ஆத்திகந்தான் மறைந்திட்டா லவணி யுள்ளோர்
ஆணவத்தி னாலெதற்கு மஞ்சா ரஞ்சார்
ஆத்திரமாங் கொடுங்காமம் க்ரோதம் லோபம்
ஐயையோ கடுமோஹம் மதமாச் சர்யம்
தீத்திறமே வாழ்வெல்லாம் செயற்கை யாகும்
ஜெனனத்தை யுந்தடுக்கச் செப்பும் கப்பும்
சூத்திரந்தான் கலியாட்டும் பொம்ம லாட்டச்
சூக்கமதைக் கண்டுமுறு வலிப்பார் சித்தர்
Aaththikanthaan maraindhittaa lavaNi yuLLoor
aaNavaththi naaledhaRku manjja ranjaar
aaththiramaang kodungkaamam kroodham loobam
aiyaiyoo kadumooHam madamaas charyam
theeththiRamae vaazhvellellaam seyaRkai yaagum
jenanaththai yundadukkach seppum kappum
sooththiranthaan kaliyaattum pomma laattach
sookkamadhaik kaNdumuRu valippaar siththar.
If the ‘āttikan’ (theistic faith / the one who is āstika) disappears, the people who live upon the earth—through sheer āṇavam (ego, arrogance)—will not shrink back in fear from anything. Fierce, cruel lust (kāma), anger (krodha), greed (lobha)—alas—hard delusion (moha), intoxication/pride (mada), and jealousy/envy (mātsarya) [arise]. In a corrupted manner, all of life becomes something fabricated/contrived. And to “block birth” (jenanam), there will be ‘seppu’ and ‘kappu’ (copper and coverings / speech and concealment). The ‘sūtram’ (thread / sutra) makes Kali dance the puppet-dance; the Siddhars, seeing that subtlety, will suffer acute pain/anguish.
When genuine spiritual grounding is eclipsed, worldly people become shamelessly bold through ego. The inner enemies—lust, anger, greed, delusion, pride, and envy—take charge, turning life into an artificial performance rather than a dharmic living. In such an age, people even claim they can obstruct ‘birth’—whether bodily generation or repeated rebirth—through external contrivances (metallic devices/medicines, protective ‘covers,’ or merely talk-and-coverup). Kali operates through a ‘thread’—the subtle mechanism of māyā, habit, and karmic scripting—making humans behave like puppets. The Siddhars, who perceive these subtle strings, are pained: either in compassionate grief at the world’s condition or in the intense bodily strain that accompanies subtle vision.
The verse is a Kali-yuga diagnosis framed in classic Siddhar/Śaiva psychological language.
1) Loss of āstikatva (spiritual assent): “Āttikan” can be heard as (a) faith in the Divine/Reality, or (b) the presence of the ‘āstika person/principle.’ When that disappears, the ordinary checks on conduct weaken.
2) Āṇavam as the root distortion: In Siddhar-Śaiva thought, āṇavam is not mere pride; it is the constricting “I-ness” that blocks direct knowing. From it, the six inner enemies (kāma, krodha, lobha, moha, mada, mātsarya) proliferate. The list here functions as a diagnostic inventory of consciousness under Kali.
3) ‘Life becomes artificial’: The term “seyarkkai” (artificial/constructed) suggests a life lived as display, technique, or manipulation—ethics replaced by strategy, inner transformation replaced by external management.
4) ‘Stopping birth’ and the critique of externals: “Jenanam thadukka” holds deliberate ambiguity—physical birth (control of generation/sexual outcome) and metaphysical birth (ending saṃsāric rebirth). Siddhars often insist that true ‘birth-stoppage’ is through inner realization (cutting the causal knot), not through mere outer devices, alchemical tinkering, or rhetorical claims.
5) Puppet-thread metaphor: “Sūtram” can mean a literal thread (as in a puppet show) and also a doctrinal ‘sutra’ (a rule/text). The verse exploits this double sense: Kali’s age runs on subtle strings—social scripts, compulsions, karmic grooves, and even misused doctrines—so people ‘dance’ without autonomy.
6) The Siddhar’s pain: “Muru valippār” can indicate (a) compassionate anguish at seeing beings trapped in māyā, and/or (b) the intense, sometimes convulsive strain of perceiving the sūkṣma (subtle) workings of prāṇa, karma, and mind. Siddhar speech often keeps both the ethical and yogic registers simultaneously active.
Overall, the verse warns that without inner anchoring, the age’s forces convert humans into performative puppets; and it affirms that the Siddhar’s subtle seeing is not merely knowledge but a burdened, bodily-and-moral sensitivity to the hidden mechanics of bondage.