(Arivattaya Nayanar Puranam - Periyapuranam as English poetry)

 
        "I am a servitor to the servitors of Vattayan 
        Who desired to perish when his service failed." 
 
                    - The Tiru-th-Tonda-th-Tokai. 
 
1.     And there is a town called Kanamangalam, 
    A splendid place for dwelling, enriched by 
    The flood of the Cauvery; here hum honey-bees, 
    Male and female, and soft nodes of sweetcanes 
    Burst and seep out a rich saccharic ooze.            (903) 
 
2.     In its paddy-fields when the farmers 
    Weed out lotuses from them, fall down pearls 
    Bred thither by chanks; the farm-hands thus, 
    Like the celestials, look endowed with Padma-Nidhi.        (904) 
 
3.     In that town of foison, in the visages of damsels 
    Whose koontals display fivefold plaits, bees buzz; 
    Their eyes like unto blue lilies roll and reach their ears; 
    Their necks are decked with jewels of blue gems; 
    In pools beside the fields where sport the finny drove 
    Nelumbos rich in leafy wealth burgeon.                (905) 
 
4.     In that town was a great householder, 
    Righteous, proper and honourable; 
    With immense wealth ancestral was he endowed; 
    He was the chief of husbandmen.                    (906)

 5.     Tayanar was the name he bore. 
    Though for a long time, Vishnu pursued 
    Burrowing, he could not find and was bewildered; 
    But to those feet of tapas, he could hold fast.            (907) 
 
6.     For the Lord-Brahmin of ruddy matted hair 
    Which flashes like lightning, he daily offered 
    Food of rice, lush greens well-cooked 
    And condiment savoury of tender mangoes.            (908) 
 
7.     To behold him pursuer this service willingly 
    Indigence notwithstanding, and approve it in joy 
    The Lord of the hoary Gospels caused the traceless 
    Disappearance of his ancestral wealth.                (909) 
 
8.     His wealth became like unto the wood-apple 
    Attacked by Vezham, and perished; 
    Yet in love he adored Ammai-Appar as before; 
    Tayanar swerved not from his flawless service.            (910) 
 
9.     In chill penury, as a harvesting coolie 
    He earned by way of wages goodly paddy; 
    With that, he provided in love 
    His nectarean offerings for the Lord.                (911) 
 
10.     He would go from place to place in search of employers, 
    Get paddy and use it up all, to provide 
    Ambrosial offerings divine; while thus he throve, 
    One day the Lord who is unknown to Vishnu, 
    Chose to change the course of events.                (912) 
 
11.     In all the fields the Lord caused growth of crops 
    Rich in paddy sheaves that could be daily harvested; 
    Beholding this the glorious Tayanar thought thus: 
    “This indeed is my punya.” He felt happy 
    and he engaged himself in harvesting; with the paddy 
    Thus secured, he rendered rich service to his deity.        (913) 
 
12.     Though for many days they had no rice to eat 
    His wife suffered no loss of love for the Lord; 
    She would from the backyard daily gather wild greens 
    Cook and serve it; they had only this for food; 
    Thus they spent their days, though their service 
    Continued as usual.                        (914) 
 
13.     When even the wild greens were unavailable 
    His wife, verily an Aruntati, served him with water; 
    With that for his food, the loving devotee pursued 
    His daily service; I am truly blessed to narrate 
    What took place one day, when he spent his days thus.        (915) 
 
14.     When as before to provide offerings for the Lord 
    The servitor bore on his head the basket 
    That contained the goodly rice, pure as his spiraling love, 
    The tender greens and the tender mangoes, and fared forth 
    With a mind untouched by trouble, his wife followed him 
    With the pot of panchakavya.                    (916) 
 
15.     As he was proceeding thus, by reason of his fatigue 
    His foot slipped; with her hand that covered 
    The earthen pot, his loving wife tried to hold him; 
    Yet as all slipped into the fissure of the field, 
    The servitor of the Lord of the Bhootas exclaimed: 
    “Of what avail is my going there, henceforth?”            (917) 
 
