭam, which smells sweet for a whole kādam with flower-laden branches stirred by bees, / the forest-dwellers call out to the celestials, O dweller of Kuṟṟālam!
..

62

Even if your toṇṭar commits hateful bad deeds, accepting him, / it is your duty to bear with him always and rule him sweetly! / Where step-stones of ruby cause pain to the tender feet of women with locks / dark as rainclouds and darkness, on the lovely mountain that surrounds you, O dweller of Kuṟṟālam!
..

63

Having praised you, whose locks never fail to give, it is not seemly / to go and suffer distress before low, stingy men; / you see that the trembling of public gossip that destroys honor cannot be borne! / Let lack of food and clothing never torment me, O dweller of Kuṟṟālam!
..

64

Concealing deceitful extreme greed inside, I wander / before all others as if free of worldly desire; / wearing a cow's skin, I am a tiger bent on conflict; dispel my desire, behold! / O yogi devoid of all desire, O dweller of Kuṟṟālam!
..

65

When will the eye that awakens within, unperturbed, / making many passing moments into a single moment, open outward? / Where the fine water of Tirikūṭam's waterfall shaming the moon's white rays / sprinkles drops that dispel the fierce heat of the sun, O dweller of Kuṟṟālam!
..

66

செருமிக் கவலை யுளந்தடு மாறித் தினம்பொருமிப்
பொருமிக் கரைவது கண்டிரங்காய்ப் புல்லும் பூடுங்கல்லும்
தருமிக்க பட்சி மிருகங்க ளாதி சராசரமு
மொருமிக்கத் தெய்வ வடிவாங்குற் றாலத் துறைபவனே
..

67

சிறையோ படுவ தினிக்கவை யோதினந் தான்படுதல்
முறையோ முறையிடல் கேட்கிலை யோமுன்னை நாளிற்செய்த
குறையோ குறையுன்முன் னேநிற்கு மோகொண்ட கோபமென்னோ
உறையாங்கு கொண்ட லுலாவுங்குற் றாலத் துறைபவனே
..

68

தண்டேன் மலர்சொரி சண்பகச் சோலையுஞ் சந்நிதியும்
பண்டே பழகுநின் சித்ரா நதியும் பலவளமுங்
கண்டே பிரிந்துந்தரித் தேனென்போ லொத்தகன் னெஞ்சர்தாம்
உண்டேநின் கற்பனைக் குள்ளேகுற் றாலத் துறைபவனே
..

69

பொறுக்கும் படைகொண்டு கோபத்தை மாய்த்துப் புரையற்றுநான்
வெறுப்பு விருப்பற் றிருப்பதென் றோவண்டம் விண்டுகிறு
கிறுக்கும் படிமலை யைச்சிலை யாக்கிக் கிளர்புரங்க
ளொருக்குந் தனிப்பெரு வீராகுற் றாலத் துறைபவனே
..

70

வருக்காம் பலகரும்பைப் பார்க்க நன்றொரு வட்டெனவே
பெருக்காசை விட்டு நின்றாளே பரவிப் பிறவியின்வேர்
கருக்காம லென்றுமென் சிந்தைக்குள் ளேயொருக் காற்றௌிவு
மொருக்கான் மயக்கமு மாமோகுற் றாலத் துறைபவனே
..

71

தருகோடி யம்புயத் தாள்தொழும் போது சதுரயுக
மிருகோடி யும்நொடிப் போதொக்கு மேதுன்ப மீட்டுங்கவ்வை
யருகோடி யுன்னைப் பிரிந்தா லரைநொடிப் போதுமெனக்
கொருகோடி கோடியு கங்காண்குற் றாலத் துறைபவனே
..

72

காண்பதெல் லாங்கண் மயக்கமென் றேமனங் கண்டிருந்தும்
வீண்பல கௌவைக்கு ளோடிய தால்வந்து மீட்டருள்வாய்
சேண்படர் கங்கைச் சடையாய் பிரமன்சி ரத்திலொன்று
மூண்பலி தேடுங்க ரத்தாய்குற் றாலத் துறைபவனே
..

73

கண்பார்த்துச் சோரமிடுங் கள்வரை வர்கை கள்ளமிட்டுப்
பண்பார்த்த துன்னைப் பணிவதென் றோபுயல் பார்த்துநின்று
விண்பார்க்குஞ் சாதகம்போ லுன்னைப் பார்த்துநின் மெய்யருட்பால்
உண்பார்க்கு ஞானப் பெருக்கேகுற் றாலத் துறைபவனே
..

