குப்பையிலே பூத்திருப்பாள் மின்மி னுக்கிக்
கோலத்தே பொன்மேனி கொண்டு நிற்பாள்
தர்ப்பையிலே சிவப்பான தழலைப் போல்வாள்
தனக்குள்ளே சர்ப்பந்தான் சரண்புக் காடும்
அர்ப்பையடா சகவாசம் அணைந்து தொட்டால்
அனைத்தையுமே யரித்திடுவாள் சலித்துக் கொள்வாள்
கர்ப்பையிலே தான்பிரித்துக் கண்ணி வைத்தே
கணவாதம் செய்திட்டார் சித்தர் பல்லோர்
kuppaiyilE pooththiruppaaL minmi nukkik
kOlaththE ponmEni koNdu niRpaaL
dharppaiyilE sivappAna thazhalaip pOlvaaL
thanakkuLLE sarppanthaan saraNbuk kaaDum
arppaiyaDaa sagavaasam aNainthu thottaal
anaiththaiyumE yariththiDuvvaaL saliththuk koLvaaL
karppaiyilE thaanpiriththuk kaNNi vaiththE
kaNavaatham seythittaar siththar pallOr.
“She has bloomed in the garbage, flashing like lightning;
In a graceful form she stands with a golden body.
In the darbha-grass she is like a red flame;
Within herself the serpent reveals a place of refuge.
O yoni—if one comes near and touches in intimate companionship,
She will cut away everything; she will become sated / she will turn weary.
In the womb she separates herself and, placing a snare,
Many Siddhars have performed ‘kaṇavātam’.”
A radiant power—shining though located amid what is considered impure—stands “golden” and potent. It appears as a red inner-fire within a grass-like covering, and is said to house (or signal) the serpent-force’s shelter. If approached merely through lustful cohabitation and physical touch, it “cuts away everything,” i.e., it drains and binds, leaving exhaustion and disenchantment. In the womb it becomes a snare: through division and implantation it traps the life into embodied continuity. Yet Siddhars also claim a method (“kaṇavātam”) by which this same principle can be worked with—whether as sexual-yogic transformation or as an alchemical operation—so that bondage becomes a means toward attainment.
This verse uses the Siddhar habit of speaking on two registers at once: (1) the body’s secret physiology (sex, conception, and the serpent-power), and (2) an esoteric “work” (vātam/vādam) that can turn a dangerous force into medicine and realization.
1) “Blooming in garbage” (குப்பை): On the literal bodily level, the yoni/mūla region is physically adjacent to excretory functions—socially labeled “impure.” Siddhar/Tantric diction often highlights the paradox that the most luminous śakti is seated precisely where ordinary disgust and shame arise. The “lightning” and “golden body” mark its dazzling potency (kānti/tejas) when seen with yogic sight rather than social conditioning.
2) “Red flame in darbha grass”: Darbha is a ritual grass used around sacrificial fire; here it can double as (a) the hair/covering around the genital region, and/or (b) the sacrificial setting where inner heat is kindled. The “red flame” can point to sexual heat, menstrual blood, or the fiery aspect of śakti (tapas/agni) at the base.
3) “Within herself the serpent shows refuge”: The “serpent” naturally evokes kuṇḍalinī—coiled power seated at the base (mūlādhāra), whose “refuge” is there. But the line is kept cryptic: it can also suggest that the very site of generation is where the coiled force hides and from which it can be awakened.
4) Warning about touch and “cutting away”: “Approach in cohabitation and touch” frames ordinary lust (kāma) and genital contact as spiritually costly. “She will cut everything” can mean the depletion of ojas/virya (life-sap), the cutting down of clarity and resolve, and/or the way desire severs discernment. “She will become sated / weary” can be read as: the act ends in satiation and fatigue, or the mind turns disenchanted after the drain.
5) “Womb… placing a snare”: The womb becomes the trap of saṃsāra. Through division (cell-splitting/embryonic differentiation) the embodied chain begins; thus the “snare” is not moral condemnation of womanhood, but a metaphysical warning: craving pulls consciousness into repeated birth.
6) “Many Siddhars performed kaṇavātam”: This closing line prevents a purely ascetic reading. Siddhars often warn against indulgence while simultaneously hinting at a controlled, initiatic method that converts sexual or generative forces into siddhi—either as (a) a yogic/tantric discipline of transmutation (raising the serpent-force rather than spilling it), or (b) an alchemical procedure personified as “she” (a substance like rasa/mercury or a śakti-principle) that, if mishandled, ‘devours’ but, if mastered, yields attainment. The verse intentionally keeps both doors open.