06 Thirumālai : Thoṇḍaraḍippoḍi Azhvar (872-916)

  1. You, the ancient one, swallowed the three worlds and spit them out. We do not like the feeling that come from the enjoyment of our five senses and we do not sin anymore. The messengers of Yama cannot hurt us now. We are brave because we have learned your names and recite them, O god of Srirangam.

  2. Your body is like a beautiful green hill, your lotus eyes are handsome and your mouth is red as coral. O father, bull among the gods and tender child of the cowherds, I want only to praise you with these words. I do not want anything even if it were the gift of ruling Indra’s world, O god of Srirangam.

  3. Even if a man lives for hundred years, half of those years he spends resting. Many he spends as an innocent child and as a youth and the rest he spends suffering sickness, hunger, old age and other ills. I do not want to be born any more in this world, O god of Srirangam.

  4. When Kstrabandu suffered from bad karma, he worshipped the god, recited the three syllables of the word “Govinda” and received moksha but even though I continually worship Rangan, the crazy god who gave his grace to devotees like Ksatrabandu, he has not taken away my births.

  5. If people enjoy the pleasures of women they will fall into many troubles. They will get sick and suffer, unable to eat night and day. Why do those base ones not become the devotees of the god whose chest is adorned with cool thulasi garlands, singing and dancing his praise? They only enjoy the food they eat and do not realize that worshiping the god is like drinking nectar.

  6. You build tall walls for your palaces that have long porches and enjoy living in them and you do not think at all of your next birth. You do not become a devotee of the god Rangan whose walls are dharma. You decorate the exterior wall that is your body and live inside it as if you were a bird concerned with nothing else.

  7. If people learn the good religious books, how can they hear, see and learn about the dharma of the mean religions, Buddhism and Jainism? If I think of any other god, I promise that even if someone cuts off my head I will not die because I am a devotee of the god. The only god of gods destroyed Lanka with his bow.

  8. O god of Srirangam, the bald-headed Jains, Buddhists and the Sakyas hate our religion and say terrible things about you. It is better if they get sick and die rather than living. When I hear their evil speech, it hurts me. If I could, I would cut off their heads.

  9. O ignorant men! Is there any other god? You will not understand that he is the only god unless you are in trouble. You should know one thing for sure: there is no god except him. Worship the ankleted feet of our father who grazed the calves.

  10. He created all the gods by his good grace and showed Srirangam as the path to those wishing to be released from their births. O Nambis, listen. The god riding the eagle is here, but you look only for the wealth that is achieved by bad deeds.

  11. Our god, the protector of the world, built a bridge on the large ocean, shooting one arrow, and he fought with the king of the Rakshasas in Lanka. You do not think of the beautiful temple in Srirangam surrounded by forts, and so you do not have good luck in this birth but waste your life.

  12. Once some people heard Yama and Muthkalan talking together in hell and thought that hell is heaven. They forgot that the place of the many-named dear god Nambi is Srirangam and they did not worship the god there. They plunged into sorrow and I am worried that they will have trouble in their lives.

  13. All the creatures of this wide earth surrounded by oceans with rolling waves worship the king of the gods in the sky adorned with a fragrant blooming thulasi garland. If ignorant people praise Srirangam, all the hells that have been created for them because of their enjoyment of the senses will be destroyed and disappear.

  14. Beautiful Srirangam is surrounded with groves where bunches of bees swarm around flowers, peacocks dance, clouds float above in the sky and cuckoos sing. Indra the king of the gods comes and stays there. Such is lovely Srirangam. You should take the food that the evil people eat who do not praise Srirangam filled with beautiful groves and give it to the dogs.

  15. The king of the gods with an eagle flag is true for people if they think he is true and he is false if they think he is not true. If someone thinks he can escape birth only by worshiping the god, his doubts about the god will go away and he will understand that Srirangam is the Thirupadi of the beautiful god.

  16. I was a gambler and a thief. I consorted with bad people and was caught in the love-nets of fish-eyed women. But the beautiful god said, “Come out!” and entered my mind and made me love him. Srirangam is the Thirupadi of the beautiful god who made me love him.

  17. I don’t know how to praise you with my tongue and I don’t have the good luck of knowing how to love you or a good mind that knows how to glorify you. My strong iron-like heart melted to see the sweet sugarcane-like god of the wonderful temple in Srirangam surrounded with groves swarming with bees. How my eyes were delighted when I saw him!

  18. My lotus-eyed god rules the world, resting on the ocean where waves break on the banks and spray drops of water with foam. My eyes that saw Kaṇṇan with a red mouth as soft as a fruit shed tears. What can I, a sinner, do?

  19. My father, the blue ocean-colored lord, rests on the snake bed, and as he rests his head is on the west side, his feet are extended toward the east, his back is turned toward the north and he looks toward Lanka in the south. When I look at him as he rests my body melts. O people of the world, what can I do?

  20. The Māyanār who rests on a snake bed in Srirangam where the water of the Kaviri flows over its banks, has a beautiful divine chest, strong arms, pure lotus eyes, lovely coral lips and shining hair and his body has the color of an emerald. How could his devotees forget his beautiful form?

  21. O heart, you are humble and you want me to make my mind one with Rangan, whose mouth is red as coral. You are strong and tell me that I should always think of the god, beautiful as a jewel, resting in the mountain-like temple of beautiful, precious gold. Tell me how can I approach him?

  22. O heart, you may speak of him but you cannot really know his greatness. No one can know him unless they are faultless. We can only worship him who stays in the hearts of his faultless devotees. O ignorant heart, can you speak of him? Tell me.

  23. Srirangam is in the middle of the Kaveri river which is purer than the Ganges. and its water rises and spreads through blooming groves. Our dear Thirumāl, our Esan, rests there on the river. How can I live forgetting him after seeing him resting on the water of the Kaveri? I am to be pitied, I am to be pitied.

