Chapter 58 - Tiruvekampam Tirumerrali or Thirumetrali (Hymn 21)

I

What can a poet resolve upon after the experience of the bliss of the Lord, as experienced in the previous hymn? The poet here exclaims to the Lord, “I shall not praise any one but you”—“Unnaiyallal.... ettamattene”—these are the words which occur in every one of the fourth lines of the verses of this hymn. The third line describes the temple ‘Thirumetrali’ of Conjwaram lying at the western entrance to the fort of Conjwaram overlooking the famous sylvan tract living there. “The fortified great city of ‘Kanci’ is the city of the Pallavas, the city of the world” (10)—that is how our poet describes it and we know in the age in which Arurar lived, the civilized world of the East was turning towards Conjwaram. This temple was surrounded by big fortress walls of stone (9) and by grand palaces (2) and by cool paddy fields full of waters beautified by the ripples (8) and the fresh lotuses growing in the slushy rich soil (7).

II

The first feet in the fourth lines and in the other lines give us the descriptions of the Lord which our poet loves very much: “Entay—my father” (1); “Mate—my wealth” (2); “Ere—my lion” (3); “Par re—my prop” (4); “Pemman—my Lord’” (5); “Kone—my king” (6); “Aiya—my chief” (7); “Araiya—my prince” (8); “Malaiye—my mountain” (9); (the matu, malai and eru as residing inside the Thirumetrali make these conceptions very concrete and beautiful); “Talaiva—my leader” (9); “Cintay—the Lord of the mind” (1). The poet is very fond of the Lord appearing as the shining light (On cutar—6), as the bright light which never fades (Nonta cm cutar—1). Our poet addresses the Lord as ‘Vimala’—the blotless or who removes the blot and purifies us (8), and as the Lord appearing as honey (6) and the sweetest nectar (6). He twice describes Him in this hymn as the real of the real, “Meypporul” (3, 5). Here also our poet refers to the puranic descriptions of the Lord—the destruction of the three cities (4, 7), the flaying of the elephant’s skin (5) and the fragrant konrai (8).

III

For the rest, the hymn gives our poet’s own experience of the Lord. “I kept thinking of you; you came in and you had never known going out. O, Lord of mind who had entered my heart, I shall not hereafter praise anyone but you” (1).“Because I became the servant of yours, I have entered the service of your followers and I have heard all that is there to be heard and I have heard that I am never more to be born. I cannot praise with joy any but you” (2). “Out of laziness, once in a way, I might not have thought of you; but even then, you are the true principle capable of entering into my mind coming in another way. I cannot praise hereafter anyone but you” (3). “The kith and kin and the relatives—these I had left off and I have taken refuge in you. In what way is there any want? I have completely renounced my miseries. You are my prop. I shall not worship and praise anyone but you” (4). “My father and my mother—all these have left me and are dead. All that which truly create delusions (all the delusions due to this body), You have removed and You have blessed me, O, Thou true principle, O, Lord! I shall not praise anyone but you” (5). “As for me, I contemplated on your feet. As soon as I contemplated on you, you entered this body of flesh, O, Brilliant Light, my honey, my sweetest nectar, my prince, I shall not with a cool heart praise anyone but you” (6). The burning of the three cities implies the destruction of our own malas, miseries and defects. Therefore, our poet describing this feat of the Lord, exclaims, “O, Lord! my Chief! I shall not knowingly praise anyone but you” (7). “I shall not speak hereafter of anyone but you with my tongue as long as this life lasts in this body. O, king! I shall not knowingly praise anyone but you” (8). “I have firmly contemplated on your feet and as soon as I so contemplated on you, my chief, you allowed me to contemplate on you and all the deceits have disappeared. O, the mountain of Thirumetrali! I shall not happily praise anyone but you” (9).

IV

These outpourings of his heart give us a true picture of his spiritual elevation—a spiritual state which can be called Shivaloka. Our poet says he has sung the Shiva Thirumetrali—he, Aruran the slavish Tontan. He assures, “Those who are masters of this famous hymn, they that will reach the Shivaloka” for as we have stated, the hymn represents that kind of highest spiritual state (10).