Golden Lay Verses

Verse 103 (மணி வைப்பு)

தமிழ் பாடல்

கூட்டப்பா சரக்கினொடு மர்ம மூலி

கொழுவுக்குள் ளேகொழுவாக் கொழுத்த மூலி

வாட்டப்பா ஏமனையும் சயித்த மூலி

வளமப்பா நாரணானார் கண்ட மூலி

ஆட்டப்பா முந்நான்கு திங்கள் சாற்றை

ஆரம்ப தினம்வார்த்த ரஸத்தைச் சொல்வேன்

பூட்டப்பா பூர்ணலிங்கம் வடித்துக் கண்ட

புகழப்பா வாலைரஸப் பொக்கம் தானே

Transliteration

kūṭṭappā carakkiṉoṭu marma mūli

koḻuvukkuḷ ḷēkoḻuvāk koḻutta mūli

vāṭṭappā ēmaṉaiyum cayitta mūli

vaḷamappā nāraṇāṉār kaṇṭa mūli

āṭṭappā muṉnāṉku tiṅkaḷ cāṟṟai

ārampa tiṉamvārtta rasattaič colvēṉ

pūṭṭappā pūrṇaliṅkam vaṭittuk kaṇṭa

pukaḻappā vālairasap pokkam tāṉē.

Literal Translation

“Mix it, O father, together with the ingredients—(that) secret root (marmamūli).

Inside the kozhuvu, becoming ‘kozhuvu’ (itself), the root that grows thick/fat.

Withering (all else), O father—the root that even makes Yama (Death) lie defeated.

Abundant, O father—the root that Nārāyaṇa himself beheld/found.

For three–four months, O father, (take/keep) the extract/juice.

From the very first day, I will tell the strained ‘rasa’ (essence).

Sealing it, O father, (and) distilling, one sees the “pūrṇa-liṅga” (complete liṅga).

Praised, O father—this indeed is the treasure/packet of vāḷai-rasa.”

Interpretive Translation

Combine the (usual) alchemical/medicinal materials with a hidden “secret-root.” In the proper vessel or enclosure (kozhuvu), it thickens and “takes form.” This root is said to overcome Yama—i.e., it is a death-defeating medicine/elixir. It is a substance of divine pedigree, “seen by Nārāyaṇa.” Let its expressed juice mature for three to four months; from the beginning, the prepared/filtered essence (rasa) is to be spoken of (as the method). When the vessel is sealed and the essence is distilled/refined, a perfected product called “pūrṇa-liṅga” is obtained—celebrated as the precious store of “vāḷai-rasa.”

Philosophical Explanation

This verse reads as a rasavāda (Siddha alchemy) recipe spoken in the idiom of yogic attainment. On the surface it describes a process: (1) gathering “sarakku” (materials), (2) adding a “marmamūli” (a concealed root/secret catalyst), (3) heating or containing it in a “kozhuvu” (likely a controlled enclosure—often read as a crucible/furnace or a closed space), (4) allowing the “sāṟṟai” (juice/extract) to mature for “three–four months,” and (5) sealing and distilling until a finished form called “pūrṇa-liṅga” appears, praised as the “vāḷai-rasa” treasure.

Siddhar texts commonly let the laboratory and the body mirror each other. The “secret root” can be read simultaneously as (a) a literal botanical/mineral ingredient and (b) a metaphor for the hidden root-power in the body (marmam = secret/vital point; mūli = root), i.e., the concealed life-force that, when “contained” and “sealed,” thickens into stable potency (ojas/strength) and defeats “Yama” (mortality). “Sealing” (pūṭṭu) and “distilling” can indicate both a technical operation (closing a vessel for cooking/sublimation) and an inner discipline (closing leaks of sense and breath, concentrating and refining). “Pūrṇa-liṅga” then holds double force: a concrete alchemical end-product shaped/understood as a liṅga, and a symbol of perfected wholeness (pūrṇa) wherein life-force is stabilized and death is ‘made to lie down.’ The invocation of Nārāyaṇa functions as legitimization: the substance is not ordinary medicine but a divinely witnessed art, yet still guarded by cryptic naming.

Key Concepts

  • marmamūli (secret/root ingredient; also ‘vital-point root’)
  • sarakk(u) (materials/ingredients)
  • kozhuvu (enclosure: possible crucible/furnace/vessel/stall; also metaphorical ‘body-container’)
  • sāṟṟai (juice/extract/decoction)
  • rasa (essence; also alchemical elixir/mercurial tincture)
  • pūṭṭu (sealing/closing the vessel; also inner restraint)
  • vadiththal (filtering/straining; also distillation/refining)
  • pūrṇa-liṅga (the ‘complete liṅga’: perfected product/perfected state)
  • Yama (death personified; mortality)
  • Nārāyaṇa (divine witness/authority)
  • vāḷai-rasa (named preparation; ‘vāḷai’ uncertain: plantain/other coded term)

Ambiguities or Multiple Readings

  • “kozhuvu” can mean a stall/enclosure, but in Siddha-technical usage may point to a crucible/furnace/closed apparatus; the line may describe literal thickening in a vessel or metaphorical consolidation within the body.
  • “kozhuvukkul kozhuvāk kozhutta” is deliberately self-referential: it may mean ‘it becomes fat/thick inside (the container),’ or ‘it becomes stable/contained by containment,’ suggesting both laboratory coagulation and yogic stabilization.
  • “marmamūli” is unnamed: it may be a specific herb/root known to the lineage, or a coded reference to a secret catalyst (including mineral/metallic agents) or to an inner ‘root’ (vital-point power/kundalini).
  • “mun nānku tiṅgaḷ” can be read as ‘three–four months’ or ‘the first four months,’ changing whether it implies a variable maturation window or a fixed regimen.
  • “rasa” can be simple ‘juice/essence’ or technical ‘rasam’ (alchemical mercurial elixir); Siddhar diction often intends both at once.
  • “pūrṇa-liṅga” may be a physical distillate/residue (possibly shaped/recognized as a liṅga), a named medicine, or a symbolic marker for completed yogic/alchemical perfection.
  • “vāḷai-rasa” is cryptic: vāḷai could suggest plantain/banana, a coded ingredient-name, or a lineage term for a class of preparations; the verse does not disambiguate.