Chapter 4.4 - Cosmogony in the Tevaram

I (1)

Our poet has no occasion to describe any cosmogony, but here and there, there are passing references which we may piece together here.

Yamaloka:

Yamaloka in the popular mind is somehow connected with hell, and, therefore, a study of the references to Yama is necessary. Our poet refers to Yama in various places. In one group of references, the poet speaks of Shiva’s conquest of Yama. These references we have discussed whilst describing the Kalari form. In other places, he refers to Yama, whenever he has to speak of fear of death. In one hymn, he speaks of the ephemeral world and begs of the Lord to teach him some method of escape. In one verse, there, he speaks of the fear of death: “The five senses become confused, the mind reaches a pathetically weak state, everything seems to whirl. The men of Yama with their fighting spears press hard and make one suffer. In that struggle of death before one gets tired and is immersed in oblivion, oh Lord, tell me of a way of escape.” In the 60th hymn, he begs of the Lord to bless him by showing him a way out of his difficulties. In another place he speaks of death, Yama as the Lord of the days or life: “Before the Lord of days comes near and oppresses me, I have taken refuge in you as your servant, pray accept me as such”.

In one verse, he condemns himself in superlative terms:

“I cannot purge myself of my defects, my enmity, etc., and my impulsive cupidity and anger. Even if I want it, the five senses are not under my control. When the trembling old age comes, Yam’s men will be placing me inside the hell; afraid of that I am feeling miserable. I have come to you; tell me a way of escape”.

“Kotukka kirrilen onporul tannaik kurram cerram ivai-muta laka
Vitukka kirrilen vetkaiyum cinamum ventil aimpulan envaca malla
Natukkam urrator muppuvan teyta namanta marnara kat-tital anci 
Itukkan urranan uyvakai aruldy Itaima ruturai entaipi rane”

In another group of references the poet refers to this fear of death and advises people to think of the Lord to escape from the delusion of the world by doing Dharma and thinking of God:

“You carry this burden of a body and wander alone. You do not know that the fox will one day tear this way. On that day, when the Lord of Death separating the body from life, takes the life away on the appointed day which is announced to all by the crying lamentations, but there is Dharma to save us.”

In another verse in this hymn, he begs of the people of the world not to fall into the net spread out by captivating women and advises them to be saved by approaching the Lord and becoming His servants, before the coming of Yama’s men who run on the heels on the appointed day. All these form a positive statement about the fear of death to all those who are away from the Lord. He negatives this fear to those who are with the Lord and assures the world that Yama’s men will do no harm to those who think of the Lord in many ways—“Nana vitam ninaivar tamai naliyar naman tamare”

In a separate hymn, the poet describes the horrors of Yamaloka. We are reminded, when we are reading this hymn, of Garudapurana, but a detailed study of this hymn confirms us in the belief that he is after all giving expression in these verses to the folk-lore about Yamaloka obtaining in Tamil land. The general trend of the hymn is that we have obtained the Lord for ourselves and there is no longer any fear of Yamaloka, for there is the Lord to save us. The hymn is addressed to his mind: “Oh! Mind! when you go on living in this world without serving Him, Yama’s men Will put an end to the even flow of your life, tease you and place you inside the oil-mill to crush you there; the Lord will intercede and accept us as His servants; we have in this our Lord of Puliyur a great boon” —thus sings the poet. The idea is repeated in the second and following verses also, this idea of the Lord saving us from the punishment in the oil-mill. In the fourth verse in this hymn, he speaks of the servants of black Yama, binding us together and the Lord cutting away this kind of fetters and bestowing on us His own world. The idea of the oil-mill is mentioned in verses 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 9 and 10. In this hymn, the poet emphasizes the idea that people who love the Lord will be saved.