74

சிறுகாலந் தாயர் முலைப்பால் மயக்கம் செகத்தறிவு
பெறுகால மாதர் முலைமேல் மயக்கம் பெருங்கிழமா
யிறுகாலம் வஞ்சப் பிணியால்ம யக்கமுன்னின் பத்தைநா
னுறுகால மாவதெக் காலங்குற் றாலத் துறைபவனே
..

75

ஆணவங் காட்டுவித் தாசையுங் காட்டுவித் தார்க்குமில்லா
நாணமுங் காட்டிய மாயையி னால்நெடு நாட்கருத்தை
வீணவம் போக்கிவிட் டேனிரங் காய்கடல் வெவ்விடத்தி
னூணலங் காரமி டற்றாய்குற் றாலத் துறைபவனே
..

76

கருநோயுங் கன்மப் பிறவியி னோயுங்க ருத்திற்கவ்வை
பொருநோயும் பூண்ட சரீரத்தி னோய்களும் போக்குந்தெய்வத்
திருநீரு டையநின் சித்ரா நதிக்கரை சேர்ந்தவன்றே
ஒருநோயு மின்றித் தவிர்ந்தேன்குற் றாலத் துறைபவனே
..

77

மறைப்பொரு ளானநின் சேவடி வாழத்தி வடவருவித்
துறைப்புன லாடிக் குழல்வாய் மொழியுடன் சோதியுன்னை
இறைப்பொழு தாகிமுள் ளேதியா னித்தி ருக்கநெஞ்சி
லுறைப்பிலை யேயென்ன செய்வேன்குற் றாலத் துறைபவனே
..

78

செய்வதெல் லாங்குற்ற மேயத னாற்செகத் தோர்களென்னை
வைவதெல் லாங்கொடுந் துட்டனென் றேகட்ட வல்வினையால்
நைவதெல் லாமுன் பொருட்டே சரண்புக்கு நானினிமே
லுய்வது நின்பொருட் டையாகுற் றாலத் துறைபவனே
..

79

தேயா மயக்கந் தௌிந்தோர்கண் முன்னந் தௌிவொன்றில்லாப்
பேயாக நின்று பிதற்றுவ னோமனப் பேதமையால்
மாயா மலத்துக்குள் வீணே கிடந்து மயங்குமிந்த
ஓயா மயக்கந் தவிர்ப்பாய்குற் றாலத் துறைபவனே
..

80

எளியேனை யாட்டுஞ் செயல்யாவு முன்செய லென்றுநன்றாய்த்
தௌியேனெவ் வாறு தௌிவிப்பை யோதிரை யேவரையே
வளியே மறிபுன லேகன லேநெடு வானகமே
ஒளியே பரந்த வௌியேகுற் றாலத் துறைபவனே
..

81

அடக்கிக்கொண் டாலுள் ளடங்கிக்கொள் வேன்புவி யாதிக்குநீ
நடத்திக்கொண் டாலு நடந்துகொள் வேனன்றி நானென்றென்னைத்
தொடக்கிக்கொண் டாட்டமி டாதே சகல தொழிற்குமெண்சா
ணுடக்கைக்கொண் டாட்டிய சித்தாகுற் றாலத் துறைபவனே
..

82

The bull of the mind climbs across the seven firm worlds in an instant, / not yielding to restraint even for a moment with my word; / I am not capable of yoking the plow of the senses without fault; / on the supreme great soil, how shall I plow, eat, and live, O dweller of Kuṟṟālam? / ..

83

Coveting others' wealth, going and babbling just to keep this span of a stomach alive, / I failed in the four goals of life; though I possess no skill / of servitude to your devotees, other than the holy assembly of your devotees / I have no other kin; rule over me, O dweller of Kuṟṟālam! / ..

84

I learned to commit deadly sin; I did not learn to attain / the unswerving truth needed to enter the assembly of your devotees; will you give me life, / O ceaseless dancer of bliss in the vast expanse of nāda / that is unreachable even to the established Vedas, O dweller of Kuṟṟālam? / ... (81)

85

Even poison becomes ambrosia; the guise of the dancing serpent that sees you / becomes the guise of a garland; when will the karma / and the time of this cruel wretch turn exceedingly good, / O dweller of Kuṟṟālam, surrounded by ghats where mountain-born waterfalls roar and resound? / ..

86

I do not perform what is called service to you; like a bee / and like an evening garland, I whirl about women's curling locks; will you give me life, / O dweller of the silver mountain touching the sky, free from attachment and aversion, / abiding in the hearts of those who say you exist, O dweller of Kuṟṟālam? / ..

