வல்லார் தமக்கும் அல்லார் தமக்கும்
நல்லார் தமக்கும் நல்லாரை
கல்லார் தமக்கும் எல்லார் தமக்கும்
கனிவான கற்பம் வல்லாரை
vallaar thamakkum allaar thamakkum
nallaar thamakkum nallaarai
kallaar thamakkum ellaar thamakkum
kanivaan karpam vallaarai
To the capable and to the incapable;
To the good, (to) the good one;
To the unlearned and to everyone;
(They are) those who have mastered the mellow/compassionate “karpam.”
He/they who have truly mastered “karpam” (the Siddha rejuvenative discipline/elixir) are not partial: they extend their ripened compassion and benefit to all—skilled and unskilled, learned and unlearned, the ‘good’ and the common crowd—without withholding.
The verse lists pairs and totalities—“vallār / allār” (the competent / the not-competent), “kallār / ellār” (the unlettered / everyone)—to stress non-discrimination. In Siddhar idiom, “karpam” is not merely a drug but an integrated regimen: herbs, diet, conduct, breath-discipline, and (often) alchemical preparation intended to stabilize the body, refine the inner energies, and prolong life for higher realization. Calling it “kanivāna” (ripened, mellow, gentle, compassionate) shifts the emphasis from technical potency to ethical-spiritual maturity: the true ‘karpam’ is inseparable from *kanivu* (tenderness/mercy).
Thus the line can be read as a criterion for authenticity: whoever has really ‘mastered’ karpam (and not merely memorized recipes) becomes universally beneficent. In a Siddhar frame, spiritual attainment expresses itself as impartial compassion and accessibility; the medicine/teaching is not hoarded for the elite, the learned, or the already-virtuous. The verse can also be heard as social critique—rejecting hierarchies of education, ability, and moral reputation in dispensing guidance or healing.
At the same time, the phrasing remains cryptic: “nallār tamakkum nallārai” can imply either (1) ‘to the good, (he is) good’ (reciprocal goodness), or (2) ‘even among the good, he is the good one’ (superlative goodness). Both keep the Siddhar’s ambiguity between ethical praise and spiritual rank.