16.     When goodly greens, tender mangoes pure and rice spilled, 
    He said: “I am denied the grace of the Lord 
    Who can rid me of my misery, and rule me, 
    As I, the one of endless evil, 
    Canst not offer food to my Lord.” 
    He set the sickle on his neck and began to saw it.        (918) 
 
17.     “My Lord who could redeem me, could not eat my offering” 
    He cried, and holding the sickle set on his neck, 
    He, poised in the flawless way of love, began to saw away 
    The neck from behind through bone, cord and pipe. 
    He was like him who would cut away his transmigration.        (919) 
 
18.     To prevent the act of the fierce and flawless hand 
    Of the blemishless servitor who wielded the sawing sickle, 
    The sticking out of the Gracious hand of the Dancer-Lord 
    And the sound of Videl-Videl of biting 
    And cracking the tender mango, was seen and heard 
    Simultaneously from the fissure.                (920) 
 
19.     When the divine hand held the strong hand that wielded 
    The sickle, he was seized with inopinate wonder; 
    His wound healed 
    And he stayed his fierce act; 
    Great was his joy; 
    He thought of the grace great of His Lord 
    And folded His hands in worship; 
    He stood (in awe) and adored Him thus:                (921) 
 
20.     “O Supreme Ens, You beheld my nescience, and yet 
    Would approve my servitorship; so were You pleased 
    To feast on my offering from the fissure; praise be! 
    O flame pure and good who is concorporate with Her 
    Whose waist is tudi-like, praise be! 
    O Ancient One of matted hair whose frame of coral hue 
    Is besmeared with the Holy Ash, praise be!”            (922) 
 
21.     When he thus hailed Him, He appeared on His Bull 
    And said: “Great indeed is your deed; with her  
    Of fair brow, may you for ever abide in Our world!” 
    With them following Him, the Lord-Dancer of the Ambalam 
    Moved away on His mount, the Bull ever-young.            (923) 
 
22.     As the devotee of loving chinta felt that the Supreme Ens 
    -- The Great One --, could not be by him fed, 
    And as he set his sickle on his tough neck and began 
    To saw it, before he could hearken to the cracking sound 
    Of videl of the tender mango (from the fissure(, 
    He came to be called by the holy name Arivattayar.        (924) 
 
23.     I hail and bless the feet of the servitor 
    Who heard the Lord’s biting sound of tender mango 
    From the fissure of the field into which slipped 
    His offering of rice, and whence the Lord consumed it. 
    I now proceed to indite the service of Anayar 
    Of over-abiding glory as is known to me.            (925) 
 
---------------- 
 
Stanza     Line 
 
   2        Padma-Nidhi    :     A lotus shaped “Horn of plenty.” 
 
   8        Vezham        :    A disease attacking wood-apples.  
                    The fruit in this condition, would  
                    retain its outward form while its  
                    contents waste away. 
 
  12     1    No rice to eat    :     Paddy obtained by way of wages,  
                    belonged to the samba category,  
                    and was, in entirety, offered to Siva. 
 
  14        Panchakavya    :     This is compounded of cow’s milk,  
                    curds, ghee, urine and dung, and is  
                    used in the sacred ablutions of the  
                    Lord. The comments of the not-so-pure, 
                    about this concoction, are to be totally  
                    ignored by a true devotee. There is  
                    nothing profane in Nature.  Filth has  
                    its being only in a filthy mind. 
 
  17     4    Bone        :     Vertebra. 
 
        Cord        :    Spinal Cord: the downward extension  
                    of the brain. 
 
        Pipe        :     Trachea: the wind-pipe. 
 
     5    Transmigration    :    The cycle of birth and death. 
 
 
Sincere thanks to Sri. T N Ramachandran of thanjavur, for permitting his English rendering of the holy text periyapurANam be published here.

See Also: 

1.  Arivattaya Nayanar Puranam in English Prose 

2.  அரிவாட்டாய நாயனார் புராணம் (தமிழ் மூலம்) 

3.  thiruththoNDar purANam main page

4.  12 shaivite thirumuRais