Chapter 80 - Thiruppungur or Tiruppunkur (Hymn 55)

I

In this hymn as in his previous hymn on Thiruvaduthurai (66), our poet refers to certain Puranic stories which have inspired him to take refuge in the feet of the Lord. This similarity or identity of thought strengthens the suggestions that these hymns should belong to one single period. The first verse refers to the story of the Lord saving Markandeya, the Brahmin lad from the Lord of Death and going to the extent of doing away with the life of that Kala, who was after all, following the regular law of nature. “I have seen or realized your munificence”, exclaims the poet and continues, “O, my Father I Thinking that if the followers of Death attack me, you will prevent them from taking away my life by pointing out to them that I am your slave and servant, I have come and taken refuge in your feet” (1).

II

The same idea, but with other puranic stories is repeated in every verse. Every verse ends with the words, “Celumpolil Tirup-punkurulanc”. In v. 3, it is Pumpolil instead of celumpolil and in 4, ‘Poykaicul’. “Atiyatainten” immediately precedes this (1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9). ‘Ati’ is preceded by either, ‘Un Tiru or ‘Nin Tiru’, In verse 3, it is ‘Nin ponnati’ instead of ‘Nin Tiruvati.’ In verse 4, ‘Nin kuraikalal’ occurs at the end of the third line.

In the second verse, the poet refers to the story of a famine when there was not a drop of water in the fields because the clouds came to be even forgotten. The people prayed to the Lord for saving them and offered to Him twelve ‘velis’ of land. At once coming as the white cloud it rained. There was a dangerous flood and again the people prayed to the Lord. Once more the Lord saved them and received another twelve ‘velis’ of land. Having seen this act of yours, I have taken refuge in you. (This word ‘seeing the act’ is repeated almost in every verse; since all these acts belong to the ancient past, the poet could not refer to his being a contemporary spectator. It is, therefore, necessary to interpret it as meaning realizing the truth of the acts of God).

The third verse refers to Eyarkon and to God relieving of his disease or fetters. As this is mentioned with reference to the twelve ‘veils’ of land we had already suggested that it was “Eyarkon” who prayed for and offered this land. The disease must be the mental anguish which Eyarkon felt when the land was suffering from famine. If Eyarkon were to be a contemporary of Nampi Arurar and according to us of Rajasimha, inscriptions and contemporary writings bear witness to the severe famine which afflicted the Tamil country during that period. [(1) ‘Dandin’s Rajasundara Katha; (2) Vajrabodhi’s life from Chinese sources: See Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengali 1900, p. 418—article by Sylvain Levi; (3) Administration and Social Life under the Pallavas by Dr. Minakshi, p. 112].

In this verse our poet refers to Candesvara who cut away the feet of his father, who kicked the white sand of Shiva (the story already given: See Tiruttontaitokai Saints) and whom the Lord blessed with His own garlands. Our poet exclaims, “Seeing this extraordinary blessing of yours, O, Lord of Bhutas or souls! I have taken refuge in your feet”.

The fourth verse is very significant as giving us Nampi Arurar’s gospel of Grace, a gospel which brings out the truth of the parable of the prodigal son. Our poet has referred to the loving behaviour of the Lord which considers even the faults as our good qualities: “Kurranceyyinum kunamenak kollum kol-kai” reminds us of hymn No. 69, where also it is stated, “Kurrame ceyyinum kunamenak kollum kolkaiyal”. What is much more significant is that he enumerates a number of saints whose faults our God has accepted as their greatness, viz., Nana Campantan, that great master of good laurel, Navinukkaraiyan, Nalaippovan, the learned Cutan, the good Cakkiyan, the spider, Kannappan, and Kanampullan. These we have discussed in our chapter on Tirut-tontattokai. Realizing this conviction of yours, I haye taken refuge in your feet of jingling victorious anklets.

The fifth verse refers to the churning of the ocean and the swallowing of the poison coming out of it. “O, Madman! Seeing this characteristic behaviour of yours, I have taken refuge in your feet”.

The sixth verse refers to all sorts of people good and bad, worshipping the Lord and receiving His blessings, worshipping without fatigue or forgetfulness. It looks as though all their lives form one continuous rite of worship. “Yaksas, Kinnaras, Yama, Varuna, the Fire, the wind, the Sun and the Moon, the clean-hearted tiger, the monkey, the serpent, the Vasus, the Devas and the Tanavas—all have worshipped and received your blessings. Seeing this all, my confusions and doubts have ceased and I have taken refuge in your feet”.

The seventh refers to the Daksinamurti form expounding Dharma to the Brahmin Saints. It refers to the story of Arjuna receiving the pasupata weapon and to Bhagiratha begging the Lord to receive the Ganges on His mat-lock. The Lord is, therefore, the Lord of purity and, therefore, the poet says he has taken refuge in Him.