(2) Narakam:

In connection with Yamaloka, our poet speaks of ‘Narakam or hell. This represents the folk-lore of Tamil land. He speaks of not entering ‘naraka . He refers to the hot narakam and describes the Lord as one who shows the true path so that we may not be pressed down into the hot or cruel Naraka. It is not clear whether the poet is referring to the fire of hell: The word ‘vemmai’ suggests that, but the word ‘aluntamai ‘not getting stuck up’, may suggest the mire of hell—“Allarpattu alunttitu . According to Pinkalantai, ‘allal is the name of one of the seven hells. This is the same as ‘alaru so often spoken of by Tiruvaljuvar’. In another place also, our poet begs of the Lord to remove the defects so that one may not get stuck up with life into ‘naraka . The use of the word ‘alunta in all these cases makes it clear that Arurar is following the footsteps of Tiruvalluvar.

(3) Heavens:

Coming to his conceptions of Heavens, we have to distinguish the world of the Devas from the Moksa state. Sometimes the Moksa state is also spoken of as a world as ‘Nilamicai’ in Tiruvalluvar. Certain philosophies believing in a personal god think of His abode as the place of the freed souls. The references to Sivalokam and Rudralokam, “Arumaiyam tannulakam”, have to be separately discussed after a consideration of Arurar’s conception of Moksa. This Moksa is often spoken of as the Heavens: “Vana natu”; “Vana neri” The freed souls are the real immortals and the Valannvite commentators on Tiruvaymoli, therefore, interpret the word ‘Amarar’ as those freed souls or free souls, and the word “Amarulakam” in the 34th hymn of Arurar, is equated with Sivalokam in verse 1. Therefore, this ‘Amarulakam’ must be taken as the place of Moksa. The “Vana neri” is spoken of as a Shiva gati’. These ‘amarar’ as contrasted with the ordinary Devas are spoken of as “Amarark kamarar” But Shiva is the Lord of the Devas and their Heavens: “Tevatevan”, “Umparali”, “Vinnavartam Peruman”, “Vim panintettum vetiya”, “Vinnavartam kon” “Umparar tolutettum tatankatal nancunta kanta” “Umparar tolutetta”. He is the Lord of the Devas and the freed souls: “Amarark kamarar Peruman” He speaks of the Universe as ‘Ant am’ in the form of an egg, and He is the Lord of this Universe—‘Antam’—‘Antan’, ‘Anta’ “Antamutalvan” but He is also beyond this Universe—“Antankatan-tum appurattum iruntir” “Antattantattin appurattu atum amu-tan" ‘Immai™ is this birth. ‘Ammai’ is the next birth and he uses the word ‘Ammai’ as what we achieve in the next birth or the place we reach. He speaks of the seven worlds and describes Shiva as the Lord thereof—“Elulakali": He also speaks of the Heavens of the Devas up above the sky—“Antara m)al vicumpu”, as a happy place of gold as contrasted with our earth—“Ponnulaku”, “Ponnulakam” It is in the skies—‘Van’. It is what is above, ‘Umpar’; sometimes the vimana of the temples here descend from the Heavens above.

II (1)

We have mentioned that our poet has no occasion to describe any cosmogony. We have already seen that he is referring to the Puranic stories trying as much as possible to bring out their spiritual significance. It is in that connection that he is referring to the various Devas. Shiva is the supreme principle of the Universe and our poet uses the puranic language of describing Shiva as the Lord of all Devas. Our poet is not concerned with anything more than this. He calls Shiva, “Vinnor talaivar"; ‘Imaiyor peruman”; “Devarkal culamani”; “Devar cinkam" —the Lord of the denizens of Heavens, Lord of those who do not wink, the crest jewel of the Devas and the Lion of the Devas.

