அஹந்தையெனும் பாத்திரத்தி லிகந்தையெனும் நெய்வார்த்து
உஹந்தஜபா வாசியெனும் ஒழுக்கிட்ட வேதையடா
மஹந்தைபர மாஹந்தை வன்னியிலே ஓமஞ்செய்
தஹந்தஹமா வாலைப்பெண் தானணைவாள் சத்தியமே
ahantaiyenum paaththiraththi ligantaiyenum neyvaartthu
uhantajapaa vaasiyenum ozhukkitta vethaiyadaa
mahantaipara maahantai vanniyilae oomanjey
tahantahamaa vaalaippen thaananaivaal saththiyamae
“In the vessel called ‘ahantai’ (I-ness/ego), pour the ghee called ‘ikantai’.
O dull one, set in order the discipline called ‘uhanta-japa-vāsi’.
In the vanni-fire, perform the homa of ‘mahandai’ and ‘paramāhandai’.
The ‘vālai-peṇ’ (the ‘banana/tailed/braided’ girl), (with the cry/mantra) ‘dahandahamā’, will herself come and unite—this is truth.”
Treat the ego as the ritual vessel and feed it with a purified essence (the “ghee”: refined life-force/ojas), not with raw passion. Establish steady practice: mantra-repetition (japa) joined with vāsi (Siddha breath-discipline that stills/masters prāṇa). Then conduct the inner fire-sacrifice in the vanni-agni (the inner fire—digestive/kundalini/ascetic heat), offering progressively subtler forms of “I” until the “great I” and “supreme I” are transmuted. When the offering truly burns (“burn, burn”), the concealed feminine power—coded as the ‘vālai-peṇ’—approaches and unites (Shakti’s meeting with the yogin / Shiva-consciousness).
The verse is written as a homa-instruction but functions as an internal-alchemical map.
1) Ritual metaphor for inner psychology: - “Ahantai” (ego/I-sense) as “pāttiram” (vessel) implies the practitioner’s identity-structure is the container in which transformation must occur; one cannot discard it first, but must repurpose it. - “Ney” (ghee) in Siddhar usage can signify: (a) literal homa-offering; (b) an ‘unctuous’ refined essence—ojas/tejas distilled from food, breath, and (often, cryptically) sexual/seminal energy conserved and sublimated; (c) the softening of the harsh ego into sāttvic clarity. Pouring “ghee” into the ego-vessel suggests feeding the inner fire with what is refined rather than with craving.
2) Practice-technology embedded in code words: - “Japa” is explicit; “vāsi” is a Siddha technical term commonly pointing to prāṇa-regulation (breath restraint/absorption), sometimes specifically the art of holding and redirecting vāyu so mind becomes still. “Ozhukkitt” (to set in order) stresses regimen and correct method, not inspiration alone.
3) The series of ‘(a/u/ma/parama)…handai’: - The escalating terms “ahandai / … / mahandai / paramāhandai” read like a graded transformation of ‘I’-principle: from ordinary ego to expanded identity, finally to a ‘supreme I’ that is no longer personal. - Their near-metrical repetition also suggests they may be mantra-forms (phonetic keys) rather than ordinary vocabulary; Siddhar texts often hide yogic operations inside such sound-patterns.
4) “Vanni” and the inner homa: - “Vanni” can be the external sacrificial fire (or vanni-wood used in ritual), yet Siddhar convention frequently points inward: the ‘agni’ of the body (digestive fire), tapas-heat, or the awakened kundalini-fire. “Oman seyy” (do homa) then becomes antaryāga: offering vasanas/ego-forms into the inner fire through breath+mantra, producing a qualitative shift in consciousness.
5) The arriving ‘vālai-peṇ’: - A “girl/woman” in Siddhar cryptic idiom often codes Shakti—kundalini, inner power, or the experiential ‘bride’ that unites with the yogin when channels are purified. - “Dahandahama” resembles an onomatopoetic burn-sound or an imperative mantra (‘dahaṃ, dahaṃ’—“burn, burn”), implying that when the offering truly combusts (ego-ashes), Shakti’s union becomes inevitable (“she herself comes”).
Overall, the verse compresses a Siddha program: refine essence → regulate breath and mantra → perform inner fire-offering of the ego → culminate in Shakti-approach/union and a higher, less-personal “I” (non-dual or near-non-dual realization).