Tiruviruttam
• October 1, 1974
< Nammalvar's Works | Index | Tiruvāsiriyam >
Tiruviruttam (Tiru Viruttam) is a poem of a hundred four-lined stanzas. Each stanza is a Kattalai Kalitturai, a special type of verse, each line having five feet and all the four lines in the stanza rhyming initially. Viruttam, besides denoting a kind of verse, means a message or an event. It is generally held that the poem is a submission made by Nammalvar to God of an event, the event of his falling in love with Him.
The first stanza of the poem indicates this:
From evil ways and the dirt of the body, To save us from coming again and again, To all these, And to give us Life, Thou, Lord of the Immortals, Camest down here, Taking birth in many a womb, And accepting many a form. Hearken, Lord, to my submission true.1
The poem takes the form of a dramatic sequence in which a few characters figure in what may be called a play on love, the love of God being presented in terms of the earthly love between a man and a woman. It is natural for the human soul to identify itself in this symbolism with the woman who loves and to view God as the all-loving, eternal lover. In a number of stanzas in the poem, Nammalvar's yearning for God expresses itself through a woman's love-tossed heart.
After the fiery bird that He rides,2 He who wears the cool tulasi3 and the flaming discus, Will you come back to me? Or will you stand there gazing in wonder At Lakshmi and the goddess of the earth, And the lovely-haired maid of the cowherds,4 A triple glory, clinging shadow-like to him?5
Through the reference to the three who are inseparable from His glory, the Alvar expresses his own longing to share their nearness to God.
Massed and blown by the wind, Flinging the good rain, Are they fierce dark bulls Battling it out in the sky? Or has winter really come to torment me, Winter, dark, bearing His loveliness, Seemingly cool, flowery, But cruelly probing my wounds, The agony of being away from Him?6
The mood changes and the woman in love wonders how the rainclouds managed to acquire the dark sheen of her Lover:
How did you acquire the yogic powers To look like my Lord? Is it through the penance you have done through His grace, Wandering far and wide, your hearts in pain, Bearing your heavy, bountiful burden of rain To save all life here?7
The same question arises as the woman in love looks at the lilies in the lake near-by:
That these water-lilies are dark-blue like my Lord? ... Is it because they forsook the forest and the earth And took to the water, Standing there, legs unflinching in penance?8
The passion grows and wherever she turns, she sees the witchery of her Lover's eyes:
On the broad brow of a dark hill, Wherever I turn His eyes weave beauty, The eyes of my Lord, dark and lovely, Lord of the good, of the heavens And of the world girt by the swelling waters.9
'Oh, but they are lotuses,' she cries, 'His eyes, His hands, His feet, all are lotuses, lotuses.'10
Then a sudden misgiving assails her. Could she, so ill-equipped, speak in mere words of His beauty?
The lovely dark of my Lord? Is it within the reach Even of the those whose thought Crosses the sky and beyond To the world eternal?11
'No, it is not possible,' she concludes; with a touch of elation over her Lover's infinitude and a sense of sadness at her own inadequacy:
His color, beauty, His name, His form? They would talk, however, As though they know, Those men who pursue jnana and dharma. But however far they go, Wherever they reach, In the blaze of light that He is, Maybe, they learn a little But how could they ever attain to it, My Lord's greatness?12
The implication is that knowledge and righteousness will fall short of realisation and that only love can reach Him. She loves, of course, but the Lover has not come and the pain of being alone grows. The west darkens, the crescent moon shows itself and the night-wind stirs.
With the crescent moon, That milk-mouthed child, Clinging to her waist, The west is lamenting Her loss of the sun. Here is the cool wind stirring Searching, seeking To steal from us What He has given us, The yearning for his tulasi.13
'Yes, but the wind is no longer cool,' says the woman in love, 'it is a cruel wind and it burns. It is invisible, we know not its form nor can we trace its foot-steps. It goes about whispering scandal and tormenting me ceaselessly.' 14
The night darkens and lengthens into an age as thought bent on destroying her. 15 The young moon rises. Has it come to save her, to break the unshrinking darkness encircling night? 16 Let it, but it burns too.
