Siddhar Poems From Tamil: An Introduction

Sahitya Akademi
Siddhar Poems From Tamil: An Introduction

Author(s): A. Rajaram Brammarajan
Source: Indian Literature, Vol. 44, No. 1 (195) (Jan.-Feb., 2000), pp. 157-176
Published by: Sahitya Akademi
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SECOND TRADITION
Siddhar Poems From Tamil:

An Introduction
A. Rajaram Brammarajan
Siddhar poems form an important corpus of Tamil poetry of circa

16th Century. Though the Eighteen Siddhars are revered by scholars,
their poems did not find an important place among the "interpreters"
or "hermeneutists" of the Tamil school of interpretation. For instance,
the very popular Thirukkural has found interpreters even in the modern
Tamil era, [the late Dr.Mu.Varadharasanar]. But only a very few
interpreters have tried their hands at Siddhar poems. The following
reasons could be attributed to the lack of interpretation:
1. Siddhar poems were quite off-beat for their time.
2. Siddhar poems were hard to interpret due to their esoteric
quality.
3. Many schloars and interpreters thought these poems belonged
to the schema of mysticism and the occult.
4. These poems apparently contained imagery offending the
conventional reader of poetry
Siddhar poems are so much entrenched in metaphor and imagery
that they often resemble puzzles that have to be unscrambled. These
poems question the assumptions and basics of accepted Tamil theology.
While polytheism was an unquestioned canon of their time they dared
to speak of "One Indivisible God." Siddhars like Siva Vakkiyaar have
directly attacked the empty and meaningless rituals practised by the
brahmins of their time. Siva Vakkiyaar's poems bear testimony to this
point.
Almost all these mystic poets share a contempt for the body. But
it is not a mere shunning of the body. They seemed to have reached
a point of ennui with regard to the desires of the body so that they
wanted to shun the "flesh" and the millions of ailments it is heir to.
All of them wanted to subjugate the senses. Winning a permanent
victory over the five senses offers an absolute control of the body
leading to the control of the wandering mind. One of them refers to
the five senses as "five thieves". Thiruvalluvar who wrote in the 1st
Centruy A.D.has compared the control of the five senses to the action
of the tortoise when it protects itself from the enemy. Siddhars looked
at life from a different angle of vision. They also despised and scorned
the nine portals of the human body. They were existentialists in
another sense. They lived a mendicant's life and slept in the temples
when they wanted to stretch their body. According to Pattinathar, even
a person with a begging bowl and a dog for company is a "family
man." They were misunderstood in their own time since they
repudiated the materialistic view of life and claimed that there could
be only one supreme God. Very little has been on record about their
personal life, except for meagre details like place of brith and place
of death. Some anthologists have pinned down their community. This
socio-economic backround information has been handy in the
understanding of their imagery.
Some of them might have turned misogenics after enjoying the
intimacy of quite a number of women. Despite this fact, their
addressee is a pre-nubile girl who is referred to as Vaalai pen. Some
of their poems indicate [Karuvoorar's poems especially] that this Valai
is a girleen who has not attained puberty, but who is tremendously
beautiful.
That Thirukkural seems to have had a strong influence on the
Siddhars is evident from many cross-references in their poems:
As the bird flies away from the egg shell
Should be the friendship of the body to being.
[Thirukkural: Section on Impermanence]
Thiruvalluar, the saint-poet with a strong Jainistic streak, explains the
relationship of the body to the soul in the above lines. Or the
impermanence of the body is stressed here in the most epigramatic
manner. In the section devoted to "Penance" Thiruvalluar writes:
All the beings of the world will worship the one
Who doesn't slay and doesn't eat that is slain.
In another couplet he writes:
When words of sweetness exist, uttering the harsh ones
Is like snatching the half-ripe ones rejecting ripe fruits.
The echo of these lines can be found in Pattinathar's poems.
Pattinathar has also expressed his wish to be a non-violent vegetarian
and an abstainer from killing. Thiruvalluar has devoted a separate
chapter on "Abstinence from killing". From Pattinathar's poems one
can estimate that he was well grounded in classics like Periya Puranam
and Siva Puranam.
History indicates that the Siddhars who lived in South India
158 / Indian Literature : 195
were 18 in number. If a yogi is to be accepted as a Siddhar he should
be able to perform the following feats:
1. Anima or the ability to turn oneself into an atom.
2. Mahima or the ability to transfigure oneself to the size of a
mountain.
3.Lahima or the capability to become as light as air.