Among the Devas, three are said to be supreme: Viz., Brahma, Vinnu and Rudra, representing the Power of Creation, the Power of Protection or Sustenance, and the Power of Destruction. These represent the Hindu Trinity. But in course of time, Brahma loses this unique place in the hearts of men. Shiva and Vinnu alone come to be worshipped in special temples and in the popular mind they are looked upon as the two great principles of the Universe. Each one of them is looked upon by their respective votaries to represent all the three powers of Creation, Sustenance and Destruction. The Trimurti form gave place to the Hari-Hara form. But the Shaivites claim Shiva to be the Supreme Principle while the Vainnavites claim Vinnu as such. It is the historical progress of this conception that Arurar is singing, when he speaks of Shiva as the Lord of three eyes, who is Himself the three great Devas and the two great Devas—“Muvarena iruvarena mukkanutai murti”. In another place he states, ‘He is alone the chief or the first Principle, Himself becoming the three great Devas and the two great Devas'—“Muvarayum iruvarayum mutalvan avanneyam”.

To express the supremacy of Shiva, the Sivapuranas describe in a most concrete way the worship of Shiva by Brahma and Vinnu. We have already referred to this kind of worship.

(2)

In the Cankam age, Indra who is very important in the Vedas, also continues to be important. He is counted along with the great Devas mentioned above. In Tirumurukarruppatai, he is mentioned along with Shiva and Vinnu when they march for getting the release of Brahma. It may be suggested that ‘Narperun-teivam' mentioned in Tirumurukarruppatai refers to the four great Devas though interpreted otherwise by Naccinarkkiniyar. Of these four, three led the procession of Devab, because the fourth (Brahma) was in prison and it is these three that the poet refers to as “Palar pukal muvar"

Our poet also refers to these four. Rudra, included among the Trinity, is sometimes differentiated from Shiva who is the Absolute, who is the Lord of all creation, protection and destruction and in that sense He is called, ‘Muvarin mutalayavan’, ‘Muvar kon’, the Lord of the Trinity. Our poet seems to refer to this conception when he speaks of Shiva as one beyond the powers or reach of (1) the Lord of Heavens, i.e. Indra, (2) the Lord of aeons, or destruction, viz., Rudra, (3) the Lord of the wheel, i.e. Visnu, the Lord of protection and (4) the denizen of the flower, i.e., Brahma, the Lord of creation—“Umparan uliyan uliyan onki malar uraivan tamparamallavar”, In other places he does not refer to the Lord of destruction. Worshipping Shiva along with others—“Kavalan nanmukan vanavarkdnum kurreval ceyya” —‘Visnu, the shepherd, Brahma of the four heads and Indra, the king of the Devas, do even menial acts unto the Lord’. “Malotu Nanmukan Intiran mantirattal vananka” — ‘Visn , Brahma and Indra worship him uttering mantra.” In another place he groups Tirumali Brahma and Intiran together and Shiva is said to be their Lord there. Indra is said to have worshipped Shiva and pleased with him God blessed him saying ‘You rule the Heavens’—“Vana natu nl alka”. He refers to the Devas as those under the leadership of Muruka—“Amarar cenaikku nayakanana Kuravar mankai tan kelvan” In another place he asks the Lord, ‘What is this that you stand inside Heavens whilst the denizens of the Heavens, approach you and praise you?’—“Vana natar maruvi etta vinnuliray nirpalenne?”. In that verse he speaks of the Lord as being inside the musical tune and the song, in the eye of those who think of Him and inside this earth; therefore, he is surprised the Lord being equally great even in the world of Devas, who pretend to be supreme. The poet is probably describing graphically the immanence and transcendence of God. The so-called great gods “Peruntevar”, or many gods—

“Paia tevar” are being punished by Him at the sacrifice of Daksa, i.e., the Lord of the Sacrifice lost his head, Indra lost his arm, the Sun lost his teeth, Agni or Fire lost his hand, another Sun Bhaga lost his eyes, and the Moon lost all his brilliance and another Sun Arka was punished.

Brahma and Visnu have already been referred to in our discussion of the Lingodbhava, Kapali and Jalandharari forms.

(3)

The Devas are pitted against the asuras or raksasas or danavas. The Lord however showers His blessings evenly on both: “Intiranukkum Iravananukkum arul purintar'’ — ‘He blessed both Indra and Ravana’.

