வல்லவினைத் தொல்லையெலாம் மாறிப் போக
வழிவகுத்தான் கும்பமுனி யகத்தி யந்தான்
வல்லதொரு போதைக்கும் போத மாக
மாசித்தன் போகமுனி மார்க்கம் சொன்னான்
வல்லமையாற் சொல்லுக்குள் சொல்லை வைத்து
வள்ளுவனும் மர்மத்தின் மர்மம் சொன்னான்
வல்லதொரு மூலத்தைப் பாலம் போட்டு
வகைசெய்தான் திருமூலச் சித்தன் தானே
vallavinai-th thollaiyelaam maaRip pOga
vazhivaguththaan kumbamuni yagaththi yanthaan
vallathoru pOthaikkum pOtha maaga
maasiththan pOgamuni maarkkam sonnaan
vallamaiyaar sollukkul sollai vaiththu
vaLLuvanum marmaththin marmam sonnaan
vallathoru moolaththaip paalam pOttu
vagaiseiththaan thirumoolach siththan thaane.
So that all the old afflictions of powerful karma may be altered and pass away,
Kumbha-muni—Agastya himself—made (a) way.
As a “bodham” (knowledge/clarity) even for a strong “pōthai” (intoxication/derangement),
Masittan—Bōga-muni—spoke the path.
By (his) potency, placing a word within a word,
Valluvar too spoke the secret of secrets.
Building a bridge to a mighty “mūlam” (root/source),
Tirumūla Siddhar himself arranged (the way/method).
Agastya is praised as one who opens a practical route by which heavy karmic residue and its long-standing troubles can be reversed.
Masittan/Bogar is praised for teaching a path that functions like a counter-medicine: it gives true discernment even where the mind is “intoxicated”—whether by substances, passions, or delusion.
Valluvar is praised for compressing esoteric instruction into ordinary speech, hiding “word inside word,” and thereby conveying the innermost secret without stating it openly.
Tirumūlar is praised for constructing a “bridge” to the root principle—often read as the yogic root (mūlādhāra / mūlam) or the primal source—and for systematizing the method of crossing from embodied life to realization.
The verse strings together a lineage-like set of exemplars to describe how liberation-knowledge is transmitted in Siddhar culture: (1) karmic remediation, (2) antidotal gnosis, (3) cryptic encoding, and (4) yogic “bridging” to the root.
1) Karma and “old trouble” (tollai): “Vallavinai” suggests not merely ordinary deeds but entrenched, forceful karmic patterns—habitual destiny. “Making a way” (vazhi vagுத்தல்) can imply a yogic regimen, a medicinal-ethical discipline, or a textual/manual tradition that turns destiny rather than merely enduring it.
2) Intoxication and antidote: “Pōthai” can be literal intoxication, but Siddhar idiom often extends it to obsession, sense-drunkenness, or the fog of avidyā. Saying “bodham for even (that) pōthai” frames knowledge as medicine: awareness is the counter-agent that sobers the mind. In Siddha medicine/alchemy, the same structure appears—poison is met with a specific remedy; likewise delusion is met with a specific practice.
3) “Word within word”: This points to deliberate compression and concealment—mantric density, double meanings, coded instruction, and pedagogical restraint. Valluvar’s couplets can be read as ethically plain on the surface while holding inner disciplines beneath (control of senses, non-duality, renunciation-in-action). The verse praises that capacity to speak “marmam” (esoteric secret) without breaking the seal of secrecy.
4) The “root” and the “bridge”: “Mūlam” may denote the mūlādhāra center, the primal cause, or the foundational principle/text. “Building a bridge” suggests a method that connects two domains: body to consciousness, waking life to liberation, or lower centers to the crown. Tirumūlar, associated with mapping yogic anatomy and inner practice, is presented as the one who organizes the crossing—turning hidden realization into a structured path while still retaining cryptic depth.