4.Karima or the capability to become heavy as gold.
5.Prapthi or the ability to rule over everything.
6.Vasithuvam or the ability to attract every one.
7.Brakamiyam or the art of transmigration.
8.Eesathuvam or the ability to achieve everything one wish for
and the ability to enjoy it.
These are called as "Eight Great Siddhis" or Ashtamaha Siddhi.
These mystic poets represent different communities. Pattinathar
was born into a rich family of merchants in the sea-town of
Kaveripoompattinam and he himself was a successful merchant before
giving up his materialistic way of life. Badhragiriyar who finally
became a disciple of Pattinathar was the king of a province in Thanjavur.
Idaikkaattu Siddhar was a goat-herd according to the available meagre
records of literary history. Thiru Moolar is said to have come from
Varanasi to meet the Saint Agasthiar of the South. During his journey
he happened to stop at a place called Thiruvavaduthurai in Tamil
Nadu and felt pity fof the cattle that were so much attached to the
cattle-herd whose name was Moolan. Moolan had died of a snake bite
and with the help of his inner-vision and power of transmigration, the
Siva Yogi shed his physique and entered the dead Moolan's body to
console the cattle. After reaching the village where the cattle-herd
lived, he left the cattle in the pen and tried to extricate from Moolan's
wife who was unaware of the fact that the person who appears as her
husband was the Siva Yogi. When he checked for his old body he was
dismayed because it had disappeared. He accepted everything as the
will of God and decided to live in the same village as Moolan and he
was later called Thiru Moolar. Another mystic is a Muslim by birth
as his name Beer Mohammed suggests. Roma Rishi might have had
connections with the Rome of his time.
Some like Paampaati Siddhar wrote treatises on herbal medicine
and were capable of small miracles in real life. Boghar is said to have
visited the Roman Empire to study the herbs of that country for medical
application. Boghar was born into a family of potters in China as the
legend goes. Pulasthiar is Sinhala by birth. Idaikaattu Siddhar is said
to be the author of Saareeram, a book on medicine. Some consider
him as the disciple of Boghar. In the advanced stages of penance, these
mystics are said to have lived just on air and dried herbal leaves. Some
A. Rajaram Brammarajan / 159
of them were able to suspend their bodily functions temporarily if they
had to spend their days in a hostile environment.
From rhymed quatrains, rhymed couplets based on Thirukkural,
to simple folk songs, Siddhars have used a variety of stanza forms to
express their thoughts. Catchy lines from the Siddhars sung by beggars
can still be heard in the village streets of Tamil Nadu. Many readers
quote these poems or snatches of lines quite unaware of the source.
A handful of these poems have been simplified and adapted as lyrics
for Tamil film songs.
One can read this anthology of Siddhar Poems just to get the
basics of meditation and yogic breathing. Another can refer to it to
decipher the formula to concoct traditional Siddha medicine. Still others
can use this anthology to make a deep study to aquire the methods
of conquering the five senses of the body. For a serious reader of
poetry it is a treasure house that has a richness and freshness of its
own. One will be struck by the candidness with which these poems
analyse God and the filthiness of the body. A few of the sections
written by Valmeegar and Nandeeswarar prescribe the rules for making
offerings to a deity.
Making copies from various palm-leaf scripts and printed texts,
editors and compilers have produced 36 books of verses written by
Siddhars. One such editor is Va.Saravana Muthu Pillai who gathered
44 books for the reference of the academic world. This edition is called
Periya Gnanakkovai, published by Messrs.Ratna Nayagar and Sons,
Madras.(the year of first publication is not mentioned). Another
important edition has been compiled by Aru.Ramanathan under the
title Siddhar Padalgal, also known as Gnanakkovai, pubished by his
publishing house Prema Pirasuram (January 1959). Aru.Ramanathan
has given a detailed introduction for the uninitiated reader and a
remarkable part of his edition is the glossary of difficult terms. He
has been generous enough to include a quasi-critical introduction by
a writer called Durgadas S.K.Swami in the preface of his anthology
that was published in a popular monthly magazine Amudha Surabhi.
Unfortunately the date of reprint has been left out.
While editors like Aru.Ramanathan and Va.Saravana Muthu Pillai
include verses of Ramalinga Adigal, recent editors like G.Manicka
Vasagan (Uma Publishers: December 1995, Madras) have dropped
Ramalinga Adigal from the list of Siddhars. The controversy as to the
total number of Siddhars still continues and can be debated. While
there are only 18 Siddhars in the standard editions, G.Manicka Vasagan
has included 34 Siddhars in his Siddhar Padalgal.(1995). G.Manicka
Vasagan's edition also has a slightly enlarged and improved glossary
of difficult words which is really handy as a quick-reference dictionary.
It is a laudable effort. Another editor of recent times, Maanos (Siddhar
Padalgal, Poongodi Pulishers: December, 1995, Madras) has not
improved upon the glossary provided by Aru.Ramanathan but just has
reprinted it. It is not possible to find any difference from
Aru.Ramanathan's edition published in 1959 and Maanos's edition
published in 1995. What makes Aru.Ramanathan's edition all the
more readable and presentable are some of the small suggestive graphics
included in appropriate places. Va.Saravana Muthu Pillai's edition
offers little help to a new reader since it has neither an introduction
nor a glossary. It is just a plain text of poems from end to end, running
to 808 pages. Another weakness of this edition is that it has been
wrongly punctuated or leaves out punctuation where they are necessary,
leading to utter confusion. These are the basic texts which this translator
has consulted for the translation and to glean information on the
individual mystic-poets.
The Tamil schloar Dr. T. P. Meenakshi Sundaram Pillai has
contributed a short but resourceful article on the Siddhars to the IVth
volume of the Tamil Lexicon.
As for already existing translations of Siddhar poems, this
translator is unaware of any. Might be there are a few snatches of lines
serving as quotations.
***
Pampatti Siddhar
Verse/98
Four vedas, six shastras, several treatises on strategies,