The Rsis who are equally divine take their place by the side of the Devas; so do the Nagas or the denizens of the Nether world, considered to be a world of happiness.

Yaksas as those who are adored as a class of demi-gods are said to be the attendants of Kupera. The worship of Yaksa and Yaksl is referred to in Cilappatikaram—“lyakkikkup palmatai kotuttu”, and it is even now found especially in the Tirunelveli District where they speak of ‘yaksi’ and ‘Isakkl’.

Kinnaras in the sense of a deformed or semi-human form is the name of a mythical being with a human head and the form of a horse or a bird and they also worship the Lord

Siddhas are semi divine beings supposed of great purity and holiness. Our poet, we have seen, is using this word in the meaning of a fivan mukta and not as the Siddhas of the 18 groups of Devas.

The Vanaras, usually in the meaning of deformed men, refer to the monkeys, but Hanuman and others are said to have been born of Devas.

Our poet speaks of the tiger, worshipping Shiva without any delusion, along with lyakkar, Kinnarar, Yama, Varuna, etc. This is said to refer to Vyagrapada worshipping Shiva’s dance at Cidambaram.

He also specifically mentions Yama, Varuna, the Lord of Fire, the Lord of Wind, the Sun and the Moon worshipping Shiva. The Nakam mentioned in this poem, should refer to Patanjali and probably also to Vasuki, Ananta and Karkkotan.

Arurar speaks of lyakkar or Yaksas, Kinnaras, Yama, Varuna, Fire, Wind, Sun, Moon, tiger, monkey, serpent, Vasus, Vanavar and Tanavar worshipping the feet of the Lord ever concentrated on Him without any fatigue and winning His blessings and this, the poet says has inspired him to take refuge at the feet of the Lord.

In another place, he groups the three great Lords in one class, the Devas, the Nagas and the Danavas in another class and describes Shiva as the great Lord of all—“Tirumal Piraman Intirarkum Tevar Ndkar Tdnavarkkum Peruman”

(4)

Katupottar, Kinnaras, the tiger, the serpent, the lion and the Rsis listen to the message of Dharma delivered by the Lord as Daksinamurti under the banyan tree The Katupottar is found in this, and the inscription of Rajaraja, describing the image of Daksinamurti installed by him in his great Tanjore temple speaks of ‘Karna Pravrtas’; The footnote there gives: “Karnapravrta is the same as Karnapravarana, a being whose ears are so large that it uses them as a cloak”. Karnapravaranas are mentioned in the Valmlka Ramayana. This word appears in the Kiskinda kdnda, as the name of a savage hill-tribe described by Sugriva whilst sending the vanaras in search of Sita and in the Sundara Kanda, as the description, of some of the Raksasis guarding Situ in the Asoka vana, as seen by Hanuman from a tree. But this name is used by our poet to the worshippers concentrated in their meditation, taking the word in its yoga significance or in its full connotation. They are said to have ears which they can close whenever they worship —or those whose ears are so large that they use them as a covering of the head. Arurar speaks of “Portta ml ceviyalar Antanar” who receive the message from Daksinamurti. The description of the Daksinamurti image installed by Rajaraja may be conveniently referred at this place for throwing light on the conception of this image.

“1. Hail! Prosperity! (The following) copper images, which the lord Sri-Raj arajadeva had set up until the 29th year (of his reign) in the temple of the lord Sri Rajarajesvara, were measured by the cubit measure (preserved) in the temple of the lord and engraved on stone:

2. One solid image of Daksinamurti, having four divine arms and measuring eighteen viral in height from the mountain (parvata) on which (it) was seated, to the hair.

3. One mountain on which this (image) was seated, (measuring) at its foot one muram and ten viral in length, one muram and four viral in breadth, and twelve viral in height.

