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[APRIL 5, 1872.
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
Nattu kallei dévam endru Nālu putpam satturir, Suttri vantu, minu-min' endru, Sollum mantram étadā 2
Nattu kallu pésumé, 2
—Nātan ulirukkeiyil ; Sutta satti sattuvam Kari suvei ariyumö 2 Osei pettra kallei nir Udeitt urukkal seygirir, Pujeiº pettra kal atil Pāvum nirum satturir :
With flowers of bush and creeper, Tank-flowers, and flowers from boughs,t
Why deck ye stones, and round them Stand, paying mumbled vows? Can idols speak, though in them The Omnipresent dwell ?
Say, of the curry's flavour Can the pot's ladle tell ? Stones resonant ye fashion To idols; then adore,
With flowery wreaths adorn them With ashes smear them o'er:
Väsalil puteita kal Malungavé metikkirir :
The stone before your threshold
—Isanukk’ uganta kal
But of these two stones, neither
Irandu kallum allavé !
Grows worn out, being trod;— Affords delight to God!
Dévar dévar endru nindru
Fools! with continual searching,
Tédukindra mudarkål, Dévar yāvar endr'arintu
“The gods, the gods,” ye cry; Even the way ye know not To seek for them whereby.
Tédavum arikilir : Mūvar dévar endru nir Molintatena 2 Gnánamó 2 Mēvatāka ummullé Viritunarntu kollumě.
Tell me, is it religion
To say “the gods are three”? To attain to God, within you Your search for him must be.
Kalutei katti, Ömum sétål,
The tether'd ass, becomes it
Kalutei annam akumö 2 Palutei kattra mántarkāl Parama Sivan karttanó?
Ye sinful fools, can Siva
Mulutumāna gnána råba Mūrti nindrat' appuram,
Yelutum fiti yantamum Itayamum kadantat6. ARIUM alla, AYANUM alla, ARANUM alla, appuram, Karumei, semmei, venmeiyum, Kadantu nindra kāranam ;
Peritum alla, siritum alla, Pennum finum allavé, Duriamum kadantu nindra— Dúra diura dāramé ! Sātuvâna Tattuva
Sadangu seyyum timeikâl,Dévar kallum avarð 2
Siripat' andriyen seyvön 2
- The Tamil scholar will notice an emendation of the text
A swan if God's adored ºf Become the one true Lord 2
A wholly spiritual Object In the Henceforth He stands, The Original, the Endless, Whom no mind understands !
Not Vishnu, Brahma, Siva, In the Beyond is He, Not black, nor white, nor ruddy, This Source of things that be : Not great is he, not little,
-
º
Not female and not male,_
But stands, far, far, and far, beyond All beings' utmost pale 'S Dumb fools, whom physical principles, The six-and-ninety, guide, Shall I not laugh when ye tell me Of deities petrified ? poreal entanglements. This stanza is the most beautiful
here, which seems to me absolutely necessary. The stanza, as it stands in all editions of Sivavakkiyar, presents a strange grammatical medley. The alteration I have adopt ed, though but a slight one, seems sufficient. + Literally—the four kinds of flowers. Tamilians divide all flowers into flowers that grow on low bushes, flowers of
and the most famous one in the writings of Sivavakkiyar.
creepers, flowers that grow on trees, and flowers that grow
There is a good deal of difference of opinion amongst Tamil authors regarding these in detail, although the total number ninety-sir is generally agreed to. The knowledge of all these ninety-six physical principles is required in a man who professes to be a genuine ascetic. In other words, the true ascetic must know the Tattura Sadangu, or Hindu Physiology, in all its modifications, and ninety-six divisions. Sivavakkiar, who is a passionate writer delighting in strong epithets, calls this in the text before the reader “perish able.” I apprehend he thereby desires to show his utter scorn of Hindu physics, ontology, and natural philosophy. And certainly the reader would agree with him were I to enumerate the ninety-six divisions of this science.
in water.
f Literally—“By the offering of burnt offerings.” § The poet here uses the Saiva-siddhanta word Duriam. This term signifies a high state (for the highest) of exist ence. God, he says, stands beyond Duriam, far, far, far away.
According to the Saiva-siddhanta philosophy there are five states of existence:—1. The state of vigilance and activity.
2. The state of suspended mental condition, like that of dreams. 3. The state of inactivity like that of deep
dreamless sleep. 4. The state of entire quiescence. 5. The state of supreme quiescence completely free from cor
| The literal translation of the words in the beginning of this stanza is as follows:– “O ye dumb persons, who perform
the perishable Tattura laws." Taturam primarily signifies the essential nature of things.
According to Tamilians there
are ninety-six properties of things, or physical principles.