Puranas, Agamas espousing arts,
Varieties of several other books_
O Snake, Dance!
Declaring all these as useless books.
Verse/82
O Snake! Dance how I saw

The lifted cute feet.
And saw the illumination too.
In the pure space saw I the jubilant Dancer.
Saw also the feet that hit the head of the demon
It was the feet of the Lord.
Verse/61
While the Two gathered mud

One built the kiln for ten months.
The kiln, though wonderful,
Is not worth a fraction of a coin.
Dance! O Snake, saying this.
Verse/52
They praise the shrivelling skin as rounded breast

Metaphorically describe it as a big mountain.
They who fall in the foul-smelling yoni's well shall suffer.
Dance with courage, O Snake, Saying this.
Verse/94
No one can cook the gourd that is painted on paper.

Likewise despite searching in the eight directions there is no
refuge.
They build a temple for every town and pray ceaselessly.
But has never seen the Lord's feet.
Dance, O Snake, saying this.
Verse/62
Don't call her a peacock or emerald,

Deer or honey or manna
Don't compare her to a graceful peacock
But chide her and Dance, O Snake!
Verse/60
Collecting mud from the filthy pit, mixing blood as water to make
balls
The opportune potter makes an earthenware vessel.
It is not even fit to be a frying pot.
Dance, O Snake, saying this.
Verse/7
We'll shut the snake in the pot of lust.