4. Two mountain peaks (sikhara), (measuring) twelve viral above it in height, nine viral in length, and eight viral in breadth.

5. Two solid Kinnaras, joined to these peaks, having two arms (and measuring) four viral in height from the feet to the hair.

6. Two solid Kinnaris, having two arms (and measuring) three viral and a half in height from the feet to the hair.

7. One solid image of Musalagan, lying under the sacred foot of the god, having two arms (and measuring) ten viral in length from the feet to the hair.

8. Two solid Rishis, having two arms (and measuring) twelve viral in height from their seat to the hair.

9. Two solid Rishis, having two arms (and measuring) eight viral in height from their seat to the hair.

10. One solid snake (pambu), (measuring) six viral in height from the tail to the hood.

11. Two solid Karnapravritas, having two arms (and measuring) three viral in height from their seat to the hair.

12. One solid tiger (puli) lying on the mountain (and measuring) five viral and a half in length from the tail to the forelock.

13. One solid banyan-tree (alavriksha), measuring one muram, eight viral and a half in length from the mountain to the top, and six viral and six torai in circumference. On (it) were shewn nine separately made large branches, and on these, forty-two minor branches.

14. One wallet (pokkanam), suspended (from the tree and measuring) three viral and four torai in length, one viral and two torai in breadth, and four torai in thickness.

15. A solid handle (kai), (measuring) six viral and six torai in length, and one viral and a half in circumference; and joined to it, one bunch of peacock’s feathers (tarai), (to be carried in) the hand (and measuring) five viral in length and three viral in circumference.”

(5)

We have various forms with many headed serpent-hood in the Kailasanatha temple sculptures representing probably the nagas.

The Kinnara form is found in Plate LVIII, Rea, the Yaksas and Bhutas are those found at the feet of the Lord in many places.

The worship by the monkey probably Hanuman is found in Rea’s Plate XLVi, fig. 2. There is a figure of a temple in front of which Hanuman is found with the hands in the anjali pose. It may be even a Sivalingam. There is a figure with three heads and six hands alone visible. Some take it as Ravana and interpret this as representing the story of Hanuman carrying away the Sivalinga worshipped by Ravana, without his knowledge.

Rea’s Plate LXV, fig. 1 from the Vaikunni Perumal temple gives the figure of a temple vimana with a worshipper seated near it, with the hands probably in the worshipping pose; he wears a yajnopavita and there is on his left, a lady, his wife, sitting by his side. Does this represent Koccenkanan, the earliest builder of big temples or the Pallava king who built the Vaikunta Perumal temple?

The Devas are said to be 33, the 12 Suns, 11 Rudras, 8 Vasus and 2 Maruttuvas. There are 18 groups of Devas enumerated differently by different authors: Devas, Asuras, Daily as, Garudas, Kinnaras, Kimpurusas, Yaksas, Vidhyadharas, Raksasas, Gandharvas, Siddhas, Saranas, Bhutas, Paicacas, Naksatras, Nagas, Akasavasins and Denizens of Bhoga Bhumi. Of these, except those we have already noted, Arurar does not exhaustively mention this list, possibly because he was not impressed with this array of the Devas, with their minute variations.

The word Siddha is used by Arurar in the sense of mystic souls which have attained realization.

The words Bhuta and Paisaca along with Paritam have a special mystic significance in Aruarar’s poetry as noted elsewhere.

The word Caranan is used as the name of Vinayaka.

Mr. R. Raven Hart in his article ‘Humour in Singhalese Art’, writes, “Dwarfs are a special feature of that humour (Singalese rather than Indian)—odd little pot-bellied people doing all sorts of things with intense seriousness that makes them even more comic and one has to search one’s memory or one’s photographs to find rare examples of such dwarfs in India”. This is not correct if the sculptures of the Pallava Age are taken into consideration. We have the Bhutas in almost every one of the sculptures and they are in full activity and good humour. The description of Bhutas and Peys by Arurar as already been noticed is full of humour.