Golden Lay Verses

Verse 294 (மந்திர வைப்பு)

தமிழ் பாடல்

சித்தியடா சித்தினியாள் சித்த வாரிச்

சிப்பியி'ேலி முத்தமடா முத்தித் தாயார்

பித்தியடா பித்தமெலாம் போக்கும் பேயாள்

பித்தனெனைப் பித்தாக்கிச் சித்த னாக்கி

மத்தியடா மதனப்பூக் கனிந்து கொஞ்சும்

மத்தனுடன் விளையாடும் வாலைப் பெண்தான்

சக்தியடா பத்தினியாள் சர்வ லோகத்

தாசியடா வேசியடா வாசிக் கண்ணாள்

Transliteration

siddhiyaḍā siddiniyāḷ siddha vāric

sippiyi'ēli muttamaḍā muttit tāyār

pittiyaḍā pittamelām pōkkum pēyāḷ

pittaneṉaip pittākkic siddha ṉākki

mattiyaḍā mataṉappū'k kaṉintu koñcum

mattanuḍaṉ viḷaiyāḍum vālaip peṇtāṉ

saktiyaḍā pattiniyāḷ sarva lōkat

tāciyaḍā vēciyaḍā vācik kaṇṇāḷ

Literal Translation

She is siddhi indeed—she, the siddhini woman, the heir of the Siddhas.

She is the pearl within the shell indeed—the mother of liberation.

She is frenzy indeed—a demoness who removes all pitta.

She makes me (the madman) mad, and makes me into a Siddha.

She is the “middle” indeed—where the flower of Madana (Cupid) ripens and coos/caresses.

That tender maiden—who plays with Mattan.

She is Shakti indeed—the chaste wife, servant of all the worlds.

A maidservant indeed, a courtesan indeed—the girl whose eyes ‘read/speak’.

Interpretive Translation

This verse praises a single feminine power that appears in contradictory forms: as siddhi itself, as the secret “pearl” hidden in the body-shell, and as the mother who grants moksha. She is called a fierce, even “demonic” force because she overwhelms ordinary mind and also “cures” inner heat and disturbance (pitta). By intensifying the speaker’s madness—divine intoxication, not mere pathology—she transforms him into a Siddha.

In the “middle” (the inner center), desire (the flower of Madana) is brought to maturity and made to ‘coo’—suggesting erotic energy refined rather than suppressed. She plays with the ‘Mad One’ (possibly Śiva, possibly the yogin), indicating the union of Śakti with the ascetic-mad principle. Finally, she is named both patnī (chaste wife) and dāsi/veśyā (servant/courtesan): a deliberate paradox pointing to a non-dual power that cannot be confined by social or moral categories, and whose “speaking/reading eyes” signify direct, wordless transmission and attraction-control.

Philosophical Explanation

1) One power with many masks (non-dual Śakti): The repeated “-aḍā” assertions stack identities—siddhi, mother of moksha, demoness, chaste wife, courtesan—so that opposites collapse into a single principle. This is a common Siddhar strategy: the ultimate is not cleanly “pure,” “impure,” “domestic,” or “transgressive,” but the ground that includes them.

2) Yogic interiorization (the ‘shell’ and the ‘middle’): “Pearl in the shell” can be read as essence hidden within the bodily enclosure—bindu/ojas/amṛta-like imagery—or as the subtle jewel within nāḍīs. “Middle” suggests the central channel (suṣumṇā) or the inner median locus where transformation occurs.

3) Medical (Siddha/Āyurvedic) coding: “Pittam” literally means bile/heat; it also shades into agitation, sharpness, and mental disturbance. Calling her the one who “removes all pitta” frames her as a regulator of inner heat (tāpas) and imbalance. Yet she is also “pitti” (frenzy): she both produces the necessary yogic ‘heat/madness’ and cures the destructive excess—another deliberate paradox.

4) Alchemical/rasāyana undertone: Pearl imagery often signals distilled essence; the shell may be the gross body or a vessel. The movement from desire-flower to ripened sweetness suggests a ‘cooking’ (pāka) process—sexual/affective energies matured into siddhi and liberation.

5) Madana’s flower (desire transmutation): Rather than rejecting kāma, the verse hints at ripening it—turning passion into a refined force that can lead to siddhi/mukti when placed in the ‘middle’ and united with the ascetic-mad principle (Mattan).

Key Concepts

  • Śakti as the ultimate transformative power
  • Siddhi (attainments) and mukti (liberation) held together
  • Pearl-in-shell imagery (hidden essence within the bodily vessel)
  • Pittam (bile/heat) as both physiological and psychological disturbance
  • Divine madness (pittu) as a sign of possession/awakening
  • The ‘middle’ (madhya) as inner yogic center/central channel
  • Madana (Cupid) flower as erotic energy and desire
  • Paradox of patnī (chaste wife) and veśyā/dāsi (courtesan/servant)
  • Wordless transmission through the ‘eyes’ (vaasi/vaasikka-kann)
  • Union-play of Śakti with the ‘Mad One’ (Mattan)

Ambiguities or Multiple Readings

  • “சிப்பி (sippi)” can mean shell/conch; symbolically it can be the body as vessel, the skull, or sexual/generative imagery. The “pearl” can be spiritual essence, bindu/ojas, or a metaphor for the siddhi-mukti jewel.
  • “முத்தித் தாயார்” can be read as “mother of mukti” (liberation), but also as the source that ‘gives the pearl’ (muttu) and ‘gives liberation’ (mukti), intentionally echoing similar sounds.
  • “பேயாள் (peyal)” literally ‘she-demon/ghost-woman’ may mean a fierce goddess aspect, an untamed śakti, or the frightening force of awakening that appears ‘possessing.’
  • “பித்தம்” is both a doṣa (bile/heat) and a metaphor for mental agitation or obsession; “she removes pitta” could mean medical balancing or calming delusion while still inducing transformative ‘madness.’
  • “பித்தனெனைப் பித்தாக்கி” can imply: (a) she makes an already-mad speaker more mad (intensifying trance), or (b) she turns an ordinary man into a ‘pithan’ (holy madman) as a stage toward siddhahood.
  • “மத்தியடா” (‘in the middle’) can point to the suṣumṇā/inner center, to the midpoint between opposites (purity/impurity), or to the “middle path” where desire is neither indulged nor suppressed but transmuted.
  • “மதனப்பூ” (Cupid’s flower) can be literal erotic imagery, a coded reference to arousal energy, or a sign for certain psycho-physical stages in kuṇḍalinī practice.
  • “மத்தனுடன்” and “மத்தன்” are unclear: it may be Śiva as the ‘mad one’ (mattan), the yogin/adept, or a named figure; the line can imply Śakti’s playful union with the ascetic principle.
  • “வாலைப் பெண்தான்” can be ‘tender/young maiden’ or linked to ‘vāḻai’ (banana plant) suggesting fertility/softness; it may also be a deliberately rustic or colloquial epithet.
  • “வாசிக் கண்ணாள்” can mean ‘eyes that read’ (interpret/know), ‘eyes that speak,’ or even ‘vasi-kann’—eyes that enchant/attract (vasi/vashya), keeping the mode of her power unresolved.