Let it be charmed in the space of Vedanta.
We'll pluck the five senses and feed it.
In the astringent space-time we'll charm it again.
Mounting the horse, cirumambulate the ancient world.
And attain the eternal minuteness.
Chant the mantra that defies interpretation
and retrieve it.
We have achieved a bunch of four.
Dance, O Snake, saying this!
Verse/3
We'll light a fire in the caste division.

We'll plant a cane in the shady yard.
We'll play where the street forks.
We'll make relatives in the proscribed houses.
We'll take a stroll, verify and sleep.
We'll enjoy the congress of felicitous women.
The five ancient Bramans are unaware of this.
Verse/54
They describe the stale smelling tangled tresses as a graceful

cloud.
They compare the breasts to golden pots.
With a melting heart further melting, they ruminate on those
maidens.
And never think of Lord Nimalan.
Pattinathar
Verse/7
The fire lit earlier was in Thiripuram1

The fire lit a little later was in Southern Lanka2
1. A reference to the incident in which Lord Siva burnt Thiripuram. The three sons of the demon
Tharukasuran, by virtue of their prayers to Lord Siva, had the ability to create three types of
Castles made of gold, silver and iron. From these three castles, they tortured the devas. The
devas appealed to Lord Siva and he destroyed Thiripuram with theflame of his smile. [Vedaranya
Puranam]
2. Reference to the conflagration that engulfed the mythical Lanka in Ramayanam.
The fire that mother lit is in the lower abdomen.
Let the fire that I light spread and spread.
Verse/26
Fire will say "It's for me". The worm will claim the same
This earth will say "Yes, it is for me". The eagle will say, "It is for
me to peck."
The fox will say "It is for me." The wild dog will say so.
I fostered this foul-smelling physique with love. What use is it to
me?
Verse/35
Wandering like a ghost, lying like a corpse,

Eating up all the alms like a dog, labouring like a fox,
Treating good maidens as mothers,
Greeting everybody with humility,
Will live like babes
Those who realised the real truth.
Verse/23
Even the earth melts. Tree melts. Maya melts. Delusion melts.
Woman melts. Man melts. Discords melt.
Father melts. Mother melts. I too melt thinking of Guru, the Lord.
These are words uttered by Him to me.
Verse/21
If a being is born as a dog it will do justice by hunting.

But born as mortals in mothers' womb as the wealthy,
Like the unyielding fruit tree, dry pond, stone-cow
Why did you create those miserly people? Oh Lord of Kachchi*!
Verse/20
You tell tongue-splitting lies, quest for the nine kinds of wealth
Enter into union with vile women
Like the winged ants emerging from the ground
You will bear children ...
* Kachchi: Now called as Kancheepuram, a town in Tamil Nadu.
Do not know the way to nurse them.
Won't give up.
Like the monkey that put its leg
in the split up trunk and loosened the peg
You are caught. You are in a travail. You are caught.
Verse/8
Pursuit for food.'The only pursuit. If it ceases

There is pursuit for gold, an endless pursuit. Pursuit for peacock
like women.
Pursuits of all sorts. What pursuit have you reserved for me,
For this forsaken heart? O Lord of Kachchi!
Verse/6
I am the wicked one. Indisciplined.

One who did not conquer the five senses. Unschooled. One who
failed go to the sages.
One who didn't tell the truth.
One who lacks the love for your holy feet.
Why did I come into this world? O Lord of Kachchi!.
Verse/39
Vile people of rude words, the despicable, the ruffians, the lusty,
The senseless, they who commit only evil—
Why did you create people of this sort in this world like tall
palmyras trees?
They are ignorant of the ethics of the good.
O, Lord of Kachchi!
Verse/28
Verbal blemishes, faltering of thought,

The curses born of wicknedness, the evils of listening
to the utterances of unholy tracts—
Forgive all those faults! Lord of Kachchi!
Verse/l[General]
When Siva and his sacred dancing hall were closer

We have searched for the barren hall.
My ignoble heart perpetually searches for the pit of birth.
And my eyes seek the place I suckled.
Verse/40
Slew several creatures. After slaying, I ate them all.