The loud, unceasing lament of the bird, anril, from the grove and the voice of the restless sea stealing into the land through a hundred creeks torture her throughout the night.' 17 'Does the sea call to me to give up my poor bangles of conch shell' she wonders in pain, 'unable to get back the amrita 18 that it yielded when the Lord churned it ? 19 When morning comes and the sun rises over the hill, it seems as though her lover is before her and she rejoices that all evil and suffering are at an end. 20 But that is for a moment. The sense of being away from Him breaks in and she cries out: 'When, when will I reach him?' and adds heavily:
That destroyed the asuras,21 It is a wonder to me How I got this human state: Who knows how long I did penance for it? Having got it, Through being Thy slave I thought I could reach Thee. But that is not to be, And the long, long time of waiting Does not die.22
Still her faith remains unshaken, and her heart will turn to none else but Him. 23 Her poor heart has however, turned wilful and has failed her:
Thinking it guileless, and mine, I sent it after Him... And till today, It has not returned. Self-willed now and uncontrollable, it has forsaken me And wanders, I know not where.24
She sends the swans and the storks after her heart:
You are flying somewhere, Let me beseech you, forget not, Go first to Vaikunta25 And if you find my heart there, Mention me and ask it Whether it has still not gone to Him, And if it has not, Ask it whether this tardiness is right.26
She gets no reply from the birds and she turns to the clouds thinking they will be more helpful:
Starting towards the high strong-based peak Of Venkatam lit with gems and gold, Will you carry my message to him? "No" they say. Will these clouds If I pray to them And ask them to place their feet On my bowed head?27
Thus, in a number of stanzas in the poem, Nammalvar speaks of his passion for God. The love-lorn woman in the poem is Nammalvar himself. There are a few other characters in this drama of love that the poem presents. Nammalvar does not mention them specifically but the context and the words given to them reveal their identity. If we call the chief character, the woman in love, as nayaki or talaivi (that is, the heroine) as is generally done, the other characters are the nayaki's maid and friend, her mother and her foster-mother, the lover himself and His friend, and a Kattuvichi, a woman whose advice is sought on the supposition that the nayaki is possessed. The function of the nayaki's friend is to sympathise with and console her and also to comment on her forlorn condition. Let us hear her:
That the unswerving writ Of the Lord who is like rain-cloud Has veered today How else could the wind By nature cool, Throw about fire here, And the wide eyes of my poor friend Whose heart has gone after his tulasi, Rain tears ?28
She gets so sore over her friend's condition that she blames the Lover as though He is before her:
As though challenging, Unmindful that she is a woman, And her agony grows. Nothing can save her Except Thy grace. Is it right on Thy part, Lord cloud-hued, reclining on the serpent couch, To delay further?29
She speaks to the nayaki of her Lover's greatness and the infinite grace that made him descend to the earth, suggesting that the same grace would save her:
Seek Him to escape the toils of birth. He is unknowable Even to the Immortals. That is His infinitude. But do not be troubled. Great indeed is His way of mystery. Did He not come to the earth And endure the reproach That He stole butter?30
The nayaki's foster-mother wonders why she, so young and immature, should give room to this passion and also ovet what the world will say about this strange infatuation:
Her curls, dense and soft, are still short, Her sari stays not at the waist And her speech halts indistinct Like a child's. Her eyes gleam restless More precious than land and sea. Is it proper for this child To con the words: "Is Venkata the Lord's hill?"31
The nayaki's mother is distressed over her daughter having gone away with Him to His city and over what she would have suffered on the way in the wild desert where cruel men roam and the sound of their drums fix the air. 32