87

For all who have taken on a harsh, large body, pleasures and pains arise; / is it not through attachment to these bodies? Even when they pursue, / when will I, unbroken, united in mind without laying the burden upon myself, / remain entrusting the burden upon you, O dweller of Kuṟṟālam? / ..

88

I have grown weary of taking birth, wandering from world to world; / I have grown weary of going before base men in birth after birth; have pity! / You walked to the houses of sages' women for food alms; / you bore the names of Ayan and Māl through the ages here, O dweller of Kuṟṟālam! / ..

89

You fathered our red-hued, elephant-faced Lord, / and the twelve-armed Lord of southern Ilañci; / you took into your hand the maiden born of the king of mountains; / bring all my thoughts under the sway of your two feet, O dweller of Kuṟṟālam! / ... (86)

90

Before the fierce tiger of time leaps forward, its jaws gaping open with karma / to swallow even childhood, make me excel by subduing it; / in the Caṇpakāṭavi, along with the gentle lady of cardamomed tresses, / reveal your holy royal assembly and bestow aruḷ, O dweller of Kuṟṟālam! / ..

91

I have no devotion; I have no detachment; in this world I have no true honesty; / nor do I have austerity; I have no intellect of noble qualities; / how will you accord with the wicked mind in which I, a cruel wretch, have dwelt, / and rule over me, O dweller of Kuṟṟālam? / ..

92

Before it ripens, before the body crumbles, before all fluttering life slips away, / before it rots within and stinks, before Yama drags me with his noose, / before the eyes close, before saliva dribbles from the corner of my mouth, / come and appear before me, O dweller of Kuṟṟālam! / ..

93

I am not fit for the guru's teachings; I do not go to the gathering where devotees assemble; / I do not stand with clarity in the truth of the sacred word; lacking any clarity at all, / I have become bones fit only for manure, an utter madman; / making even me a guru, will you accept and rule over me, O dweller of Kuṟṟālam? / ... (90)

94

So that the deceit of fixing my face upon the weariness of rebirth / caused by the bonds of pleasure and pain may be removed, / grant me complete devotion to your pair of lotus feet, / which abide in the pure, sunlit expanse without beginning or end, O dweller of Kuṟṟālam! / ... (91)

95

Though I am an utter sinner among sinful wrongdoers, without shame / I wonder who is greater than me! But those who constantly think of you as the One, / even if scorn or joy arrives, do not lose their steady state; / they remain entrusting the burden upon you, O dweller of Kuṟṟālam! / ..

96

Apart from yearning, thinking 'Mine, to me!', is there even a little truth / in my mind to meditate upon you? That even I, a deceitful wretch, / recite Tamil verse unto you as though it were my own hereditary right, / behold, is your own compelling work, O dweller of Kuṟṟālam! / ..

97

Crippling me and casting me into illusory birth, igniting me, / binding me, why did you give me speech saying "I"? / O puppeteer who hitched to a single post / all the worlds encircled by the mountains and the round, deep sea! / O dweller of Kuṟṟālam!

98

I do not place love [in you] and praise you; I never think in my mind / of your becoming easily accessible to devotees. Will you take me as your own? / O Light that became the unmatched nine forms, / beginning with the lotus-born Ayan and Māl of old! / O dweller of Kuṟṟālam!

99

Infatuated with women whose firm breasts are like mountain peaks, / I drifted like water on a teak leaf; bestow your grace saying, "Fear not!" / O clear, rare nectar untouched by ocean waves! O unperforated pearl! / O refined red gold untouched by the furnace! / O dweller of Kuṟṟālam!

100

When you withhold, you hold back even an atom's measure; / when you give, you give everything. Who can know the forms / you assume for your divine dance? You who rule me, / O Sadānanda Yogin clad in a tiger skin! / O dweller of Kuṟṟālam!

101

Your āśrama is the hermitage of the sages; your devotees / abide in golden āśramas, flowery āśramas, / and the permanent āśrama of the Earth Maiden; / O Lord of the supreme abode which deceitful men cannot conceive even in thought! / O dweller of Kuṟṟālam!

102

O possessor of a waveless sea of jñāna, show me your grace, / so that reaching you, I may cross over the shoreless ocean of rebirth! / O silent contemplation and awareness beyond words, / dwelling within the blemishless hearts of servants to yield true meaning! / O dweller of Kuṟṟālam!

103

You showed your grace and took me as your own, that I might come to the precincts / of your Āvaṇi Mūlam praised by eternal beings and sing the Muttamiḻ. / Now bestow your golden feet upon this absolute slave! / O you who delight in your half being the virtuous lady Kuḻalvāymoḻi! / O dweller of Kuṟṟālam!

English (machine translation)

Contents

Text