Introduction

I

Coming to arrange the hymns conveniently, the first group of hymns may be taken as consisting of all the hymns which our poet had sung before he started on a pilgrimage from Thiruvarur [Thiruvarur]—i.e., from ‘Pitta pirai cuti’ hymn to the ‘Thiruthondathogai’ hymn.

II

These hymns express the first flush of the mystic experience, giving expression to the sudden joy of the vision of God so different from what he had known till then, to a realization that he would be no longer born and to the feeling of sudden contrast which sometimes drives the poet to condemn himself. In every one of these hymns he is referring to specific mystic experiences; “Having become His slave, shall I deny Him?” (H. 1); “O Lord! Bless me with the path of sacrifice and penance (not necessarily renunciation)” (H. 13); “Will I slight Him even for a while?” (H. 38); “O, Mind! Take refuge in His feet” (H. 64); “I saw the Lord at Kalumalam” (H. 58); “Will the Lord accept me as His servant?” (H. 73); “I am the servant of the servants of the Lord” (H. 39). Thus are expressed various struggling emotions stirred up by the new experience.

III

The poet in these verses describes Nature—the river Pennar from its southern bank to the northern bank and the beautiful city of Kalumalam. He always thinks of the floods rushing with flowers, fruits, sandal, bamboo, ivory, peacock-feathers and precious gems. These are but the beginnings of his Nature Poetry, the Nature wherein he sees the reflection of His Lord.

IV

Our poet’s love of puranic stories is also revealed in these hymns, stories which have a mystic significance. Perhaps this is one way of our poet speaking to the common man. Salvation is for all; to bring about this, God has become enshrined Himself in the Temples and our poet has come to serve the Lord in this sphere by singing the various hymns of the temples to be sung by the people of the world.

V

In every last verse, the poet assures the readers of his hymn that they will be saved. The first hymn has no such assurance; probably this scheme comes to his mind only from the second hymn. In some subsequent hymns also our poet has not chosen to specify any result flowing from a recitation of his hymn probably because he thinks that such a singing itself is a patent bliss. In these hymns of the first group, he assures the readers of the blessings of the path of Tapas, of the attainment of Truth, Salvation, Fame and Rudraloka and of their becoming the followers and lovers of the Lord and suffering no more misery. Thus the ideal is described as absence of misery in a negative way and as Truth, Salvation and Fame in a positive way. These positive aspects further suggest as the other side, the miseries of the world as consisting in delusion, bondage and infamy which are also directly referred to. Fame is something more than the worldly fame. In this connection one must bear in mind the conception of fame as idealized by TiruvalVuvar, which must have been in the mind of our poet. The ephemeral and changing world—and our poet also refers to this evanescence in this very group of hymns—true to its nature, is there to swallow us and reduce us to dust. The great ones escape this; they die to live for ever. This is fame; this is eternity; this is the achievement of their full life and personality. Taken in this sense, salvation can alone be looked upon as true fame. The bliss is attained through Tapas or sacrifice, and penance, through the Love of God and through service unto Him as His follower. Becoming a follower is itself an achievement worthy of note—dedication to His service—submission to His will—taking refuge in Him and living in that divine communion or identity. Prayer and worship are also expressions of this love.

VI

From the very first hymn itself, our poet is emphasizing the doctrine that God is all kinds of relationships—Sarvavida bandhu— another form of the doctrine of love. Lord loves all and He is the embodiment of harmony. He is the sweetest, the most brilliant—our poet as such is fond of describing the Lord as the great Manikkam and Amutu (Amrta). He is the Master, the Guru; He is everything. The eight forms—the ‘Astamurta of Shiva referred to as the unique theory of the Shaivites in Manimekalai are also mentioned by our poet and yet He is the Great Beyond. “He is I”, our poet exclaims, suggesting the Upanisad mantra, “Aham Brahmasmi”. This term may be interpreted as an expression of monism or qualified monism, even as the reference to Rudraloka may be so interpreted. But this monism cannot be of the extreme type leading to Solipsism but of the type of Practical Vedanta of Ramakrishna, for then only there can be room for worship, prayer and poetry. It is because of this practical Vedanta that our saint passes easily from the personal to the impersonal forms of the Lord. He is immanent and transcendental.

VII

These hymns mark various stages in the first period of our poet’s mystic life. He refers to his earlier life—the life he led before he was saved and condemns it. But these are exaggerations—appearing to him as defects only in contrast to the divine experience he is enjoying. Even in the midst of condemnation, there is a feeling of bliss and confidence. His confidence in the very first hymn, that he will have no more births is significant. He speaks of himself becoming a slave of Him. He begs for the path of Tapas. Tirukkalumalam hymn is important as giving an autobiography of his mystic life up that time. It makes direct reference to his experience of the Lord coming to save him who had been in quest of the Lord, though under delusion. The importance of the cult of the Bhaktas or the worship of the Bhaktas as God Himself is very well brought out by Thiruthondathogai where we have noted the ancient Indian conception of Mahavira, the Tamilian abhorrence of the word ‘No’, the Shaivite ideal of kingship, the doctrine of Grace, the characteristic feature of the Bhaktas consisting in truth, sincerety and self-sacrifice, the doctrine of Tevaram that the Lord can be attained through Art, the importance of inner vision, the significance of the outward forms of worship and the life of self-surrender and communion.