This is strange because going away with her Lover is just what the nayaki yearns for and it has not so far happened as the rest of the poem indicates. If the nayaki has gone away, why should the Kattuvichi as the poem records later, be sent for and her opinion on whether the nayaki is possessed be obtained? The Kattuvichi diagnoses the nayaki's condition as being due to her love for the Lord of the Immortals and suggests as a remedy the tulasi that He wears. 'A garland of tulasi or some leaves of the plant', she says, 'a branch or root, 'even a piece of the sod on which it grows will do'. 33
Equally strange is the Lover figuring in the poem though till the end of it except in one stanza. 34 He does not appear before the nayaki. That one stanza records how the Lover crossing a desert along with the nayaki tells her not to be troubled by the wildness of the land and assures her that His city is near. In another stanza, the Lover asks his charioteer to hasten because his beloved is waiting and pining for Him. 35 Again, He appears before the nayaki's friend and on the pretext of finding out whether the elephant He has been hunting has gone that way, puts questions to her which she disapproves. 36 In another stanza, He speaks of the fragrance of His beloved's curls and asks the bees whether in their wide experience of flowers, they have seen anything sweeter. 37 He speaks to His friend of the lovely dark eyes, wide as the sea, of His beloved and affirms that no one who has seen them will blame him for having fallen in love with her. 38 The Lover's friend goes and sees for himself the beauty and deserving of the nayaki and on returning tells the Lover that he now realises how blind and mistaken he has been in thinking of his friend's love as unjustified. 39
One cannot help feeling that the simple, original symbolism of bridal mysticism, the soul in love with God and longing to be united to Him, has become complicated if not confused by the introduction of the other characters, the situations devised for them and the words given to them. All these appear to a student of Tamil poetry to be modelled on the love poems of the Sangam age and though they extend the poetry of the story of love, they blur the significance of the symbolism of the Lover and the beloved as God and the human soul.
Towards the end of the poem, Nammalvar himself discards the symbolism as when he says:
Age after age, age after age, To die and to be born, Those who can see And laugh at this futility, Surely, they will long to end it By turning in love To Him, the Origin, Round whom the Immortals gather in worship, How can there be any sleep for them?40
Or when he gives up the symbol of the lover and calls God father and mother:
Being wedged in it, being unwedged, Thus the soul struggles endlessly, So betimes, somehow, I will turn To Him who is my mother and my father, And the Lord of liberation.41
Or when he speaks of all the religions and all forms of worship as His creation and all the gods as His forms. 42
But the mixing up of the symbol and what is symbolised, the extension of the symbol beyond the limits of the logic of symbolism, the coming in of other symbols, and a sudden giving up of symbols and entering into direct utterance are characteristics that generally mark mystical poetry and 'Tiruviruttam' illustrates them. It may well be that Nammalvar took the turais or the situations that the Tamil poets of the Sangam age handled in their idealisation of love and tried to pour his mystical passion into those moulds. 43 Sometimes, the passion overflows them and sometimes, the moulds stand in the way of the perfect expression of experience through symbol. But that is the quality of genuine mystical work. A clever artist could make a symbol serve its purpose logically, tying up the ends in such a way that reason is satisfied. But 'reason', as Jalal-uddin Rumi said, 'is the shadow of God; God is the sun. Cleverness is mere opinion, bewilderment is intuition.' 44 'Tiruviruttam' is the poetry of intuition.
< Nammalvar's Works | Index | Tiruvāsiriyam >
1 Tiruviruttam 1.
poyṅniṉṟa ñānamum pollā voḻukkum aḻukkudampum,
iṉṉiṉṟa nīrmai iṉiyā muṟāmai, uyiraḷippāṉ
eṉṉiṉṟa yōṉiyu māyppiṟan tāyimai yōr_thalaivā!
meyṅniṉṟu kēṭṭaru ḷāy, aṭi yēṉ_ceyyum viṇṇappamē. (↑)
2 Garuda, the bird, that Lord Vishnu rides. (↑)
3 A wild plant with fragrant leaves. (↑)
4 Nappinnai, whom according to Tamil tradition, the Lord loved in Krishna avatara. (↑)
5 Tiruviruttam 3. Lakshmi is divine grace, the goddess of the earth typifies God's eternal connection with the earth as creator, sustainer and indweller and Nappinnai is the archetype of the souls whom He lifts through His love when He descends as avatara to the earth. Nappinnai is considered the Tamil prototype of Radha.
