உரகத்தான் மேல்நடன மாடிப் பாடி
உயர்குடியான் உலகத்தி னுடனூ டாடி
விரகத்தான் வில்விஜயன் தேரை யோட்டி
வெற்றியெட்டுத் திக்குமெட்டக் கொடியை நாட்டி
காகத்தான் ஊமத்தான் வேரைத் தூக்கி
கரையத்தான் உதகத்தான் உறையப் போட்டு
பாகத்தான் உத்தாணிப் பூண்டைப் பற்றிப்
பகரத்தரன் களிப்பித்தான் பதுமங் கூட்டே
urakaththaan mēlnadan maaḍip paaḍi
uyarkuḍiyān ulagaththi nuḍanū ṭaaḍi
virakaththaan vilvijayan thērai yōṭṭi
veṟṟiyeṭṭuth thikkumeṭṭak koḍiyai nāṭṭi
kākaththaan ūmaththaan vērath thūkki
karaiyaththaan uthakaththaan uṟaiyap pōṭṭu
pākaththaan uththāṇip pūṇḍaip paṟṟip
pakaraththaran kaḷippiththān pathumaṅ kūṭṭē.
Dancing and singing the upper dance upon the serpent;
The high-born one danced, moving in and through the world;
The crafty/skillful one drove the chariot of the Bow‑Victor (Arjuna);
Planting the flag/creeper of victory so that it reached (or filled) the eight directions;
The crow‑one lifted up the root of ūmattāṉ (datura);
The shore‑one put it to rest/soak in water;
The portion/side‑one took hold of uttāṇi and garlic;
And the one who speaks/declares made (them) rejoice—the “padumam” compound-mixture.
In the first movement the text evokes a Krishna-like figure: the dancer who subdues the serpent, permeates the world, and guides the warrior’s chariot—an image of the inner intelligence mastering poison, steering the embodied mind, and establishing victory in every “direction” (all fields of perception).
In the second movement it turns deliberately technical: roots and herbs are named and handled—datura root is lifted, processed in water, and combined with uttāṇi and garlic—suggesting an encoded Siddhar preparation (a “padumam-kūṭṭu,” a lotus/Padumam compound) in which something dangerous (a poison-plant) is transformed by correct procedure into a controlled medicine, mirroring the yogic transmutation of toxic forces into usable power.
This verse is characteristic of Siddhar double-speech: it reads as purāṇic myth and as a manual.
1) Mythic/yogic register: “Dancing on the serpent” can be read as mastery over nāga/viṣa (serpent/poison), and in a yogic idiom as the disciplining and raising of coiled energy (kuṇḍalinī), or the overcoming of instinctual fear and toxicity. “Driving Arjuna’s chariot” is the classical metaphor for the inner guide governing the body-mind vehicle in the battlefield of life. “Victory in eight directions” suggests comprehensive conquest: not only worldly triumph but the sealing of all avenues of sensory scattering (the ‘directions’ of attention), or the attainment/command of a complete field (sometimes echoing the eight siddhis, or eightfold mastery).
2) Medical/alchemical register: The naming of ūmattāṉ (datura) immediately signals controlled toxicity—Siddhar medicine often employs poisonous substances, but only after purification, measured dose, and appropriate mediums. “Putting to rest/soak in water” points to śodhana-like handling (washing, soaking, leaching, calming the heat), a basic alchemical logic: reduce harm, extract virtue. The pairing with garlic (pūṇṭu) is medically plausible in Siddhar contexts as a heating, penetrating adjunct that ‘carries’ or ‘opens’ (while also complicating the toxicity theme). “Uttāṇi” is likely another herb, but the verse keeps it partly cryptic; its function may be to balance, bind, or direct the preparation. The final phrase “padumam-kūṭṭu” can be heard as a named compound (a specific formulation) and simultaneously as ‘lotus-mixture’: the lotus conventionally implies the heart-center or the blossoming of refined essence.
Thus the philosophical core is transmutation: what is serpent/poison becomes dance/medicine; what is battlefield becomes guided movement; what disperses into eight directions becomes gathered and mastered. The same logic links yoga (inner conquest) with rasa/vaidhya practice (outer processing of substances).