Guhai Namasivaya's Poems - (53)

[Subramanian.R]

Thir Arunai Thani Venba:  continues.....

1. O Arunachala!  Is it not adequate that we get less handpound
rice, (due to famine).  Are we to get even less than fifty betel
leaves, for half a paisa?

2. O Arunachala!  There are towns where there are sinners;
where there are fellows who do not pay heed to good words.
where there are good young men, who cry on ill treatment
meted out to them.  But these towns will die away.  Annamalai
will ever live in all its glory without annihilation.

( I am not very sure about this translation, since there are
some difficult words.  I shall check up with others and if there
are corrections, I shall let the readers know.)

3. O Arunachala!  I need a thousand eyes, to place garlands
to you, to write poems on you everyday.  To chant these
poems everyday in your temple.  And to see your great form,
daily, give these thousand eyes to this lowly dog.

4.  O Arunachala, my five senses are always crying, give me,
give me.  I am not able to control them with my mind.  Unless
I destroy my mind, my senses will not die.  Please favour me.

to be continued.....

Arunachala Siva.     

[sonagiri]

The verse you were not sure about (455 in the original) was probably sung when Guhai Namasivaya cursed the weaving community of Tiruvannamalai after one of its members had played a trick on him. The traditional story is that Guhai Namasivaya was about to demand the destruction of Tiruvannmalai itself in the final line, but relented at the last minute and changed the words to the ones in the following translation:

This is a town in which kolar live.
This is a town where no one asks questions when murders are committed.
This is a town in which young men stand alone and cry out in pain.
This is a town that every day is worthy of criticism.
This is a town where people who have committed heinous crimes live.
This is Annamalai, which itself never suffers destruction.

The word ‘kolar’ has three possible meanings: (a) people  born to widows  (b) gossip mongers, and (c) weavers. The third meaning is a contraction of kaikolar, a common term for weavers.

[Subramanian.R]

Dear sri sonagiri,

Yes.  You must be correct.  There are two names for weavers,
Kai Kolar [who works with hands in the weaving machine] and
Kaal Aadi [one who moves the legs always, again on the pedals of weaving machine.].

Thank you,

Arunachala Siva.