kuḻalkō valarmadap pāvaiyum maṇmaga ḷumthiruvum,
niḻalpōl vanar_kaṇḍu niṟkuṅkol mīḷuṅkol, thaṇṇanthuḻāy
aḻalpō ladumcakka raththaṇṇal viṇṇōr thoḻakkadavum
thaḻalpōl sinaththa,ap puḷḷiṉpin pōna thaniṉenc hamē. (↑)
6 Tiruviruttam 7. This stanza is also interpreted as a friend's consoling words that it is not really winter.
ñālam panippac ceriththu,nan nīriṭṭuk kālsithainthu
nīlaval lēṟu porāṉniṉṟa vāṉa midhu,thirumāḷ
kōlam sumandhu pirindhār kodumai kuḻaruḍhaṇpūṅ
kālaṅko lōvaṟi yēṉ,viṉai yāṭṭiyēṉ kāṇkiṉṟavē? (↑)
7 Tiruviruttam 32
mēgaṅka ḷō!urai yīr,thiru mālthiru mēṉiyokkum
yōgaṅka ḷuṅkaḷuk kevvāṟu peṟṟīr, uyiraḷippāṉ
māgaṅka ḷellām thirinthun^an nīrgaḷ sumandhun^undham
āgaṅkaḷ nōva, varundhum thavamām aruḷpeṟṟathē? (↑)
8 Tiruviruttam 38.
kaḍamā yiṉagaḷ kaḻiththu,tham kālvaṉmai yālpalan^āḷ
thaḍamā yiṉapukku nīrniḻai niṉṟa thavamithukol,
kuḍamādi yimmaṇṇum viṇṇum kuluṅka vulagaḷandhu
naḍamā ḍiyaperu māṉ,uru voththaṉa nīlaṅkaḷē. (↑)
9 Tiruviruttam 39.
nīlath thadavarai mēlpuṇḍa rīga neduṅthadaṅkaḷ
pōla, polindhemak kellā viḍaththavum, poṅkumuṉn^īr
ñālap pirānvisum pukkum pirāṉmaṟṟum nallōr_pirāṉ
kōlam kariya pirāṉ,em pirāṉ_kaṇṇin kōlaṅkaḷē. (↑)
10 Tiruviruttam 43.
kaṇṇumseṇ thāmarai kaiyu mavai_aḍi yō_avaiyē,
vaṇṇam kariyathōr mālvarai pōṉṟu, madhivigaṟpāl
viṇṇum kadandhumbar appālmik kumaṟṟep pāl_evarkkum
eṇṇu miḍaththadhu vō,embi rāṉa theḻilniṟamē? (↑)
11 Ibid. (↑)
12 Tiruviruttam 44. Jnana is knowledge and dharma is righteousness.
niyamuyar kōlamum pērum uruvum ivaiyivaiyeṉṟu,
aṟamuyal ñāṉac camayigaḷ pēsilum, aṅkaṅkellām
uṟavuyar ñāṉac cuḍarviḷak kāyṉiṉṟa thaṉṟiyoṉṟum
peṟamuyan ṟārillai yāl,embi rāṉa perumaiyaiyē. (↑)
13 Tiruviruttam 35. What the Lord has given is this ability to turn in love to him. Does the wind want to deprive us even of that?
pālvāyp piṟaippiḷḷai okkalaik koṇḍu, pagalizhandha
mēlpāl thisaippeṇ pulambṟu maalai, ulagaḷandha
mālpaal thuḻāykku maṉamudai yārkkun^al kiṟṟaiyellām
sōlvāṉ pugundhu,ithu vōr_pani vāḍai thuḻākiṉṟathē.
This is one interpretation. (↑)
14 Tiruviruttam 41.
eṉṟumpuṉ vāḍai yidhukaṇḍaṟidhum,iv vāṟuvemmai
oṉṟumuruvum suvadumtheriyilam, ōṅkasurar
poṉṟum vagaippuḷḷai yūrvāṉaruḷaru ḷādhaviṉ^n^āḷ
maṉṟil niṟaipaḻi thōṟṟi,niṉ ṟennaivaṉ kāṟṟadumē. (↑)
