(muruka nAyanAr purANam - Periyapuranam as English poetry)

 
 
        I am also a servitor of Murukan...." 
 
                        - The Tiru-th-Tonda-th-Tokai. 
 
1.     The town that is beloved of our Lord whose matted hair 
    Sports the flood of Ganga and who is embraced by 
    The shoot-like soft hands of Himavant’s daughter 
    Whose locks are decked with flowers of pollen, 
    Is poompukaloor girt with vast flowery gardens 
    Situate in the land of the Cholas of bright gemmy crowns 
    And enriched by the river Kaveri.                (1017) 
 
2.     Like the minds of goodly devotees, white shone 
    Their frames smeared with the holy ash protective; 
    So, in that hoary and glorious town, night wasn’t dark; 
    So too the black beetles of pretty wings that sipped honey 
    Resting on flowers shone bright with lustre.            (1018) 
 
3.     As bees that hummed choice tunes, fluttered 
    By the soft branches studded with buds about to bloom, 
    They poured colourful honey; not only the mouths 
    Of fragrant blooms oped but the tuneful beaks 
    Of soft and young starlings which abode 
    At all the sides of the cool gardens, also oped 
    And poured the sweet honey of divine decads.            (1019) 
 
4.     As bees buzzed, it was  not only the fragrant lotus-buds 
    That burgeoned with honey-dew in the glorious pools, 
    But the lotus-visages of devotees too were tear-bedewed 
    When they rapturously hearkened to the nectarean hymns 
    And divine psalms on the God of gods.                (1020) 
 

 
 
5.     In that town of glory and foison and tranquil beauty 
    Called Pukaloor, he came to be born in the family 
    Of renowned Brahmins; in the Vedas was he well-versed; 
    He stood atop Wisdom’s peak; stablished below the roseate feet 
    Of the Lord whose jewels are serpents, and filled with flawless 
    Devotion chaste, he -- Murukanar --, was endowed 
    With a mind that melted in devotion.                 (1021) 
 
6.     He dwelt at Tiru-p-Pukaloor rich in fields 
    Where red lotuses burgeon; thither leap the carps 
    Over sluices; crabs wake up from their bed of (lotus) leaves. 
    He was blessed with the true beatitude of servitorship 
    To the Lord who rides the Bull; he would gather 
    Fresh flower and leaves to deck the Lord’s matted hair.        (1022) 
 
7.     Waking before the break of day, he would bathe 
    In the sacred flood; then would he fare forth and gather 
    In baskets variform, innumerable flowers 
    After carefully examining them, before plucking, 
    To see if they are about to bloom fragrantly; 
    These he collected to deck the Lord’s matted hair 
    Whence course the Ganga and the moon.                (1023) 
 
8.     Flowers of branches, blooms of plants, blooms 
    Of cool waters and petalled flowers of rich creepers 
    He would gather, as flowers fit to deck the crown 
    Of the Lord of beauteous smile, the Originator of the Vedas, 
    Whose bow was the Mount Meru strung with the serpent.        (1024) 
 
9.     The wearer of the sacred thread would seek 
    A clean and sequestered place and would weave 
    Wreaths, chaplets, garlands, fragrant bouquets, 
    Leis to engird the staves, wreaths like anklets 
    And huge nosegays spilling fragrant pollen.            (1025) 
 
10.     He would weave wreath for the service of the Lord 
    At the specified hours ordained, and carry them; 
    He would deck the Lord with these, and duly perform pooja 
    In love; he would ever chant the Panchakshara, 
    The import of the divine decades and the sustenance 
    Of his consciousness too.                    (1026) 
 
11.     He who was in the Vedas well-versed avoided 
    The forbidden, the stood stablished in the righteous way; 
    He was also endowed with the glory of becoming 
    A friend of the Godly son who was fed 
    From a bowl of ruddy gold, the breast-milk 
    -- The Godly Gnosis hailed by the clarified Gospels --, 
    By Her, the Creatrix and Fosterer of all the worlds.        (1027) 
 
12.     Quotidian and without fail he performed pooja 
    In delight great to the Lord enshrined 
    At Varthamaneeccharam of Tiru-p-Pukaloor; 
    Chanting the glorious Panchakshara he hailed 
    And adored the Lord unknown to Brahma, the swan, 
    And Vishnu, the boar.                        (1028) 
 
13.     Divine Murukanar as a guerdon for his performance 
    Of pooja in this birth and also in births previous, 
    Could attend the glorious wedding of the Godly son 
    Of Pukali and come by the bliss of release 
    Granted by the grace of the Lord, the Rider 
    Of the red-eyed Bull; he reached the divine shade 
    Of the Lord’s feet, thus blessed with everlasting life.        (1029) 
 
14.     I adore the true service divine of Murukanar 
    Of Pukaloor who by reason of his pooja to the Lord 
    -- The wearer of serpent on His waist --, rests under 
    His feet; I now proceed to narrate the glory 
    Of the devotee-Pasupatiyar that hailed the Lord 
    With Rudram, embosoming Him that ever willingly 
    Comes to the guileless.                        (1030) 
 
---------------- 
 
Stanza    Line 
 
   3     7    Parakeets and starlings were minstrels of holy hymns in the hoary Tamil Nadu. 
 

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.  muruga nAyanAr purANam in English prose 

2.  முருக நாயனார் புராணம் (தமிழ் மூலம்) 

3.  thiruththoNDar purANam main page

4. 12 shaivite thirumuRais