மலையிலிருந் தேவீழு மருவி போல
மன்னவனே தைலத்தை வாங்கிக் கொண்டு
அலைகடலி னோரத்தே கார்நி லத்தே
அற்புதமாம் பூநீறுப் படிதா னாறு
தலைகீழாம் வௌவாலின் புழுக்கை கூட்டி
தாவிவரும் குக்குடத்தின் மலமுங் கூட்டி
சிலைநாகக் குடமதிலே வெவ்வே றாகச்
செறிகின்ற நீர்ப்புழுக்கை மலமுஞ் சேர்த்து
malaiyilirun thEveezhu maruvi pOla
mannavanE thailaththai vaangik kondu
alaikadali nOraththE kaarni laththE
arputhamaam pooneeRup padithaa naaRu
thalaikeezhaam veLvaalin puzhukkai kootti
thaavivarum kukkudaththin malamung kootti
silainaagak kudamathilE vevve Raagach
seRigindra neerppuzhukkai malamung sErththu
Like something “divine” that has fallen from the mountain and clung/merged (there),
O king, obtain the oil.
At the edge of the surging sea, on dark/black ground,
spread (or lay down in layers) the wondrous pū-nīru (sacred ash / fine calcined ash).
Gather the puḻukkai of the bat that hangs head-down,
and also gather the excrement of the fowl/rooster that comes hopping.
In a “nāga-kudam” (a pot/vessel associated with the serpent; possibly serpent-shaped), separately,
add in the thickening water-puḻukkai and the excrement as well.
The verse reads as an early-stage Siddhar laboratory instruction: procure an oily medium; choose a liminal, saline site (sea-shore, black earth); prepare a bed/layer of ash (either ritual vibhūti or a calcined mineral base). Then collect strongly reactive “impure” animal materials (bat guano and poultry manure—both common traditional sources for sharp alkaline/nitrous salts after processing). Place and combine them in a nāga-vessel (a serpent-associated pot, i.e., an alchemical container that ‘holds and coils’ the reaction), adding a watery slurry that will thicken/ferment. The aim is plausibly to generate a salt/alkali/fermenting mass used for further calcination, purification, or transmutation work, while remaining partly coded.
Siddhar recipes often run on two tracks at once—outer chemistry and inner yoga.
Outer (alchemical/medical) logic: ash (pū-nīru) suggests calcination and an alkaline base; the coastal “dark earth” hints at saline/mineral-laden ground and controlled humidity. Bat guano and chicken manure, when processed, can yield pungent alkaline and nitrous principles; such principles are used traditionally to “bite,” cleanse, and open metals/minerals, and to accelerate decomposition/fermentation before a later firing stage. “Oil” functions as a carrier/softener/solvent or as a protective medium in grinding, soaking, and heating.
Inner (yogic) logic: the sea can signify saṃsāra (the restless sensory flood) and its “shore” the disciplined boundary where practice begins. Ash signals what remains after burning—ego and craving reduced to residue; it is also Śiva’s sign of dispassion. The bat hanging upside down can symbolize inversion (turning perception inward, reversing habitual orientation), while the hopping rooster evokes restless desire and the mind’s jittery movements. The nāga-vessel naturally invokes the serpent power (kuṇḍalinī) and the coiled channel in which energies are contained, “cooked,” and transformed. Thus even filth/excreta (the rejected and impure) becomes raw material for medicine: the Siddhar motif that liberation and healing come not by denial of matter, but by transmuting it.