Golden Lay Verses

Verse 120 (மை வைப்பு)

தமிழ் பாடல்

வட்டமதி முகத்தினிலே திட்ட வட்ட

மாமாயப் பொட்டுடையாள் மணிப்பீ டத்தாள்

சுட்டறியாக் குமரியிந்தச் சுந்த ராங்கி

சோகமற்றாள் போகமுற்ற சொகுசுக் காரி

கட்டறியாள் காலிணையிற் கனகச் செம்பொன்

காணிக்கை யேதந்தாற் கனிந்து நிற்பாள்

விட்டறியாள் விடுதலையின் வீடு கொண்டால்

விரைமலர்த்தா ளீசனருள் புரிவான் கண்டீர்

Transliteration

vaṭṭamati mukattiṉilē tiṭṭa vaṭṭa

māmāyap poṭṭuṭaiyāḷ maṇippī ṭattāḷ

cuṭṭaṟiyāk kumariyintać cunta r āṅki

cōkam aṟṟāḷ pōkam uṟṟa cokusuk kāri

kaṭṭaṟiyāḷ kāliṇaiyiṟ kanakac cempoṉ

kāṇikkai yētantāṟ kaniṉtu niṟpāḷ

viṭṭaṟiyāḷ viṭutalaiyiṉ vīṭu koṇṭāl

viraimalar ttāḷ īcaṉaruḷ purivāṉ kaṇṭīr.

Literal Translation

With a round-moon face, bearing a clear circular mark;

She who has a great, enchanting forehead-spot, she who sits upon a jeweled pedestal.

This maiden, not easily (or not at all) to be grasped by the senses, this beautiful-bodied one;

She is without sorrow; her enjoyment is complete—she is the woman of ease/pleasure.

She knows no constraint (or no bondage); at her pair of feet are golden-red (gold and copper) offerings;

If one gives such an offering, she stands there, softened/pleased.

She knows no ‘letting-go’ (or she is beyond loss); if one takes the abode that is liberation,

She blossoms swiftly—see, she will cause (one to receive) the grace of Īśan (Śiva).

Interpretive Translation

A radiant feminine power is described—moon-faced, marked with the bindu/tilaka, enthroned within the subtle body. She cannot be seized by ordinary perception; she is pure, youthful, and yet the source of supreme delight, untouched by grief. When the aspirant offers the proper ‘metals’ (outer gifts or inner alchemical essences) at her feet, she becomes favorable. When one abides in release itself, she quickly unfolds and mediates the descent of Śiva’s grace.

Philosophical Explanation

The verse outwardly reads like praise of a goddess seated on a gem-throne, pleased by offerings, granting Śiva’s grace. In Siddhar idiom, such a goddess frequently functions as a coded description of Śakti in the yogic body.

1) Face like the moon / circular mark: The “moon” often signals the cooling lunar principle (candra), associated with inner nectar, serenity, and higher centers; the “pottu” (forehead mark) can also hint at the bindu—concentrated point/seed of consciousness. Thus her beauty is not merely aesthetic but signals a specific yogic topology (lunar/bindu symbolism).

2) Jeweled pedestal: A “mani-pīṭam” may be literal iconography, but it can also indicate a stabilized seat (āsana) of subtle energies or a chakra-seat. Siddhar verses often treat the deity’s throne as the practitioner’s interior support where Śakti is ‘installed’ through practice.

3) ‘Not to be known’ maiden: “Suttariyā” can imply ‘not known by sensory proof’—i.e., she is not an external object but an inner reality realized through discipline (yoga, breath, mantra). The term “kumari” can preserve a dual sense: youthful virgin deity (Kumari/Devi) and the untouched inner force that remains ‘unspent’ (unmixed, unfallen) until awakened.

4) Pleasure without sorrow: Siddhar language often distinguishes ordinary pleasure (tied to craving and grief) from a joy that is ‘without sorrow’—a mark of liberated bliss (ānanda). The verse keeps this ambiguous: she is both “comfort-giving” and “sorrowless,” which can be read as either a beneficent goddess or the transformation of desire into non-dual bliss.

5) Gold and copper offerings: On the surface, these are devotional gifts. In alchemical/yogic subtext, “gold” and “red copper” can refer to perfected essences (refined vitalities), red/solar and white/lunar principles, or the transmutation of the body’s substances into ‘imperishable’ energy. Offering at her feet then becomes the surrender of refined life-force at the base/seat of Śakti, rather than mere external charity.

6) Liberation’s abode and Śiva’s grace: The closing asserts that true release is not simply given by ritual purchase; it requires dwelling in “viduthalaiyin vīdu” (the house/home of liberation)—a stable realization. When that stability is present, Śakti ‘blooms swiftly’ and the grace of Īśan is conferred—suggesting the Śiva–Śakti union motif: Śakti awakens and culminates in Śiva’s recognition/benediction (or Śiva-consciousness becoming explicit).

Overall, the verse holds together two layers without collapsing them: devotional praise (outer) and a map of inner awakening (inner). The Siddhar strategy is to let both readings remain viable, while giving cues (bindu, moon, metals, liberation-home) to the initiated reader.

Key Concepts

  • Śakti as goddess / inner power
  • Moon (candra) symbolism and cooling nectar
  • Bindu / pottu (forehead mark) as seed-point of consciousness
  • Mani-pīṭa (jeweled seat) as deity-throne and/or chakra-seat
  • Sensory unknowability (non-objectifiable inner realization)
  • Sorrowless bliss (ānanda beyond craving)
  • Offerings as devotion and/or inner alchemical surrender
  • Kanaka (gold) and sembon (red copper) as alchemical/yogic symbols
  • Liberation (viduthalai) as an abiding state
  • Īśan (Śiva) grace and Śiva–Śakti convergence

Ambiguities or Multiple Readings

  • Whether the described figure is an external temple-deity (a goddess enthroned on jewels) or the internal Kundalinī/Śakti seated in a subtle center.
  • “Pottu” can be read literally as a bindi/tilaka or technically as the bindu (a yogic/alchemical ‘point’ or seed).
  • “Suttariyā” may mean ‘unknown/ungraspable’ (beyond senses) or ‘not known even if pointed out’ (esoteric secrecy).
  • “Bōgam uṟṟa” can denote worldly enjoyment, tantric bliss, or liberated ānanda—Siddhar diction often intentionally allows all three while hinting at the sorrowless kind.
  • “Kattariyāḷ” can mean ‘she does not know restraint’ (wild, fierce goddess aspect) or ‘she does not know bondage/limitations’ (transcendent freedom).
  • “Kanaka-sembon kāṇikkai” can be plain material offerings or coded references to refined essences/metals in inner alchemy (rasa-vāda) and subtle physiology.
  • “Vīdu” in “viduthalaiyin vīdu” can be the ‘house’ of liberation (final mokṣa) or the stabilized inner ‘abode’ attained during embodied practice (jīvanmukti nuance).
  • “She blossoms swiftly” can refer to the goddess becoming pleased (devotional reading) or to the rapid unfolding of awakened energy (yogic reading).