15 Tiruviruttam 70.
vaḷaivāyth thiruccakka karaththaṅgaḷ vāṉava Ṉārmudimēl,
thaḷaivāy naṟuṅkaṇṇith thaṇṇaṉ thuḻāykkuvaṇ Ṉambayalai,
viḷaivāṉ migavandhu nāḷthiṅga ḷāṇḍūḻi niṟkavemmai
uḷaivāṉ pugundhu,ithu vōr_kaṅgul āyiram ūḻikaḷē. (↑)
16 Tiruviruttam 72.
sūḻghiṉṟa kaṅgul suruṅgā iruḷin karundhiṇimbai,
pōḻghiṉṟa thiṅgaḷam piḷḷaiyum pōḻga, thuḻāymalarkkē
thāḻghiṉṟa neñcath thoruṭhami yāṭṭiyēṉ māmaikkiṉṟu
vāḻghiṉṟa vāṟithu vō,vandhu thōṉṟiṟu vāliyathē. (↑)
17 Tiruviruttam 87.
pulambum kaṉakural pōḻvāya aṉṟilum, pūṅkaḻhipāyn^
thalambum kaṉakural sūḻthirai yāḻiyum, āṅgavaiṉiṉ
valambu ḷathun^alam pāḍu mithukuṟṟa māgavaiyam
silambum paḍiseyva thē,thiru māl_ith thiruvinaiyē? (↑)
18 Ambrosia that accordingto the puranas was churned out from the sea by the devas and asuras. (↑)
19 Tiruviruttam 51.
malaikoṇḍu maththā aravāl suḻaṟṟiya māyappirāṉ.
alaikaṇḍu koṇḍa amudhamkoḷ ḷāthu kadal,parathar
vilaikoṇḍu thandhasaṅ gam_ivai vērith thuḻāythunaiyāth
thulaikoṇḍu thāyam kiḷarndhu,koḷ vāṉoth thaḻaikkiṉṟathē. (↑)
20 Tiruviruttam 88.
thirumāḷ uruvokkum mēru,am mēruvil señcuḍarōṉ
thirumāḷ thirukkaith thiruccakka karamokkum, aṉnakaṇḍum
thirumāḷ uruvō ḍavaṉsiṉṉa mēbithaṟ ṟāṉniṟpathōr
thirumāḷ thalaikkoṇḍa naṅgatku,eṅ gēvarum thīvinaiyē? (↑)
21 A race of evil ones (demons or titans) ever against the devas or gods. (↑)
22 Tiruviruttam 90.
thalaippeythu yāṉun thiruvadi sūduṉ thagaimaiyiṉāl,
n^īlaipeytha ākkaiikku nōṟṟavim māyamum, māyamcevvē
niḻaippey thilātha niḻamaiyuṅ kāṇḍō rasurar_kuḻāam
tholaippeytha nēmiyeṉ^ thāy,thollai yūḻi suruṅgalathē. (↑)
23 Tiruviruttam 91.
suruṅguṟi veṇṇai thoḍuvuṇḍa kaḷvaṉai, vaiyamuṟṟum
oruṅkura vuṇḍa peruvayiṟ ṟāḷaṉai, māvalimāṭṭu
iruṅkuṟa ḷāgi isaiyavōr mūvaḍi vēṇḍicceṉṟa
peruṅgi ṟiyāṉaiyal lāl,aḍi yēṉneñcam pēṇalathē. (↑)
24 Tiruviruttam 46.
madaṉ^enca meṉṟum thamaḍheṉṟum, ōr_karu mamkarudhi,
vidaṉ^encai yuṟṟār vidavō amaiyum,ap poṉpeyarōṉ
thadaṉ^encam kīṇḍa pirāṉār thamadhadik kīḻviḍappōyth
thidaṉ^enca māy,emmai nīththiṉṟu thāṟum thirikiṉṟathē. (↑)
25 The abode of God, Heaven. (↑)
26 Tiruviruttam 30.
aṉṉamsel vīrumvaṇ ḍāṉamsel vīrum thoḻudhirandhēṉ
muṉṉamsel vīrgaḷ maṟavēlmi Ṇṇōkaṇṇaṉ vaiguṇḍhanō
deṉṉeñci Ṇṇāraikkaṇ ḍāleṉnaich cholli avariḍain^īr
iṉṉancel līrō, ithuvō thagaveṉ ṟisaimiṉ_gaḷē ! (↑)