Besides this I committed crimes.
To absolve all this I stood in your sanctum.
So bear with me for my misdeeds since I trust you. O, Lord of
Kachchi.
Verse/6
Not killing, not eating what is killed,

Not learning deception, backbiting, thievery,
Not befriending imposters,
Not telling lies even in dreams,
Not listening to them,
Not going after the delusion of peacock-like women,
Give me wealth. O! Chidambara Desika!
Verse/8
I am incapale of feeding you slicing my son's flesh with a sword.1

I am incapable of losing my youth due to the challenge of a woman.
Serving, I can't pluck out my eyes and patch it on the statue.
How am I to surrender myself hereafer to the Father of Thirukkalathi?
1. Siru Thondar: One of the devotees of Lord Siva. Siva, in the form of Bhairava visited his house
and asked for cooked human flesh of a young lad who had all the organs in perfect condition.
It is said that Siru Thondar cut and cooked his own son Seeralan and offered it to Lord Siva.
Eventually Siva revived the son. [Periya Puranam)
2. Thiur Neelakandar: A devotee of Siva: He decided not to touch any woman because
of a vow he took, provoked by his wife, and forsook his youth .[Periya Puranam]
3. Kannappar: Original name was Thinnappar. Born into a family of hunters and known
for his devotion to Siva. To test his sincerity, Siva made the right eye of the statue at
Srikalahasthi bleed. To stop the bleeding Kannappar plucked out his own eye using
his arrow. When he was about to pluck his other eye too, Siva intervened and stopped
him.[Periya Puranam]
4. The Tamil version of Kalahasthi, a small town in the southerned of Andhra Pradesh;
This town has a temple dedicated to Siva. A legend refers to the efforts of three animals
to revere Siva: Sri, the spider, Kala, the snake, and Hasthi, the elephant. The spider
worships Siva by using its webs to decorate the Ungarn, which has appeared in the jungle.
Siva tests the spider by permitting the web to catch fire from a votive lamp nearby.
The spider hurls itself on the fire and tries to swallow it. With the spider at the point of
death, Siva intervenes and bestows upon him the boon to be permanently present in the
heaven of Siva.
Verse/70
You are merciful to yourself, your parents, wife and children.

And thus perpetually pluck the unripe fruit while the mellow ones
exist!
My heart! How many did the parents bear?
How many laudations did we get there?
Verse/28
My mother who bore me had despised me, calling me a "corpse".

Women who accepted gifts of gold have cried at me, "Go!".
Sons who acquired everything
Followed me, circumambulated and broke the funereal pot.
There is no hold to destroy my hold for you.
Verse/4[General]
While the hand does one thing, the eyes seek something else
The mind thinks a thought, the vile tongue tells a lie,
The flesh-smelling body leans on something, the ears listen to
another sound,
How will you accept my offerings?
O Lord! Destroyer of Fate.
Verse/6[General]
God dwells in the word, at the periphery of the word, in the

shruti of the Vedas,
In the gloom, in the immaculate sky,
In the house of the wise, and in the heart of the faithful. 1
Will He be present in stone and copper, Our Frontal-eyed God?
Verse/4
How many places? How many houses? How many mothers?

How many parents?
Called my name to which I responded.
Perpetually teach me the arts

O! Lord Yegamba . Kamba, is it sport for you?
1. Reference to Lord Siva's Third eye.

2. Lord Siva at Kancheepuram is called as Yegamban.
A. Rajamm Brummarajan / 167
Verse/34
This foul smelling body, stuffed food for the fox:

I filled this vessell customarily with rice and curry.
O! Lord of Kachcchi!
Grant me the grace to jump over
The peacock-like women's pit of blood and shit.
Temple song-1
Remember heart! Remember!

