காரிரவில் வண்ணமெலாம் சிறைப்பட் டேகும்
காலையிலே வண்ணமெலாம் சிறப்புற் றோங்கும்
சேரிரவும் பகல்வரவும் விதியே கண்டீர்
தீமைநலன் யாவுமதன் செறிவே கண்டீர்
பாருடனே நீரெரிகால் வானைம் பூதப்
பண்புறுதன் மரத்திரையாம் பழமை காணார்
வேரறியார் வித்தறியார் விளைவாய் வந்து
விளையாடு மணுக்கள்நெறி மேவி னாரே
kaariravil vaNNamelaam siRaipad deegum
kaalaiyilE vaNNamelaam siRappuR ROngum
sEriravum pagalvaravum vidhiyE kaNdeer
theemainalan yaavumadhan seRivE kaNdeer
paarudanE neererikaal vaanaiM boothap
paNpuRudhan maraththiraiyaam pazhamai kaaNaar
vEraRiyaar viththaRiyaar viLaivaay vandhu
viLaiyaadu maNukkaLnEri mEvi naarE.
In the pitch-black night, all colours are taken and held captive.
In the morning, all colours rise up and flourish in excellence.
The joining of night and the coming of day—see, that is destiny.
All evil and good—see, that is its very condensation.
With earth, water, fire, air, and the sky: the qualities of the elements—
they do not see the ancient “tree-curtain / screen” that has become their nature.
They do not know the root; they do not know the seed;
coming as the fruit, they arrive and play—having adhered to the way/path of the ‘maṇu/maṇuḷ/particle(s)’.
When ignorance prevails (the “black night”), distinctions and subtle qualities are obscured as though imprisoned; when clarity arises (the “morning”), those same qualities appear bright and vivid.
The alternation and apparent interlocking of darkness and light is not random: it follows a compulsive order (vidhi—fate/necessity), and within that same order the polarities of “good” and “evil” crystallize as dense outcomes.
Most people remain confined to the five-element display—earth, water, fire, air, and space—unable to perceive the older, underlying screen/veil by which these elemental qualities are staged.
Not recognizing the causal root and the subtle seed, they identify only with the manifest result (the fruit) and continue to “play” in the realm of minute constituents—whether read as atoms of matter, the small jīvas, or the law-bound path of embodied existence.
1) Night/morning as epistemic states: The verse treats “dark night” and “morning” not merely as time-of-day but as conditions of perception. In darkness, colour (varṇa—also suggestive of “quality/classification”) cannot be discerned; in morning light, it becomes distinct. Siddhar texts often use this as a shorthand for avidyā (obscuration) versus jñāna (illumination).
2) Vidhi (destiny/necessity) and condensation into moral opposites: By saying night/day’s sequence is “vidhi,” the poet points to an impersonal order—time, karma, or cosmic regulation—within which experiences solidify. “Good and evil” are called its “seṟivu” (thickening/curdling/condensation): moral categories are treated as precipitates of a deeper process, not ultimate realities.
3) Five elements as the theatre of appearance: Earth, water, fire, air, and space constitute the standard Siddha framework for body, world, and medicine. The verse implies that people see only the elemental properties (heat, fluidity, solidity, motion, openness), but fail to see the more archaic ‘screen’ that makes the show possible—often read as māyā, tirai (veil), or the subtle conditioning that structures experience.
4) Root–seed–fruit causality and embodiment: “Root” and “seed” point to causal origins (karma, vāsanā, prāṇa-bindu dynamics, or subtle substance). “Fruit” is the manifest life/body and its outcomes. Not knowing root/seed means living only at the level of effects, mistaking the product for the cause.
5) ‘Maṇuḷ/maṇu’ path: The closing line remains cryptic on purpose. “Maṇuḷ” can suggest minute particles (atoms, subtle granules), which fits an alchemical-physical reading: embodied beings move within the granular play of elements. It can also be heard as “maṇu” (law/measure; or Manu as archetype of law), implying adherence to rule-bound worldly order. Either way, the ‘play’ is a samsaric līlā—activity mistaken for freedom until the underlying screen and causal seed are known.