திட்டமிட்ட திடமான மந்திரந் தான்
திருவான மந்திரத்தின் திறமு மாகும்
எட்டுமெட்டா மந்திரமு மிதுவே யாகும்
வட்டமிட்ட வைரவிமோ கினியாள் தேவி
எண்ணியநூற் றெட்டுத்தந் திரமு மிஃதே
வாலைஷ்டா க்ஷரியுமையாள் மாரி வீரி
கட்டுத்திட்ட முறக்காவல் காத்து நிற்பாள்
காலகண்டி யவள்பாதம் பணிந்திட் டேனே
thittamitta thidamaana mandhran thaan
thiruvaana mandhiraththin thiramu maahum
ettumettaa mandhiramu midhuve yaahum
vattamitta vairavimoo kiniyaal dhevi
enniyanoot rettuththanh thiramu mifdhe
vaalaishtaa kshariyumaiyaal maari veeri
kattuththitta murakkaaval kaaththu nirpaal
kaalakandi yavalpaadham panindit taene
This is the firmly fixed, deliberately arranged mantra.
It is also the efficacy (skill/power) of the sacred mantra.
This itself is the mantra that is “eight—yet not reached by eight.”
The goddess—Bhairavi, the enchanting Mohini—who inscribes a circle (mandala),
this too is the one spoken of as the counted one-hundred-and-eight tantras.
She is Bala-of-the-eight-syllables; she is Uma; she is Mari; she is Veeri.
With binding and firm ordinance, keeping hard watch, she stands guarding.
I bowed to her feet—she who is Kaḷakaṇṭi (Kālakandī).
The Siddhar points to a mantra that must be “set” with unshakeable resolve and exact method: its strength is not merely sound but disciplined construction (mantra joined to mandala/yantra and guarding rites).
He identifies the presiding Śakti in multiple faces—Bhairavi/Mohini, Bala (ashtākṣarī), Uma, Mari (Māriyamman), Veeri—suggesting one power appearing through many local and classical names.
The “circle drawn” indicates a protective enclosure and a completed tantric operation, within which the deity stands as vigilant guardian.
Calling it the essence of “108 tantras,” he implies a condensed key: one practice that contains or unlocks many.
Finally, he submits at the feet of Kaḷakaṇṭi/Kālakandī—an aspect associated with swallowing or mastering poison/time—hinting that this mantra-Śakti converts danger, delusion, and mortality into protection and realization.
1) Mantra as “thittam” (plan/resolve): The opening stresses not inspiration but deliberate fixing. In Siddhar idiom, a mantra becomes effective when yoked to strict method—diet, breath, restraint, secrecy, timing, and the “binding” (kattu) of the senses and vital winds.
2) “Sacred mantra’s efficacy”: “Tiruvāna” (holy/auspicious) can mean a revealed, sanctified formula; “tiram” is both skill and potency. The verse implies mantra is a technology whose power depends on correct construction and inner capacity.
3) “Ettum-eṭṭā” (eight / not reached by eight): The paradox can point to transcending the ‘eight’—commonly read as the aṣṭa-siddhis, aṣṭa-dik (directions), or aṣṭa-anga discipline. The mantra is said to be both within reach and beyond reach: available in sound, yet inaccessible without maturity.
4) Vattam (circle) and the goddess: Drawing a circle suggests yantra/mandala, a ritual boundary (kṣetra/āvāraṇa), and also an alchemical “closed vessel” logic—sealing, containing, and preventing leakage of force. Bhairavi implies fierce transformative heat; Mohini implies enchantment/illusion (māyā) that can either bind or be mastered.
5) “108 tantras”: 108 functions as a canonical totality. Rather than citing a single book-list, the Siddhar may be claiming this mantra-principle is the kernel or summary of many tantric methods.
6) Syncretic Śakti-names: Bala (a youthful Tripurā/Śrīvidyā current), Uma (Śiva’s consort), Mari (disease/fever goddess who also cures), and Veeri (fierce heroic/warrior Śakti) are layered to show one energy operating across registers: erotic/attractive (Mohini), terrible/purifying (Bhairavi), protective/healing (Mari), and regal/auspicious (Uma/Bala).
7) “Kattu-thittam” and guarding: “Kattu” can mean binding/locking (mantra-bandha), discipline, or restraint; in Siddha-alchemical language it can also hint at ‘binding’ volatile substances. In yogic reading it is the binding of prāṇa and mind; in ritual reading it is protective bandhas and guardianship. The deity “stands guard” as the stabilizing intelligence of the practice.
8) Kaḷakaṇṭi/Kālakandī: As a divine epithet it evokes mastery over poison/time (kāla). Philosophically, the practitioner bows to the power that can contain toxicity—whether literal (disease/venom), psychological (desire/fear), or metaphysical (time/death)—and transmute it into realization.