Chapter 15 - Thiruvanjiyam or Tiruvanciyam (Hymn 76)

I

The reverence for the ‘tontars’ who are often looked upon as the very form of the Lord, leads to the conception of Shiva as the great saint and guru, the great Lord of all, which in turn brings back the idea of His being the only refuge and His hastening to remove our sufferings. In the Thiruvanjiyam hymn, the idea of the Lord as ‘Adigal’ (1,2,3,4,5,8) becomes the heart of the song—six verses at least mention the word—and as such we are told that He will not allow the inescapable hard law of karma to inflict on His followers (1,6 9.).

II

Those who contemplate on His feet of shining lotus are never inflicted by karma. He is the true medicine for the disease of karma or the nectar bringing back life from the clutches of fatal karma (6). He is the only One who can do this (1). His resounding victorious feet alone are our refuge (7)—none else will we consider as our Lord (9)—He of the sacred thread (1), of the blue throat (5), the consort of the Mother (1,5,9), who is the very embodiment of love, the great fighter (3), the destroyer of the three cities (3), the archer aiming at Arjuna (3), the Supreme Lord coming surrounded by the ghosts (6), the unknowable even unto the two (7)—these descriptions of the puranas are enumerated for emphasizing this great truth, for, as pointed out, these stories have an inner significance. His blotless ash has an esoteric meaning (2); it represents the great idea of purity in which ends everything and therefore, He never leaves off this extraordinary act of besmearing ash (4). The ash reminds the poet of (the ashlike pollen dust of) ‘kaitai’ plant whose sweet fragrance fills this holy place (5) which that way reflects the Lord of the ashes. The commingling of the moon and the serpent is His characteristic feature (5). One end of His gem-bedecked girdle of a serpent has many a head, a symbol of the

evolution of many from one (3). Thus our poet’s preoccupation with the puranic stories is made clear even by this hymn.

Ill

The idea of the saints is not forgotten in this hymn—these men full of the riches of God’s Grace (1). Has he not described Appar, “Thirunindra cemmaiye cemmaiyak konta Tirunavukkaraiyan”. They fall at His feet and praise Him and He shines in that glory (1), in that beautiful city of towers of evergrowing perfection (6), and holy ponds of spacious lotuses and crystal clear water (3). He is worthy of the sight by those whose mind harbours no vegeance (2). The Lord, the Saint and the Guru explains the universe as a vision to the saints of pure and unsullied heart.

IV

This hymn suggests various reflections of real life, seen as a poetic vision of that holy place of nature, beautiful. The bull from the cattle-shed bellows; frightened by this thundering noise the sword-fish in the field runs away only to scare and drive out the carps for taking refuge in the lotus (2). The white flower of the vallai creeper on the bank is mistaken for the crane by the tiny fish and in terror and confusion it leaps into the mouth of the sword fish, (as though it were its hiding place) (4). The streams flow incessantly into the fields and there bloom the ‘kuvalai’ flower—like the eyes of the damsels, keeping guard over the crops (7). Their song for scaring away the birds by its very music invites the tiny birds and the parrots to swarm around them and what is more wonderful, this mad rush of the birds scares away the crane and other water birds of the moat in which, therefore, the stout fish leap with joy, now free from their enemies (7). The fields near the thrashing floors feed the bees with their overflowing honey and they intoxicated, sing with all their heart, the song of their pride which echoes in the heavens (8)—ah! what a beautiful sight! (8). Thanks to the tanks, the cuckoo, (like Daksinamurti) frequents the cool shades of the banyan tree (8). The apes dividing amongst themselves the sweet plantain fruits and the honeyed jack fruits remonstrate and fight, over the inequalities of the divided shares with the trunk of the plaintain and the talai (9). Are these not, in more senses than one, reflections of human life seen from a remote distance and unconcerned height. Looked at from the heights of divinity this world of delusion and passion rushing with mad speed to escape from the divine blessings showered on it appears as so much poetry and romance.

V

Our poet is so much overpowered with the expression of his poetry that he begs of the Bhaktas to sing this hymn of a garland, because he feels that singing is itself a bliss, revealing the working of the inner principle of God within this universe.