Remember Lord Siva of the hall of reddish gold.
Remember heart! Remember!
Cherish not the false chariot and the whirlwind, which is the false
life on this earth.
Cherish not the body
Those that are born will die, the dead will be born again;
What appeared will disappear, and that which disappeared will
reappear;
That which enlarged will shrink, and the shrunk will enlarge;
That which is felt will be forgotten, and the ones fogotten will be
perceived
That which mated will separate, and the separated will mate
again.
What is eaten turns to shit, what is worn turns dirty;

What was delightful turns disgusting, and the disgusting turns
delightful;
All these you realised;
Yet
You were born
birth after birth:
Killed all, and all that were slain
slew you.
You ate all, and all of them ate you;

You bore all and all of them bore you;
You cherished everything and everything cherished you;
You exulted during prosperity and wept in poverty;
Rejoiced in the pleasure and pain on this vast land;
Experienced not leaving out a single thing;
Despite that
You considered the water bubble as a bird's nest;
This mean retreat
stronger than stone.
Verse/10
Mother got tired of her body; I, by a mighty destiny, got tired of

my feet;
Even Bramman got tired of his hand_
Lord! Siva of Iruppaiyur! Save me from reappearing
In yet another mother's womb-town.
Verse/11
Let the earth be cooled of its glowing embers;

Let the sky cool itself from the smoke;
Let my rare mother repose_
Let Mayan, the architect of the Asuras, rest his hands;
Let my soles cool. O! Lord of Thiruvaiyar.
Verse/1
Not praising the Lord who dances in the hall of Sengadu

He who enticed me with the earth, with gold, with the darkness
called maya,
I was trapped in the net of those whores who blight with their
bewitching eyes
and wandered like a street dog; O my heart!
Verse/20
Apart from nurturing this body, this nest of worms,

You didn't praise the Lord, the Immaculate teacher.
Like the fish that suffered when the flood spread in the woods
You became care-worn. O my heart!
Thiruvidai Maruthoor
Verse/2
When wealth leaves, mother turns an enemy;
A. Rajaram Brammarajan /169
The women I loved become severe enemies;
My own children turn enemies;
The entire world becomes an enemy;
In a moment of inquiry
Mingle yourself with the golden feet of the Lord of Maruthur:
That is liberation.
Kongana Nayanar
Verse/72
There is no sky without the earth.

There are no flowers devoid of some fragrance.
I am impossible without a woman.
Think of this scrupulously. You lass!
Verse/24
Never think of this body as a filthy carcass

Never consider it as a salt-laden vessel.
For the seers it is not filthy.
See for yourself inside your body.
Verse/65
As mother, she nursed me with milk

She came as the wife and gave pleasure
She turned into an affectionate sister
Transfigured into a desirable sister-in-law,
besides becoming mother-in-law too.
Siva Vakkiyar
Verse/38
Where is the pariah woman? Where is the high-caste woman?

Are there numbers inscribed on the skin and flesh?
Is the pariah woman's delight different from that of a the high
caste woman?
Analyse the pariah woman and the high-caste woman in you.
Verse/46
Drawn milk doesn't return to the breast. Churned butter doesn't

return to the butter-milk.
The broken conch's sound and beings don't re-enter the body.
The blossomed flower and the fallen half-ripe fruit never return to
the tree.
The dead are never born. Never, never, never.
Verse/78
When earthen vessels tumble they keep it in order

When bronze vessels tumble they tend with care.
When our vessel sinks they forsake it because it stinks.
What an inexplicable one is your trick of mingling with the
numbers?
O Lord!
Verse/83
Where are the temples? Where are the holy ponds?

You loathsome people who worship temples and ponds!
Temples and ponds are in one's mind.
There is neither creation nor destruction. Never, never, never.
Verse/23
While the boat exists one can run and ride for recreation.
While the boat exists one can determine.
While the boat is smashed,
In the incomparbale space
There is no goat, no stick, and there exists none.
Verse/15
There is no sampradaya without the seed, either above or below.