27 Tiruviruttam 31.
isaimiṉ_gaḷ thoodheṉ ṟisaiththā lisaiyilam, eṉ_thalaimēl
asaimiṉ_ga ḷeṉṟā lasaiyiṅko laam,ampon māmaṇigaḷ
thisaimiṉ miḷirum thiruvēṅ kaḍtthuvaṉ thāḷsimayam
misaimiṉ miḷiriya pōvāṉ vaḻik koṇḍa mēgaṅkaḷē ! (↑)
28 Tiruviruttam 5.
iṟaiyō irakkiṉum īṅgōr_peṇ ḍāl,eṉa vummiraṅgāthu,
aṟaiyō! eṉaṉ^in ṟathirum karuṅkadal, īṅghivaḷthaṉ
niṟaiyō iṉiyun thiruvaru ḷālaṉṟik kāpparithāl
muṟaiyō, aravanai mēlpaḷḷi koṇḍa mugilvaṇṇaṉē! (↑)
29 Tiruviruttam 62.
iṟaiyō irakkiṉum īṅgōr_peṇ ḍāl,eṉa vummiraṅgāthu,
aṟaiyō! eṉaṉ^in ṟathirum karuṅkadal, īṅghivaḷthaṉ
niṟaiyō iṉiyun thiruvaru ḷālaṉṟik kāpparithāl
muṟaiyō, aravanai mēlpaḷḷi koṇḍa mugilvaṇṇaṉē! (↑)
30 Tiruviruttam 98. The incident of the Lord stealing butter is from Krishna avatara.
thuñcā muṉivarum allā thavarun^ thodaraṉ^iṉṟa,
eñcāp piṟavi iḍar_kaḍi vāṉ,imai yōr_thamakum
thaṉsārvil lātha thaṉipperu mūr_ththithaṉ māyamsēvvē
neñcāl niṉaippari thāl,veṇṇe yūṇeṉṉum īṉaccōllē. (↑)
31 Tiruviruttam 60.
mulaiyō muẕhumuṟṟum pōnthila, moypūṅ kuẕhalkuṟiya
kalaiyō araiyillai nāvō kuẕhaṟum, kadalmaṇṇellām
vilaiyō eṉamiḷi ruṅgaṇ Ṉivaḷpara mē!perumāṉ
malaiyō thiruvēṅ kaḍameṉṟu kaṟkiṉṟā vāsagamē? (↑)
32 Tiruviruttam 37.
koḍuṅkāl silaiyar niraikō ḷuḻavar, kolaiyilveyya
kaḍuṅkāl iḷaiñar thudipadum kavvaiththu, aruviṉaiyēṉ
neduṅkāla mumkaṇṇaṉ nīṉmalarp pātham paravip peṟṟa
thoḍuṅkā losiyu miḍai,iḷa māṉseṉṟa sūḻkadamē. (↑)
33 Tiruviruttam 53.
vārā yiṉamulai yāḷivaḷ vāṉōr thalaimaganaam,
sērā yiṉathheyva naṉṉō yithu,dheyvath thaṇṇanthuẕhāyth
thārā yiṉumthaẕhai yāyiṉum thaṇkomba thāyiṉumkīzh
vērā yiṉum,niṉṟa maṇṇāyi Ṉnumkoṇḍu vīsumiṉē. (↑)
34 Tiruviruttam 26. This could be enterpreted as a momentary glimpse of Reality that the Alvar gets.
nānilam vāykkondu nanṇī raṟameṉṟu kōthukoṇḍa,
vēnilañ celvaṉ suvaiththumiḻ pālai, kadanthapoṉṉē!
kālniḻan^ thōynthuviṉ Ṇōr_thozhum kaṇṇaṉveq kāvudhu_ambūṉ^
thēṉiḷañ chōlaiyap pāladhu,ep pālaikkum sēmaththathē. (↑)
35 Tiruviruttam 50. It is curious that the Lover who symbolises God speaks of Venkatam where his love awaits him as the hill of the Lord. Is not the speaker himself the Lord?
