பிடியிலே பிணங்கிநிற்பாள் பெண்ணாம் வாலை
நொடியிலே கூடிநீற்பாள் நுண்மைக் காரி
அடியிலே விழித்திருப்பாள் அங்கா எம்மை
குடியிலே மறைந்திருப்பாள் கோம ளாங்கி
கொடியிலே மின்னிநிற்பான் கும்ப மார்பாள்
துடியிலே துடிப்படக்கும் சொர்ணப் பாவை
முடியிலே முப்பாழும் கடந்தப் பாலாம்
மோனத்தே மதியமிர்த மோஹனத் தாய்
piṭiyilē piṇaṅkiṉiṟpāḷ peṇṇām vālai
noṭiyilē kūṭinīṟpāḷ nuṇmaik kāri
aṭiyilē viḻittiruppāḷ aṅkā emmai
kuṭiyilē maṟaintiruppāḷ kōma ḷāṅki
koṭiyilē miṉṉiṉiṟpāṉ kumpa mārbāḷ
tuṭiyilē tuṭippaṭakkum sorṇap pāvai
muṭiyilē muppāḻum kaṭantap pālām
mōṉattē matiyamirta mōhanat tāy.
“In the hold (pidi) she stands tangled/coiled—the feminine ‘Vālai’.
In a moment she gathers/joins and remains—the subtle worker (nuṇmai-kāri).
At the base/feet she stays awake—O aṅgā, for us.
Within the household (kudi) she stays hidden—the tender-bodied one (kōmaḷāṅgi).
Upon the creeper/cord (koḍi) he shines like lightning—she of pot-like breasts (kumbha-mārpu).
In the tuḍi (drum/waist) she suppresses the throbbing—the golden doll/maiden.
At the crown/topknot (muḍi) she is milk that has crossed the ‘three wastelands/voids’ (muppāḻ).
In silence (mōnam), she is the moon-nectar—the enchanting mother.”
The Śakti that lies coiled at the bodily base, subtle and ordinarily hidden, awakens and in an instant unites (with prāṇa/awareness). Remaining watchful at the “feet” (root), she ascends the central channel like a lightning-flash, the nurturing, full-breasted power. She stills inner pulsation (breath/mind’s tremor) and, reaching the crown beyond the “three pāḻ” (triple emptiness/three bonds), becomes the milk-like nectar of the moon—amṛta—revealed in the state of inner silence (mouna).
This verse speaks in the Siddhar idiom of a feminine principle—Śakti/Kuṇḍalinī—described through domestic, botanical, and sensory metaphors.
1) Location and concealment: “kudi” (household/dwelling) commonly stands for the body-as-house. The power is “hidden” because it is not evident to ordinary outward-going attention. “Aṭi” (feet/base) points to the root-support, often read as mūlādhāra (or the bodily foundation more generally).
2) Coiling and sudden union: “piṇangi niṟpāl” (entangled/coiled) evokes the classic coiled serpent-image without naming it directly. “In a moment she joins” suggests the sudden convergence of prāṇa with the central way (suṣumṇā), or the instantaneous recognition in yogic turning.
3) The channel of ascent: “koḍi” (vine/cord/flagstaff) is a frequent Siddhar cipher for the central axis—spinal column or suṣumṇā nāḍi—on which the force “flashes like lightning.” The line’s gender-shift (“he shines… she…”) may hint at Śiva–Śakti non-duality: when Śakti rises and merges, the experience is sometimes voiced as Śiva’s radiance, even while the imagery keeps her feminine form.
4) Stillness of throbbing: “tuḍi” can be a drum (pulse/beat) and also can suggest the waist/center where prāṇa is felt. “Suppressing the throbbing” aligns with breath-restraint, kevala-kumbhaka, or the quieting of vāyu-movements and mental oscillation—an inner “medicine” of stillness.
5) Milk, moon, and amṛta (inner alchemy): “Milk” in Siddhar poetry can denote nourishing essence—ojas, refined semen/śukra, or a distilled life-sap—transformed through inner fire and ascent. “Moon-nectar” (madi/amṛta) points to the cooling secretion/nectar associated with the crown and the lunar principle (soma). In yogic-alchemical physiology this nectar is both experiential (bliss/coolness) and medicinal (life-prolonging), hence the mother who “enchants” (mōhanam) by drawing consciousness inward.
6) ‘Muppāḻ’ (three wastelands/voids): The “three pāḻ” is deliberately cryptic. It can indicate (a) three existential deserts/void-stages encountered inwardly, (b) the triad of bonds/impurities (three malas) that must be crossed, (c) three knots (granthis) or three worlds/states to be transcended. The verse preserves this indeterminacy, naming only that the crown-realization is “beyond” them.
Overall, the poem encodes a progression: dormant coiled power → awakening at the base → ascent through the central channel → cessation of pulsation (breath/mind) → crown nectar in silence. It simultaneously functions as yogic map, alchemical physiology, and devotional address to the inner Mother.