In what way can the palace take shape without the architect?
You ignorant one! You sell your mother and turn her into a slave!
When there is no emancipation, there is no life. Never, never,
never.
A. Rajaram Brammarajan /171
Verse/51
As one traps the tiger with a goat

Is it fair for you to delude me showing a cow?
O! King, who killed and skinned the elephant with a stick:
You should reveal to me the way of emancipation.
Thirumoolar
Verses from
Pattham Thirumurai
Verse/65
That was when the rainy season, summer and the dewy season
synchronised
And the time the lake also dried up.
At the very moment Lord Siva taught Tamil and Sanskrit
With kindness to his consort.
Verse/606
The sounds of the roaring sea, bell, trumpeting of the elephant,
flute
The sounds of the cloud, the droning of the beetle, the dragon-fly,
the conch,
The sounds of the kettle-drum and the lute
All these ten can't be felt except by the humble.
Verse/209
Gone is life as the saree is torn.

The near ones became loveless.
No gifts; no loans; no celebration.
Their stride itself lacks the majesty of the city.
Verse/210
At break of dawn he will fill up the false pit.

Rummage for specious things that will fulfil the act.
Whatever pit you fill into,
Praise the Lord
That pit shall be filled when you are pure.
Verse/207
What use is it when you enjoy the women of this world?

It is the destiny inscribed in the body.
They are like the sugarcane juice outside it.
It remains like a massive neem tree in the mind.
Verse/238
The unread king and Yama are alike.

But Yama is preferable to the unread King.
Devoid of analysis the unread king orders to "Execute".
Yama never approaches those who are virtuous.
Verse/229
The Brahmins who wished to listen to Vedanta

Didn't give up their desire even after listening to it.
Vedanta is the place where desire ends.
Those who listen to Vedanta are desireless.
Verse/206
The young maidens resemble female elephants

And are like newly sprouted green grass glistening in the rain
Their suitable life settled well,
When god-like men arrive,
They gesture to the man who had already made love,
To quit.
Verse/148
He ate the perfectly cooked food.

He enjoyed the creeper-like tender woman.
Said: "The chest hurts on the left side."
He stretched his limbs and lay dead.
Verse/2104
One Race.One God.

Think of good and there is no death.
There is only one faith you can reach without shame.
Think of this to make your thought of God to survive.
Verse/1964
He who is ignorant of sequels hand-pounds the seeds to eat.

The other one, who fries the seeds to eat is not any better.
Among the seed-eaters, there is a different one.
He does not pound but sows the seeds to reap the result.
Verse/2073
Women become prisons for those who seek them.

The learned are in prisons by their learning.
Those penancing are in prisons because of their penance.
The self-aware who strain to reach Him are in prisons.
All these do not know the nature of the Lord.
Kudambai Siddhar
Verse/28
For those who live in the mountains, feeding on mango milk

Where is the need for coconut milk?_Oh! Lass Kudambai!
Verse/30
For those who don't have a sloping roof or a house of their own
Where is the need for Thevaram?_ Oh! Lass Kudambai!
Where is the need for Thevaram*?
Verse/11
For those who had risen above the peak and seen the high space
Where is the need for desire?_Oh! Lass Kudambai!
Where is the need for desire?
Verse/26
For those who had won over Yama, and analysed abstract notions
Where is the need for decoration?_Oh! Lass Kudambai!
Where is the need for decoration?
* A sacred Saiva text in Tamil.
Verse/8
For those who sit in sincere penance

Where is the need for sacrificial fires? Oh! Lass Kudambai?
Where is the need for sacrificial fires?
Verse/16
For those who see the sculpted hall everyday

Where is the need for leaves? Oh! Lass Kudambai?
Where is the need for leaves?
Verse/24
For the real Gnani who wanders like the dead

Where is the need for the cymbals? Oh! Lass Kudambai?
Where is the need for the cymbals?
Alugani Siddhar
Verse/2
This body of eight spans has fourteen portals.

