Golden Lay Verses

Verse 265 (இல்லற வைப்பு)

தமிழ் பாடல்

எழுத்தாணிப் பூசையதற் கிளநீரொன்றை

எடுத்துவந்து தோலகற்றிக் குடுமிநீக்கி

மழுத்தான துளைசெய்தே யெழுத்தை நாட்டி

மற்றென்னே யிளநீரா லாட்டிப் போற்றி

கழுத்தாணி மங்கலரத்தான் தூபங்காட்டக்

கண்ணாணி யாக்கொண்டே கண்ணிலொத்தி

வழுத்தாணிச் சக்கரத்தைச் சுற்றிவேத

மறையெழுத்தை யேயெழுதச் சத்துசித்தாம்

Transliteration

ezhuththaaNip poosaiyathaR kiLaNeeroNRai

eduththuvanthu thOlakatRik kudumi neekki

mazhuththaana thuLaiseythE ezhuththai naatti

maRRennE yiLaNeeraa laattip pORRi

kazhuththaaNi mangalaraththaan thoobangkaattak

kaNNaaNi yaakkondE kaNNiloththi

vazhuththaaNich chakkaraththaich suRRivEtha

maRaiyezhuththai yEyezuthach chaththusiththaam

Literal Translation

For the pūjā of the “writing-nail / writing-pin (ezhuttāṇi)”, bring a tender coconut.

Bring it, strip off its husk/skin, and remove its tuft/top-knot.

Make a hole with an axe, and set/plant the letter(s) (or: fix the writing-implement).

Then, with that tender-coconut water, bathe it, praise it, and nurture it.

At the “neck-nail (kazu(tt)āṇi)”, with auspicious redness, show incense.

Taking the “eye-nail (kaṇṇāṇi)”, press/fit it to the eye.

Circling/rotating the “worship-nail’s chakra (vaḻuttāṇi-cakkaram)”,

write the Vedic, hidden (secret) letters—thus the ‘sattu’ is accomplished as siddhi.

Interpretive Translation

For the rite of “letter-power” (mantric sound), take the tender coconut—an outer stand-in for the head-vessel.

Remove the outer coverings and the top-knot: strip away gross sheaths and pride/identity.

Pierce an opening with a sharp ‘axe’: open the subtle aperture (a disciplined cut through ignorance), and install the mantra-letter within.

Bathe it in “tender water”: let the installed sound be nourished by inner nectar (amṛta), steadied by devotion.

Offer ‘incense’ at the throat-center: refine breath and vibration where sound becomes purified.

Bring the practice to the ‘eye’: set attention firmly at the inner gaze-point (ājñā), fixing vision inward.

Then ‘rotate the chakra’: move awareness/breath in a cyclical circuit (prāṇa–kuṇḍalinī circulation), and inscribe the guarded seed-syllables.

By that, the essence (sattu—vital/alchemical potency) becomes “siddha”: stabilized, proven, and effective.

Philosophical Explanation

This verse reads like an instruction for an outward pūjā using a tender coconut, yet it simultaneously behaves as a coded manual of inner yoga.

1) External rite layer: A young coconut is prepared (husk removed; top tuft cut), pierced to create an opening, then ritually “installed” with ‘letters’ (a mantra or sacred syllables), bathed (abhiṣeka) with its own water, and honored with incense. The “chakra” suggests either a physical disk/yantra used for inscription, or a circular worship procedure (pradakṣiṇā / circumambulation) performed while writing/placing secret syllables.

2) Inner-body (yogic) layer: Siddhar texts often map household ritual items onto the body. The coconut can stand for the skull/head-vessel (kapāla), its coverings for the outer sheaths, and the “hole” for an opened subtle channel/aperture. The repeated “āṇi” (“nail/peg”) can hint at ‘fixed points’ in the subtle body—especially throat and brow—where mantra becomes potent: throat (sound-purification / viśuddha) and eye/brow (inner seeing / ājñā). “Incense” readily symbolizes regulated breath (prāṇa), and “bathing” with tender water points to internal nectar/amṛta imagery common in kuṇḍalinī traditions.

3) Alchemical/medical layer: “Sattu” in Siddhar idiom can mean an essence, extract, or potency—sometimes a rasavāda (iatro-alchemical) product, and sometimes the quintessence of the body-mind. “Siddham” can mean ‘proved/certified’ (as in alchemical testing) or ‘perfected/attained’ (as in yogic accomplishment). The verse leaves open whether the ‘letters’ are written onto a talismanic chakra for efficacy in the world, or installed as seed-syllables in the body to consolidate vital essence.

Overall, the text keeps a deliberate doubleness: a practical ritual recipe that is also a map for internal mantra-yoga culminating in stabilized potency (sattu) and siddhi.

Key Concepts

  • Ezhuttāṇi (writing-nail / stylus / letter-power)
  • Ilaneer (tender coconut water) as abhiṣeka / amṛta metaphor
  • Mantra / bīja (secret “letters”)
  • Marai-eḻuttu (hidden/guarded syllables; esoteric Vedic letters)
  • Throat-center (sound purification; viśuddha resonance)
  • Brow/eye focus (inner gaze; ājñā; dhyāna)
  • Chakra rotation / circumambulation (circular prāṇa movement or yantra ritual)
  • Sattu (essence, potency; iatro-alchemical or vital quintessence)
  • Siddhi / siddham (attainment; or ‘proved’ efficacy)

Ambiguities or Multiple Readings

  • “Ezhuttāṇi” can mean a literal writing-stylus/pin used in ritual, or the ‘nail’ of letters—mantra as a fixing power that pins the mind/body into alignment.
  • “Ilaneer” may be simply tender coconut water used for abhiṣeka, or a coded reference to inner nectar (amṛta) that ‘bathes’ the mantra within.
  • “Kudumi” can be the coconut’s tuft/crown, but also evokes the human top-knot—suggesting removal of ego-identity or outer observances to reach an inner practice.
  • “Mazhu” (axe) may be a literal tool to pierce the coconut, or a metaphor for sharp discrimination/ascetic force that opens the subtle passage.
  • “Kazu(tt)āṇi” and “kaṇṇāṇi” can be read as physical ritual items (neck/eye ‘pins’ or ornaments), or as fixed inner loci: throat (vibration) and brow/eye (vision).
  • “Kaṇṇil otti” can mean physically pressing/aligning an object to the eye (e.g., mirror/lens/collyrium-applicator), or the yogic act of locking attention at the inner eye-point (gaze-fixation).
  • “Vazhuttāṇi-cakkaram” may be a literal chakra/yantra-disk used for inscription, or a cryptic term for a cyclic prāṇa circuit (rotating awareness through centers).
  • “Sattu-siddham” can mean ‘the essence/elixir is successfully prepared/proven’ (alchemical reading) or ‘the vital essence becomes perfected and stable’ (yogic-physiological reading).