THE FREEDOM OF THE UPLIFTED SOUL.
1)
Hail! Being, Source to me of all life’s joys! ‘Tis dawn;
upon Thy flower-like feet twin wreaths of blooms we lay,
And worship, ‘neath the beauteous smile of grace benign
that from Thy sacred face beams on us. Civa-Lord,
Who dwell’st in Perun-turrai girt with cool rice-fields,
where ‘mid the fertile soil th’ expanding lotus blooms!
Thou on Whose lifted banner is the Bull! Master!
Our mighty Lord! FROM OFF THY COUCH IN GRACE ARISE! || 4 ||
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The image of the god is laid upon a couch each evening, and taken up in the morning. This reveille is the first business of the day. This was composed in Perun-turrai, ‘the great harbour,’ where the poet went to buy horses for his King, and was made a disciple. The bull is Civan’s emblem. He rides on a white bull. It is also on his banner. The bull-headed Nandi, whose image is everywhere in South India, is his Lord High Chamberlain.
—-
2)
The sun has neared the eastern bound; darkness departs;
dawn broadens out; and, like that sun, the tenderness
Of Thy blest face’s flower uprising shines; and so,
while bourgeons forth the fragrant flower of Thine eyes’ beam,
Round the King’s dwelling fair hum myriad swarms of bees.
See, Civa-Lord, in Perun-turrai’s hallowed shrine Who dwell’st!
Mountain of bliss, treasures of grace Who com’st to yield!
O surging Sea! FROM OFF THY COUCH IN GRACE ARISE! || 8 ||
3)
The tender Kuyil’s note is heard; the cocks have crowed;
the little birds sing out; sound loud the tuneful shells;
Starlights have paled; day’s lights upon the eastern hill
are mustering. In favouring love O show to us
Thy twin feet, anklet-decked, divinely bright;-
Civa-Lord, in Perun-turrai’s hallowed shrine Who dwell’st!
Thee all find hard to know; easy to us Thine own!
Our mighty Lord! FROM OFF THY COUCH IN GRACE ARISE! || 12 ||
4)
There stand the players on the sweet-voiced lute and lyre;
there those that utter praises with the Vedic chaunt;
There those whose hands bear wreaths of flowers entwined;
there those that bend, that weep, in ecstasy that faint;
There those that clasp above their heads adoring hands;-
Civa-Lord, in Perun-turrai’s hallowed shrine Who dwell’st!
Me too make Thou Thine own, on me sweet grace bestow!
Our mighty Lord! FROM OFF THY COUCH IN GRACE ARISE! || 16 ||
5)
‘Thou dwell’st in all the elements,’ ’tis said; and yet
‘Thou goest not, nor com’st;’ the sages thus have sung
Their rhythmic songs. Though neither have we heard nor learnt
of those that Thee by seeing of the eye have known.
Thou King of Perun-turrai, girt with cool rice-fields,
to ponder Thee is hard to human thought. To us
In presence come! Cut off our ills! In mercy make us Thine!
Our mighty Lord! FROM OFF THY COUCH IN GRACE ARISE! || 20 ||
6)
Thy saints, who sinless in Thy home abide and know,
have come, their bonds cast off; and now, a mighty host,
With beauteous garlands decked, and clothed in human shape,
they all adore Thee, Bridegroom of the Goddess dread!
Civa-Lord, Who dwell’st in Perun-turrai’s hallow’d shrine,
girt with cool rice-fields, where th’ empurpled lotus blooms!
Cut off this ‘birth’, make us Thine own, bestow Thy grace!
Our mighty Lord! FROM OFF THY COUCH IN GRACE ARISE! || 24 ||
7)
‘The flavour of the fruit is that;’ ‘ambrosia that;’
‘that’s hard;’ ‘this easy:’ thus Immortals too know not!
‘This is His sacred form; this is Himself:’ that we
may say and know, make us Thine own; in grace arise!
In Uttara-koca-mangai’s’ sweet perfumed groves
Thou dwell’st! O King of Perun-turrai’s hallowed shrine!
What service Thou demandest, Lo! we willing pay.
Our mighty Lord! FROM OFF THY COUCH IN GRACE ARISE! || 28 ||
8)
Before all being First, the Midst, the Last art Thou.
The Three know not Thy nature: how should others know?
Thou, with Thy tender Spouse, Thy servants’ lowly huts
in grace didst visit, entering each, Supernal One!
Like ruddy fire Thou once didst show Thy sacred form;
didst show me Perun-turrai’s temple, where Thou dwell’st;
As Anthanan didst Thyself, and make me Thine.
Ambrosia rare! FROM OFF THY COUCH IN GRACE ARISE! || 32 ||
9)
The gods in heaven who dwell may not approach Thy seatt!
O Being worthiest! Yet us who at Thy foot.
Pay homage, Thou to earth descending, madest blest.
Dweller in fertile Perun-turrai’s shrine! our eyes
Beheld Thee; honied sweetness made our being glad.
Ambrosia of the sea! Sweetest of sweets! Thou art
Within Thy longing servants’ thought! -Soul of this world!-
Our mighty Lord! FROM OFF THY COUCH IN GRACE ARISE! || 36 ||
10)
Said sacred Mal and flower-born Ayan as they gazed
on Civan’s form, ‘This day in vain we spend and cry.
‘Tis time we went to earth and there were born. ‘Tis earth,
’tis earth alone where Civan’s grace is wont to save.’
Thou King, Who dwell’st in Perun-turrai’s hallow’d shrine,
mighty Thou wert to enter earth, and make us Thine!
Thou and the Grace, that flower-like blooms from forth Thy form,
Ambrosia rare! FROM OFF THY COUCH IN GRACE ARISE! || 40 ||