Five are the panchayatdhars and the towns are two.
You speak bravely. But afraid of the mandate,
I am unable to stand straight, Kannamma!
Discomfitted, I am wilting like a plant.
Verse/8
It is a filthy carcass and a vessel filled with salt.

To take a different birth I am unable to access the potion.
If I could get that potion for a different birth_
Casting aside this filthy body, won't I surrender at your feet
Kannamma?
Verse/7
Like a smith's forge my stomach boils!

It doesn't stop when I tell it to!
For those who are capable of saying it to stop
Yama who comes to kill shall vacate this place Kannamma!
Verse/11
I don't know whether it is the uncle's daughter or the sister-in

But Cupid's arrow tortures me like smouldering coal.
If you become my uncle's daughter and my sister-in-law too,
Cupid's arrows shall be burnt with a single glance, My dear
Kannamma!
Verse/27
I am a fearless thief, an orphan and a penitent,

Loveless harsh man, who tells lies with a full heart
A ganja addict_
Before destruction is complete
Won't you tell me not to fear
And rule over me, My beloved Kannamma?
All poems are translated by A. Rajaram Brammarajan

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Sahitya Akademi

Siddhar Poems From Tamil: An Introduction

Siddhar Poems From Tamil:

Siddhar poems form an important corpus of Tamil poetry of circa

158 / Indian Literature : 195

3.Lahima or the capability to become as light as air.

A. Rajaram Brammarajan / 159

160 / Indian Literature : 195

Four vedas, six shastras, several treatises on strategies,

O Snake! Dance how I saw

A. Rajaram Brammarajan / 161

While the Two gathered mud

They praise the shrivelling skin as rounded breast

No one can cook the gourd that is painted on paper.

Don't call her a peacock or emerald,

We'll shut the snake in the pot of lust.

162 / Indian Literature : 195

We'll light a fire in the caste division.

They describe the stale smelling tangled tresses as a graceful

The fire lit earlier was in Thiripuram1

A. Rajaram Brammarajan / 263

Wandering like a ghost, lying like a corpse,

If a being is born as a dog it will do justice by hunting.

* Kachchi: Now called as Kancheepuram, a town in Tamil Nadu.

164 / Indian Literature : 195

Pursuit for food.'The only pursuit. If it ceases

I am the wicked one. Indisciplined.

Verbal blemishes, faltering of thought,

When Siva and his sacred dancing hall were closer

A. Rajaram Brammarajan / 165

Slew several creatures. After slaying, I ate them all.

Not killing, not eating what is killed,

I am incapale of feeding you slicing my son's flesh with a sword.1

266 / Indian Literature : 195

You are merciful to yourself, your parents, wife and children.

My mother who bore me had despised me, calling me a "corpse".

God dwells in the word, at the periphery of the word, in the

Will He be present in stone and copper, Our Frontal-eyed God?

How many places? How many houses? How many mothers?

Perpetually teach me the arts

1. Reference to Lord Siva's Third eye.

A. Rajamm Brummarajan / 167

This foul smelling body, stuffed food for the fox:

Remember heart! Remember!

What is eaten turns to shit, what is worn turns dirty;

You ate all, and all of them ate you;

Rejoiced in the pleasure and pain on this vast land;

168 / Indian Literature : 195

Mother got tired of her body; I, by a mighty destiny, got tired of

Let the earth be cooled of its glowing embers;

Not praising the Lord who dances in the hall of Sengadu

Apart from nurturing this body, this nest of worms,

When wealth leaves, mother turns an enemy;

A. Rajaram Brammarajan /169

There is no sky without the earth.

Never think of this body as a filthy carcass

As mother, she nursed me with milk

Where is the pariah woman? Where is the high-caste woman?

170 / Indian Literature : 195