The eighth verse refers to the three aerial cities. This has been referred to in almost all the hymns but it is only in hymn 70:3 sung almost in this period that our poet emphasizes the fact that this destruction itself is a great blessing to the Lords of the three cities. That idea is made clearer in this hymn in verse No. 8. Their cities were destroyed but the rulers were saved by the Saviour, the Lord; two of them became the gatekeepers of the Lord and the third became important as the person playing on the drum or ‘manimula’ whilst the Lord dances to please his consort. “This act of unique love, O, Deva of Devas”, our poet exclaims, “has inspired me to take refuge in your feet”.

The ninth verse is significant as giving our poet’s philosophy of harmony. He says the Lord has showered His rare Grace on all those great men, following the six great philosophies, great for that wisdom and knowledge. He showered the blessings on all these whilst they were following their respective paths. In verse 6, our poet brought out that every living being in this universe has received the blessings of the Lord and in this verse he emphasizes that the very path leads to His Grace.

He next refers to the story of Ravana first getting himself crushed and then receiving the divine sword and the long life when he became repentant and began to sing verses of sweet music. This embracing love of the Lord has inspired our poet to take refuge in His feet.

In the last verse the poet refers to the Lord as one who had flayed the skin of the elephant and who had destroyed the Lord of passion with His eye in the forehead, as one who has the beautiful form resembling pure gold, the ruler of the Heavens, the Lord of Uma, who resides in the city of Thiruppungur. Our poet Uran, Vanrontan, has with an elated mind given expression to his love in these rare Tamil verses. Our poet has experienced whilst singing this hymn of taking refuge in the Lord, a feeling of complete freedom from those karmas so very difficult otherwise to escape from. He assures that those who master this hymn will undergo the same experience of becoming devoid of all karmas. This hymn is a hymn of puranic stories. It is not necessary to enumerate the stories once again.

III

The holy place is described in every verse as being characterized by rich or fertile groves. The fourth verse adds that it is characterized by a tank where abound lotuses, gems and heaps of gold, even as our poet conceives our Lord as abounding in this kind of wealth and beauty.

IV

This doctrine of Grace expounded in this hymn is something different from what is usually represented as the Christian doctrine. For one thing no Hindu believes that the soul is in essence a slave of Satan. Hindu thought holds every soul as potentially divine—a limb of divinity or its reflection, though it may be enshrouded in the may a or ignorance. What is aimed at is the perfection, the full blossoming of this divinity. It is not a self negation, unless one were to speak of the seed becoming a tree as self-negation. Everything is divine in the universal vision and what appears as defect and evil are due to the defect in the vision. The most valuable and useful thing becomes dirt and rubbish when misplaced and seen out of joint. When put in the proper place or utilized in the right manner it becomes a source of power, happiness and beauty. Is not the modern age speaking of wealth from waste? As in the material sphere, so in the spiritual sphere. The prodigal son has a valuable place in the scheme of things ennobling and deifying the love of the father. So does every thing of this universe. That is the message of the story of all cruel beings listening to the teachings of the Lord. Every activity is a worship and that is how it appears to our saint who sees this universal vision of worship by all the beings including the serpents and lions. The natural law and moral law are not displaced by the law of Lord’s Grace even as there is no displacement of the natural law when wealth is created out of waste.

The karma is not only individual but also social as the Gita insists. Does not the Psycho-analyst speak of race memory? Is not our body itself experiencing in its development from the embryo the various stages of evolution the living beings of the world underwent. Salvation, therefore, should also be social and that is why it is spoken of as the spiritual sphere of the eternals forming into a whole of the Divine Being. There is here no hankering after physical pleasure. Pleasure is not always the consummation of a virtuous life. Mental equanimity is different from wealth: “Tiru veru telliyar atalum veru” (Kural)—‘Life of true wisdom and clear vision is different from life of material wealth.’ Material or political success and failure are not spiritual success and failure. Our poet might have proved a political failure but that does not affect his spiritual eminence. That is the message of Periapuranam. Our poet may cry and suffer; but we do not see him losing his mental balance and moral grandeur. He is not, however, refusing the richness of even the material life. He is an expert in the art of life. Everything is God’s gift in that universal vision and, therefore, our poet begs for all the means of livelihood which thus ceases to be material and become symbols of divine Grace. Therefore, there is no negation of life nor is there a glorification of the Bohemian life. There is no inducement to do evil. The doctrine of Grace does not cancel the doctrine of moral greatness. If harmony is restored, if the mind is changed, the evil is wiped out and divinity till now seemingly enshrouded in darkness begins to shine and encompass everything within itself. Divine Grace helps here. This revelation of the mind is spoken of as taking refuge in the Lord when there is no selfishness or self-conceit but only the dawn of the universal consciousness serving the whole and the Absolute to attain its perfection.