MUTHUKUMARASWAMY PILLAI TAMIL

   We have already seen Meenakshi Ammai Pillai Tamil earlier wherein the divine mother is depicted as a girl-baby.  Here, we find the divine son portrayeda as boy-baby.  Is it not a sublime feat of human imagination to portray the Omnipotent Infinite as a tender child and to describe its stages of growth?  The saint who has enjoyed a parent-child relationship with the Lord, breaks into ectasies when he gives out his experiences in observing all the interesting stages of a child's growth, its attempt to crawl, sit up stand, walk, play etc, with a mother's tender affection.

   While describing in this Pillai Tamil, the various stages of childhood, treating Lord Muthukumaraswamy as a boy-baby, Kumaraguruparar hastens to emphasize that He is the same as Lord Shivaperuman.  This fact gets strong expression in stating that He is the Lord of all demi-gods who undergo births and deaths.  (¦ºòÐô À¢È츢ýÈ ¦¾öÅí¸û Á½Å¡Ç, ¦ºí¸£¨ÃÂ¡Ê ÂÕ§Ç)  The non-different aspect of Lord Muruka from Siva is also stressed in other places with appropriate examples like the seed and its sprout.  (Å¢òÐõÓ¨ÇÔõ §ÅÈý§È)  In the same strain, he expresses in sweet words His all-pervading nature by describing Him as a resplendent and pleasing light which devours within its ray of grace, the whole of the universe, viz earth and heaven and as the light that brightens the abode of liberation(Å£Î)which is built up of true and divine knowledge (28).  There are ever so many instances in this excellent piece of composition, which explains the universality of Saiva Religion which transcends all others, resting on the royal throne of basic, true and unassailable principles (song-66).

   As in the previous one, this Pillai Tamil also aptly describes all the intrinsic beauties of the surroundings of the town, its agriculture, fertility of soil and abundance of water, wealth etc.  The poet revels while he describe the divine qualities of the water in the holy tank of Siddhamirtham in the precincts of the temple.  As usual, the treatment of the section, song of the moon, exhibits his master-mind in addressing the moon in entreating terms first and in bewildering terms by pointing out all his defects next, then pacifying him stating that he can recieve very many gifts from Him, if he accepts to play with Him and lastly terrifying him by saying that he is ignorant of what will befall on him, if he refuses to obey.  The whole section is inimitable in style and diction, majestic in putting forth the arguments and lofty and sublime in its contents.

   The literary merits such as references to episodes of love as detailed in Sangam Literature, allusions to puranic stories, and divine exploits, imagerical descriptions of natural scenery etc.  find interspersed at the appropriate places in the work.  In short, Kumaraguruparar finds Lord Muruka, non-different from Siva on the other and He dwells in the poet's heart, all moulded together in one whole Effulgent Splendour of Light.