Golden Lay Verses

Verse 310 (மந்திர வைப்பு)

தமிழ் பாடல்

அங்கங்கு மிங்கிங்கும் தங்கச்சியே

அல்லல்லு மெல்லெல்லும் கங்கச்சியே

அங்கங்க ளங்கங்கொ எங்கச்சியே

அஞ்சம்பு மஞ்சம்பி னம்பச்சியே

வங்கங்கள் வங்கிட்ட வங்கச்சியே

வானங்கள் மீனங்கொள் கங்கச்சியே

எங்கெங்கு மாய் நிற்கும் துங்கச்சியே

யாவுள்ளு மென்னுன்ஞம் பொங்கச்சியே

Transliteration

Angangu mingingum thangachchiye

Allallu mellellum kangachchiye

Anganga langangko engachchiye

Anjambu manjambi nambachchiye

Vangangal vangitta vangachchiye

Vaanangal meenangol kangachchiye

Engengu maai nirkum thungachchiye

Yaavullum ennunjam pongachchiye.

Literal Translation

“Here and there, in every nook and corner, O golden-sister!

In the ‘not-not’, gently, softly, O Ganga-sister!

In this place and that place—(there/where) you are, O my sister!

With the ‘five arrows’, with the ‘five …’ (unclear compound), O sure/trusted sister!

In the vangams, in what has been ‘vanga-ed/refined/boarded’ (unclear), O Vanga-sister!

In the skies that hold the fishes, O Ganga-sister!

Standing as ‘everywhere’, O lofty/deep sister!

Within everything—my inner being swells/surges, O swelling sister!”

Interpretive Translation

O feminine power addressed in many coded names—“golden,” “Ganga,” “Vanga,” “lofty/deep,” “surging”—you are present everywhere, both in the outer world (places, seas/skies, starry constellations) and in the inner world (the body and its fivefold functions). You move subtly beyond simple affirmation/negation, and when you are recognized, the seeker’s inner mind/heart rises and overflows.

Philosophical Explanation

The verse is built like a mantra: heavy reduplication (“here-here / there-there,” “soft-soft”) functions less as ordinary description and more as an insistence on pervasion and subtle movement. The speaker addresses a single ‘sister’ through multiple epithets, implying one reality appearing in many registers.

1) Omnipresence and non-dual pervasion: The repeated “everywhere” language suggests the Siddhar’s core intuition that the sought principle is not confined to one shrine, place, or experience. The line about “standing as everywhere” points to a non-dual reading: the power is not merely located in things; it is the way things are.

2) “Gold” as perfection / siddha-alchemical code: “Thangam” (gold) in Siddha discourse often connotes a perfected, incorruptible state—either of a metal in rasavāda (alchemy) or of the body-mind when transformed (an “imperishable” state). Calling the principle “golden-sister” can therefore be read as naming the power that ripens/transmutes.

3) “Ganga” as river, nāḍī, or amṛta-flow: “Ganga” can remain literal (a sacred river), but Siddhar symbolism frequently uses river-imagery for inner currents—prāṇa-flow, nāḍīs, or the descending/ascending ambrosial essence (amṛta). The ‘softly, gently’ phrasing fits an inner-current reading: subtle movement rather than gross force.

4) Fivefold structure (“five arrows”): “Anj-” typically signals a ‘five’: five senses, five elements, five vāyus, etc. “Five arrows” is also a classical image for desire (Kāma’s arrows), which in yogic interpretation can mean sense-impulses that bind, or—when mastered—energies redirected upward. The second fivefold term is textually unclear, so the verse preserves a deliberate cipher: a ‘fivefold’ mechanism through which the power operates.

5) “Vangam” as ship/sea-world or as tin (alchemy): “Vangam” can mean a vessel/ship or relate to the sea-world of trade; but in Siddha alchemical registers, “vangam” is also used for the metal tin. The line can thus be read two ways: (a) she is present in worldly movement and commerce (ships), or (b) she is the operative śakti within metallurgical transformation (tin and its processing). The verb-like “vangitta” is ambiguous: it may suggest ‘taken/boarded/obtained/refined’ depending on the intended register.

6) “Skies holding fish”: Literally it evokes a sky with fish—poetically, stars moving like fish, or the zodiac sign Meenam (Pisces). Esoterically, it may point to “Ākāśa-Gangā” (the Milky Way, the ‘celestial Ganga’), linking outer cosmos and inner flow: the same ‘river’ appears above as a luminous band and within as a subtle current.

7) Inner culmination: The final line—“within all, my inner being swells”—frames realization as an internal surge (pongu), which can indicate devotional rapture, prāṇic rise, kuṇḍalinī stirring, or the expansion of consciousness. The verse does not force a single mapping; it layers them.

Key Concepts

  • All-pervasion / omnipresence
  • Śakti addressed as feminine vocative (“-ச்சியே”)
  • Mantra-like repetition and deliberate sonic coding
  • Gold (thangam) as alchemical and yogic perfection-symbol
  • Ganga as sacred river and as inner flow (nāḍī/amṛta)
  • Fivefold schema (elements/senses/vāyus) and ‘five arrows’ imagery
  • Vangam as ship/sea-world and/or tin (rasavāda metallurgy)
  • Macrocosm–microcosm mirroring (sky/constellations ↔ inner channels)
  • Inner swelling/surge (pongu) as awakening/bliss/energy-rise

Ambiguities or Multiple Readings

  • Whether the addressed ‘sister’ is a human figure, a goddess (Śakti), kuṇḍalinī, or an alchemical principle—likely intentionally layered.
  • “அல்லல்லு மெல்லெல்லும்” can be read as beyond yes/no (neti-neti-like), or simply as a sound-driven phrase indicating subtlety; the grammar is not straightforward.
  • “அங்கங்க ளங்கங்கொ எங்கச்சியே” is textually opaque; it may be emphasizing ‘in the limbs/parts’ (அங்கங்கள்) or simply multiplying place-deictics for pervasion.
  • “அஞ்சம்பு மஞ்சம்பி …” clearly signals a fivefold code, but the second compound is unclear; it could relate to five senses/elements/vāyus, or to kāma/desire imagery (five arrows).
  • “வங்கங்கள் வங்கிட்ட” can mean ships/vessels that have been boarded/obtained, or ‘vangam’ as tin that has been processed—two different Siddha registers (worldly vs alchemical).
  • “வானங்கள் மீனங்கொள்” may mean a sky full of ‘fish’ (stars/constellations), the zodiac Meenam, or a hint toward the Milky Way as the ‘celestial Ganga’.
  • “துங்கச்சியே” can mean lofty/exalted/deep, or be a proper-name echo (e.g., Tunga river), leaving open whether the epithet is adjectival or geographic/sacred.