  24. I see his beautiful lotus face and I see how that thief who stole my heart rests on the Kaveri in Srirangam surrounded by a rising flood of water and flourishing with groves. O my heart, you are brave. You know he is the one you really love, but you love him secretly and spend your days without telling anyone.

  25. I have not lived the life of an orthodox Vediyan bathing and making sacrifices with three fires. I do not understand myself and I am not a devotee in your eyes. What is there for me to be happy about? O Nambi colored blue like the ocean, I cry out for you. Show pity on me and give me your grace, lord of Srirangam!

  26. I don’t worship your golden feet, decorating them constantly with flowers. Even though I have much time, I don’t praise your divine qualities with faultless words. My heart doesn’t know how to love you. O Ranga, I don’t have the fortune of being your devotee. What can I do? I was born in vain.

  27. I am like the innocent squirrel that went to Rāma for refuge after rolling and immersing itself in the wave-filled water as it tried to help the monkeys when they took mountains to build the bridge for Rāma to go to Lanka. My heart is as hard as wood and I am a bad person. I have not served the lord of Srirangam with my mind and am tired and wretched.

  28. Even the gods in the sky do not understand the radiant lord who came to protect the elephant Gajendra and grew angry at the crocodile that ate red meat. Am I fit for him to come to me? I am mean, like a dog and I have not served him. What can I do? I was born in vain.

  29. I don’t belong to a village or own any land. I have no relatives. I worship the feet of you, the highest one, on this earth and know no other refuge, O you with the bright color of the dark clouds. O Kaṇṇa! I cry out for you. Whom do I have without you as my support? Come and remove my sorrow, you who are my mother, lord of Srirangam.

  30. I don’t have a pure mind and no good words come from my mouth. I get very angry, shout and say bad things. You are adorned with fresh thulasi garlands, lord of Srirangam, surrounded by the Ponni river. Tell me, what will happen to me, O my king.

  31. O lord of Srirangam, I have not done tapas like the sages, I am not wealthy, and I am as useless as salty water for my friends and relatives. I fell for women whose mouths are like coral and became like dust when I didn’t have money. You gave me this birth only to make me suffer.

  32. O Kaṇṇan with a body as dark as a thick cloud, lord of beautiful Srirangam where bees sing and swarm in the groves, I don’t know even one path to take to see you. I am a thief, I am violent, stupid and rough. I come to you. You are my refuge.

  33. I stopped telling the truth and fell into the passion of women with long hair. I told only lies and now I have no refuge. I, a liar, come and stand before you, O lord, Ranga, hoping that you will give me your grace. I am a liar, a liar.

905 Thirumāl abides in my mind but I am unable to understand that he is there. I am a thief disguised as a devotee doing service. When I realized that you are in the minds of those who think of you and you know what they think, I was ashamed and laughed so hard that it seemed the bones in my chest would break.

  1. O my father who measured all the world with your feet, I, a sinner, will not worship anyone but you, the lovely-eyed Thirumāl, my soul, my nectar, my father, as dear to me as my life. I am a sinner, truly I am a sinner.

  2. When you were young you carried Govardhana mountain to stop the storming rain, O you who are like a sweet river. I suffer, caught in the net of doe-eyes women— why don’t you look at me and give me your grace? I have no one but you. I call you, O ancient one, god of Srirangam.

  3. The bright lord is my father and mother, the god of Srirangam surrounded by the clear water of the Kaviri. I am a poor person. My dear lord doesn’t show me even a little compassion, he doesn’t think, “He is pitiful, I should help him.” What is this, O lord, Isn’t this a terrible thing to do?

  4. You, lord of Srirangam surrounded by water, are happy with devotees if they abandon their wealth, understand divine truth, know what will they be in the future, control their five senses, shave their heads and stay at your doorstep, living a quiet life.

  5. O lord of Srirangam whose hair is decorated with a thulasi garland, no one has to be born in a good family to become your slave. Even if someone is born like a dog and doesn’t belong to the families of Vediyars, if he worships your feet ornamented with sounding anklets, it seems you will be happy with him,

  6. O lord of Srirangam with beautiful Lakshmi on your chest, even if hunters kill animals cruelly, burn and eat them, if they think of you in their minds and keep you there with love, worshiping you, their bad karma will disappear and they will not suffer.

  7. Even bad people who do evil things and make others do evil deeds, if they praise you saying, “You are the god of the sky. Even the gods in the sky do not understand you who are adorned with a thulasi garland that swarms with bees,” and if they become your slaves and offer food to your devotees, they will become pure.

  8. Lord of Srirangam surrounded with walls, you give your grace to all who worship you, and you tell them, “Even if you belong to a low caste, you should recite the Vedas, follow a faultless way of life and become my devotee, mingling with other devotees, worshiping them, giving them whatever they need and sharing your things with them.” Isn’t that the way you give grace to poor people and make them worship you as your good devotees?

  9. O lord of beautiful Srirangam, if even Vediyars of the highest caste who recite the six divine Upanishads and the four Vedas disgrace your devotees, they will become Pulaiyars in a moment.

  10. Shiva with the Ganges in his matted hair and Nanmuhan who did tapas for countless ages could not see you and felt ashamed. You came and gave your grace to the elephant Ganjendra, amazing the gods in the sky. Why do people think of you as their refuge and hope you will remove their suffering when you do not show your grace to all like me?

  11. Thoṇḍaraḍippoḍi, the pious devotee praised Kaṇṇan, Thirumāl, the god of Srirangam who killed the strong well-fed elephant in flourishing Madurai that has beautiful palaces decorated with coral. If devotees recite his simple pāsurams they will become his sweet devotees.