oṇṇuthal māmai oḷipaya vāmai, virainthun^anthēr
naṇṇuthal vēṇḍum valava! kadākiṉṟu, thēṉnaṉiṉṟa
vaṇmuthal nāyagaṉ nīḷmuḍi veṇmuthttha vāsigaiththāy
maṇmudhal sērvuṟṟu, aruvisey yāṉniṟkum māmalaiikkē. (↑)
36 Tiruviruttam 22.
kombār thaẕhaikai siṟun^ā Ṉeṟivilam vēṭṭaikkoṇḍāt
thambār kaḷiṟu viṉavuva thaiyar_puḷ ḷūrumkaḷvar
thambā ragattheṉṟu māḍā thaṉadhammil kūḍādhaṉa
vambār viṉāccolla vō,emmai vaiththathiv vāṉpuṉaththē? (↑)
37 Tiruviruttam 55.
vaṇḍuga ḷō!vammin nīrppū nilappū maraththiloṇpū,
uṇḍukaliṉthuẕhal vīrkkon ṟuraikkiyam, ēṉamoṉṟāy
maṇthuga ḷādivai kundhamaṉ Ṉāḷkuẕhal vāyviraipōl
viṇḍugaḷ vārum, malaruḷa vōṉ^um viyalidaththē? (↑)
38 Tiruviruttam 57.
pulakkuṇ ḍalappuṇḍa rīkaththa pōrkkoṇḍai, valliyoṉṟāl
vilakkuṇ ḍulākiṉṟu vēliẕhik kiṉṟaṉa, kaṇṇaṉ kaiyāl
malakkuṇ ḍamutham surandha maṟikadal pōṉṟavaṟṟāl
kalakkuṇḍa nāṉṟukaṇ ḍār,emmai yārum kaẕhaṟalarē. (↑)
39 Tiruviruttam 94. This stanza has been assigned to the nayaki by some commentators, and is interpreted as the Alvar's confession that he does not know the Lover and that all he says about Him is a blind adherence to hearsay.
maippadi mēṉiyum sendhā maraikkaṇṇum vaithigarē,
meyppadi yalun thiruvadi sūdum thagaimaiyiṉār,
eppadi yūra milaikkak kuruttā milaikkumennum
appaḍi yānumson Ṉēṉ,aḍi yēṉmaṟṟu yāthenbaṉē? (↑)
40 Tiruviruttam 97.
eẕhuvathum mīṉḍē paduvathum paṭṭu,eṉai yūḻigaḷpōyk
kaẕhivathum kaṇḍukaṇ ḍeḷkalal lāl,imai yōr_kaḷkuẕhāam
thoḻhuvathum sūẕhvathum seythollai mālaikkaṇ Ṉārakkaṇḍu
kaẕhivathōr kāthaluṟ ṟārkkum,uṇ ḍōkaṇgaḷ thuñcuthalē? (↑)
41 Tiruviruttam 95.
yāthāṉu mōrākkaiyilpukku,aṅkāppuṇḍum āppaviẕhndhum
mūthāvi yilthadu māṟum uyirmuṉṉa mē,athaṉāl
yāthāṉum paṟṟiṉ^īṅ kumvira thatthaiṉ^al vīḍuseyyum
māthā viṉaippithu vai,thiru mālai vaṇaṅguvaṉē. (↑)
42 Tiruviruttam 96.
vaṇaṅgum thuṟaigaḷ palapala ākkki, mathivigaṟpāl
piṇaṅgum samayam palapala ākkki, avaiyavaithō
raṇaṅgum palapala ākkkiṉ^in mūr_ththi parappivaiththāy
iṇaṅgun^in Ṉōraiyil lāy,n^iṉ_kaṇ vētkai eẕhuvippaṉē. (↑)
43 How and when Nammalvar familiarised himself with Sangam love poetry conventions is as much a mystery as the knowledge of Vedas and Upanishads assigned to him. (↑)
44 Persian mystic quoted by Aldous Huxley in his The Perennial Philosophy, (Fontana Books Collins -- London), Page 149. (↑)
< Nammalvar's Works | Index | Tiruvāsiriyam >