அண்டங்கள் கண்டமுறு மகண்ட மென்னே?
அணுவுக்குள் எணுவாகும் துண்ட மென்னே?
துண்டங்க ளவைகூடும் துவைய லென்னே?
தோய்ந்துபல வாய்மாறும் சூக்க மென்னே?
பண்டங்க எவைகாண்பண் டார மெங்கே?
பாயொளியி லேழுவண்ணப் பாய லேனோ?
எண்டிசையும் நிற்பதெதன் மேலே சொல்லாய்?
இயல்மேதை விஞ்ஞானத் தவனே சொல்லாய்?
aṇḍaṅgaḷ kaṇḍamuṟu makaṇḍa meṉṉē?
aṇuvukkuḷ eṇuvākum tuṇḍa meṉṉē?
tuṇḍaṅga ḷavaikūḍum tuvaiya leṉṉē?
tōyntupala vāymāṟum cūkkameṉṉē?
paṇḍaṅga evaikāṇpaṇ ṭāra meṅkē?
pāyoḷiyi lēḻuvaṇṇap pāya lēnō?
eṇṭicaiyum niṟpateṉaṉ mēlē collāy?
iyalmētai viññāṉat tavanē collāy?
“What is meant by the ‘universes’ (aṇḍaṅkaḷ) and the ‘continents/sections’ (kaṇḍam) that are seen?
What is that ‘fragment’ (tuṇḍam) which, inside the atom (aṇu), becomes as ‘number/particle’ (eṇu)?
What is that ‘mixing/compounding’ (tuvaiyal) by which those fragments come together?
What is that ‘subtle principle’ (sūkṣma) which, after permeating/soaking in, changes into many mouths/forms?
Where is the ‘treasury/storehouse’ (paṇḍāram) that shows/contains all ‘things/wares’ (paṇḍaṅkaḷ)?
Can I spread/stream the seven-coloured radiance in the field of light?
Tell me: what is it that stands above/over all the eight directions?
O one who is a sage by nature—O man of science—tell!”
“Explain the macrocosm and its divisions: what are these ‘cosmic eggs’ and ‘regions’ that appear as the world.
Explain the microcosm: within the tiniest ‘atom,’ what is the hidden unit that becomes count, measure, and differentiation.
Explain how the many become one compound: what is the principle of ‘joining’ that gathers fragments into an operative whole.
Explain manifestation: what is the subtle that enters everywhere and yet becomes many—many ‘faces,’ many modes of expression.
Where is the inner ‘repository’ that holds and reveals every experienced object.
Is there a way to cast forth the sevenfold spectrum—seven rays/qualities—within pure luminosity.
And what is the supreme pivot that stands over the eight directions (the whole field of space).
You who know by nature and by true science—state it plainly.”
This verse is framed as a chain of riddling questions to a knower (guru/siddhar), calling him both “natural sage” and “man of science,” suggesting Siddha knowledge as experiential and technical rather than merely devotional.
1) Macrocosm–microcosm equivalence (aṇḍam vs. aṇu): “aṇḍaṅkaḷ” (cosmic eggs/universes) and “aṇu” (atom) are paired to provoke the Siddha motif: the vast is mirrored in the minute. The questions imply that the same law by which worlds are structured is also present in the smallest unit of matter/body.
2) “Inside the atom becomes eṇu”: “eṇu” can mean “number/count” (measure) and can also suggest a minute particle. The line can therefore point to (a) the arising of quantification/differentiation—how the One becomes many through countable units; and/or (b) a subtle ‘seed’ within matter that unfolds into multiplicity. In yogic idiom this can hint at bindu (seed-drop), nāda (vibration), or a primordial patterning principle.
3) “Fragments that come together” and “mixing/compounding” (tuṇḍam, tuvaiyal): these terms can be read both alchemically and yogically. Alchemically, they evoke the combining of ingredients, calcination/solution, and the making of a compound (a paste, an amalgam, a preparation). Yogically, they can indicate the assembling of tattvas (principles), vāyus (winds), or sensory-cognitive ‘parts’ into a functioning body-mind complex.
4) “The subtle that becomes many mouths/forms”: “vāy” (mouth) can be literal (organs of speech/eating), or figurative for ‘faces’ (aspects) and modes of expression. The “sūkṣma” is then the subtle body/prāṇa/consciousness that pervades and expresses through diverse faculties, identities, and phenomenal forms.
5) “The treasury that shows all wares”: “paṇḍāram” (treasury/storehouse) can point to an inner locus where impressions and knowledge are held and displayed—e.g., mind/heart-space (citta, hṛdaya), or the subtle “ākāśa” in which forms appear. It also resonates with the Siddha claim of an inner laboratory: the body itself as a storehouse of medicines, minerals, and occult capacities.
6) “Seven-coloured radiance”: seven can map onto multiple Siddha-yogic schemata without being forced into one: seven chakras; seven metals/planets in alchemical astrology; seven notes; seven layers/grades of subtlety. “In light, can I spread seven colours?” may imply the yogin’s capacity to refract the one luminosity (consciousness) into differentiated powers/energies—or conversely, to recognize that the spectrum is only a modulation of a single light.
7) “What stands above the eight directions”: the eight directions represent the totality of spatial extension and worldly orientation. “Above them” suggests the axis/pole that transcends spatial coordinates: the central channel (suṣumṇā), the summit (brahmarandhra), the bindu above, Śiva-tattva, or the unmoving witness beyond the directional world. The verse presses for the ‘overarching’ principle that is not merely located within space but grounds the experience of space.
Overall, the poem is less a request for cosmography than a demand for the hidden operator: the subtle principle by which multiplicity arises, compounds cohere, experience is stored and displayed, and the spectrum of powers appears within one light—culminating in what transcends the eight-directional field.