Golden Lay Verses

Verse 372 (சித்த வைப்பு)

தமிழ் பாடல்

கல்லா லின்கீழ் நால்வர்க்கும்

கருணை செய்தான் முக்கண்ணன்

வில்லாலின் கீழ் சித்தினியாள்

வெற்றி தருவாள் சித்தியிதே

Transliteration

kallā linkīzh nālvarkkum

karuṇai seydān mukkaṇṇan

villālin kīzh sittiniyāḷ

veṟṟi taruvāḷ sittiyitē

Literal Translation

Beneath the banyan tree, to the four, the Three‑eyed One showed compassion (grace).

Beneath the “villāl,” the Siddhini (a siddhi‑bearing feminine power) will grant victory; this indeed is siddhi.

Interpretive Translation

As Śiva-Dakṣiṇāmūrti once bestowed silent grace upon the four sages under the banyan, so too—within one’s own inner field—Siddhini (Śakti as siddhi) bestows victory. The attainment called “siddhi” is not merely skill or power, but the triumph that arises from grace and inner awakening.

Philosophical Explanation

The verse pairs a well-known Śaiva image with an esoteric, inward reading. The first half evokes Dakṣiṇāmūrti: the “Three-eyed” Śiva granting compassion to “the four” (classically the four Kumāras) under the banyan, a symbol of immovable stillness and the guru’s silent transmission. In Siddhar usage, such mythic scenes often function as code: the true teaching is an interior event, not merely a historical episode.

The second half shifts from the masculine guru-principle (Śiva) to the feminine power-principle (Śakti), named here as “Siddhiniyāl”—the one who carries or gives siddhi. “Victory” (veṟṟi) can be read as conquest of the senses, mind, and karmic momentum, rather than worldly success. The statement “this indeed is siddhi” reframes siddhi away from displayable powers and toward the decisive inner triumph that comes when grace (aruḷ/karuṇai) and awakened Śakti converge.

Thus, the verse suggests a sequence: grace awakens insight (Śiva/three-eyed awareness), and that awakened inner Śakti brings completion—victory as liberation-oriented siddhi. Yet it preserves Siddhar ambiguity: whether the scene is devotional-mythic, yogic-physiological, or both at once.

Key Concepts

  • Mukkannan (Three-eyed Śiva)
  • Dakṣiṇāmūrti motif (silent guru under the banyan)
  • Nālvār (the four: sages/disciples/fourfold principles)
  • Karuṇai / aruḷ (grace, compassion)
  • Siddhini (Śakti as siddhi-bestowing power)
  • Siddhi (attainment; also potentially yogic powers)
  • Veṟṟi (victory as inner conquest)

Ambiguities or Multiple Readings

  • “Nālvār” (“the four”) may mean the four Kumāras, four disciples, four Vedas, four states of consciousness, or a fourfold set of inner faculties—Siddhar verses often let these layers coexist.
  • “Kallāl” is usually understood as the banyan tree (āl), but it can also evoke the guru’s ‘seat’ and the steadiness of meditative grounding rather than a botanical detail.
  • “Villāl” is unclear: it may be a literal tree name (sometimes glossed with sacred-tree associations), or a coded spatial image (e.g., ‘beneath the bow/arch’) pointing to an inner locus; the verse does not force a single identification.
  • “Siddhiniyāl” may refer to an external deity (a goddess associated with siddhi) or the internal Śakti/kundalinī principle; both readings fit Siddhar idiom.
  • “Victory” can be read as worldly success granted by a deity, or as the yogic victory over ego and bondage; the closing “this indeed is siddhi” leans toward the latter but does not exclude the former.