அப்பாடா முதற்குருதா னீச னீசன்
அதற்கப்பால் மாமாயன் வேதன் வேளே
ஒப்பான கணபதியே வேலோன் தானே
உருவான நந்தீசன் இந்திரன் வான்
இப்பாரி லேமனுவாம் மதியாம் சந்த்ரன்
எத்தனமும் வைத்தகுபே ரன்ன கஸ்த்யன்
கொப்பான க்ரோதபட் டாரன் தூர்வன்
கோத்தமும் மூர்த்தியுருத் தத்தாத் ரேயன்
appāḍā mutaṟkurutā ṉīca ṉīcaṉ
ataṟkappāl māmāyaṉ vētaṉ vēḷē
oppāṉa kaṇapatiyē vēlōṉ tāṉē
uruvāṉa nantīcaṉ intiraṉ vāṉ
ippāri lēmanuvām matiyām cantiraṉ
ettaṉamum vaittakupē raṉṉa kastyaṉ
koppāṉa krōtapāṭ ṭāraṉ tūrvvaṉ
kōttamam mūrttiyurut tattāt rēyaṉ
“Ah! The first Guru is Īśa—Īśan (the Lord).
Beyond that: the Great Māyā-weaver (Māmāyan); the Knower of the Vedas (Vēdan); and the Spear-bearer (Vēḷ).
The peerless Gaṇapati; and Vēḷōn himself.
Nandīśan, who has taken form; Indra; and the Sky.
On this earth: Manu; and the Moon, Candra.
Kubera, who has stored up everything; and Agastya.
The formidable Krodha-bhaṭṭāran; and Dhruva.
Gautama; and Dattātreya, whose form is manifest.”
The verse strings together a chain of “first principles” and exemplary authorities—Śiva as the primal Guru, followed by other divine and ṛṣi figures—suggesting that what seekers call “guru” appears in many stations: as lordship (Īśa), as māyā and preservation (Māmāyan/Vishnu), as Vedic ordering or creation (Vēdan), as fierce grace and piercing knowledge (Vēḷ/Vēḷōn), as remover of obstacles (Gaṇapati), as disciplined service/vehicle-force (Nandīśa), as sovereignty of the senses and powers (Indra), as the vault of space (Sky), as human-law and mind-born order (Manu), as mind-luminosity (Candra), as stored potency/wealth (Kubera), as siddha-medical mastery (Agastya), as wrathful austerity (Krodha-bhaṭṭāran), as unmoving concentration (Dhruva), as ṛṣi-lineage purity (Gautama), and as the archetypal avadhūta-guru (Dattātreya). It reads like an invocation of a broad guru-paramparā—outer deities and inner yogic functions mirrored together—without collapsing them into a single, flat list.
1) “Mudarkuru” (first guru) as Īśa: In Siddhar discourse, Śiva is not merely a sectarian deity but the primordial consciousness that “initiates” all knowing. Calling Īśa the first guru frames all subsequent names as secondary expressions rather than rivals.
2) The sequence as layered functions of realization: Names such as Māmāyan (often read as Vishnu/Kṛṣṇa, “the great wielder of māyā”) and Vēdan (“Veda-knower,” often read toward Brahmā or Vedic intelligence) can be taken as cosmological functions—preservation/illusion and ordering/creation—i.e., stages through which the seeker discriminates appearance from reality.
3) Murugan/Vēḷ imagery: Vēḷ (“spear”) commonly points to a yogic ‘piercing’—cutting through knots (granthis), disease-causes, and ignorance. The doubled mention (Vēḷ and Vēḷōn) may emphasize both symbol (the spear) and the embodied force (the deity/principle).
4) Indra, Sky, Moon, Manu: These can be read as inner correspondences. Indra frequently stands for the senses and their rulership; “Sky” as the expanse/ākāśa element (space within and without); Candra as mind and its waxing/waning; Manu as mind-born law/order, or the human-pattern that must be purified.
5) Kubera and “stored-up” power: Kubera is explicitly tied to accumulation (“who has kept/placed everything”). Siddhar-alchemical contexts often treat “wealth” as ojas, retained essence, or the stabilized product of discipline—sometimes also hinting at transmutational “gold” (not only coin).
6) Agastya, Gautama, Dattātreya: These are ṛṣi/siddha authorities. Agastya strongly signals Siddha medicine, grammar, and southern siddha transmission; Gautama suggests Vedic-ṛṣi legitimacy; Dattātreya in many yogic lineages functions as the paradigmatic guru who teaches through nature and direct experience (avadhūta model).
7) Krodha-bhaṭṭāran and Dhruva: “Krodha” (wrath) in ascetic contexts can mean fierce tapas (not mere anger). Dhruva is the emblem of unwavering one-pointedness. Together they suggest that siddhi arises from disciplined intensity stabilized into immovability.
Overall, the verse can be read simultaneously as (a) an invocation/catalog of revered authorities and (b) a coded map where gods/ṛṣis name inner faculties, elements, and yogic virtues that must be integrated under the primacy of Śiva-as-Guru.