📖 About
The songs of the 18 Tamil Siddhars represent the summit of Tamil mystical poetry. Unlike conventional devotional songs, these are first-person reports of direct spiritual experience. They combine yogic science, social revolution (challenging caste), and profound philosophy. Their medical and alchemical knowledge continues to be studied today.
🌸 Tamil
திருமூலர் — அன்பும் சிவமும்
அன்பும் சிவமும் இரண்டு என்பர் அறிவிலார்
அன்பே சிவமாவது ஆரும் அறிகிலார்
ஆன்ற தமிழ்ப் புலவன் உணர்ந்தானே
ஆண்டவன் அருளே என்றுணர்ந்தோர் வாழ்க
🔤 Transliteration
Thirumular — Anbum Sivamum
Anbum sivamum irandum endbar arivilar
Anbe sivamavadhu aarum arigilar
Aandra thamizh pulavan unarndhane
Aandavan arule endrunarnthor vaazka
🌐 English
Thirumular — Love IS Shiva
The ignorant say Love and Shiva are two separate things.
None knows the truth that Love itself IS Shiva.
The great Tamil poet-sage (Thirumular) realized this truth!
Long live those who understood: 'The Lord's grace alone is real!'
💡 Meaning
Thirumular's most celebrated verse — the foundation of Tamil Shaiva Siddhanta. Love (anbu) is not a path TO God; it IS God. No ritual, no learning, no austerity is needed beyond genuine selfless love. When you love without expectation, you experience Shiva directly. This verse has guided Tamil spirituality for 1,500 years and remains the simplest and deepest spiritual teaching.
🌸 Tamil
திருமூலர் — ஒன்றே குலம்
ஒன்றே குலம் ஒருவனே தேவன்
ஒன்றே சாதி ஒன்றே நூல்
ஒன்றே வித்தை ஒன்றே தர்மம்
ஒன்றே அனைத்தும் ஒருவனே கடவுள்
🔤 Transliteration
Thirumular — Ondre Kulam
Ondrae kulam oruvanae devan
Ondrae saadhi ondrae nool
Ondrae vithhai ondrae dharmam
Ondrae anaiththum oruvanae kadavul
🌐 English
Thirumular — One Caste, One God
One caste! One God!
One community! One scripture!
One knowledge! One righteousness!
One everything! One God alone!
💡 Meaning
Thirumular's most politically powerful verse — a radical declaration of equality 1,400 years before modern democracy. Every line says "one" (ondrae) — attacking all forms of division: caste, sect, scripture hierarchy, knowledge hierarchy, religious division. This verse is still quoted in Tamil Nadu's social reform movements. The repetition makes it a mantra of equality: chanting it repeatedly seeds the mind with non-divisive thinking.
🌸 Tamil
பட்டினத்தார் — கட்டி வைத்த பொருளும்
கட்டி வைத்த பொருளும் காசும் கைக்கு வாரா
கடைசி நேரம் வெட்டவெளியில் போடுவார்
வந்தது போச்சு கட்டியது விட்டது
தின்னது மிச்சம் என்று சொல்லி மரித்தான்
🔤 Transliteration
Pattinathar — Katti Vaitha Porulum
Katti vaitha porulum kaasum kaiku vaara
Kadaisi neram vettaveliyil poduvaar
Vandhadhu pochu kattiyathu vittadhu
Thinnadhu michham endru solli marithaan
🌐 English
Pattinathar — The Accumulated Wealth
The hoarded wealth and money will not come to your hand at death.
At the final moment they will leave you bare and exposed.
'What came (life) has gone, what was accumulated (wealth) is left behind,
Only what was experienced (eaten/lived) remains' — he died saying this.
💡 Meaning
Pattinathar's core insight — sparked by his adopted son's death note. The boy left a note with this exact verse as his final message to his father. "What was eaten remains" means: only direct lived experience accompanies the soul. Everything owned, every property, every saved money — stays behind. Only what you EXPERIENCED — love given, spiritual realization, genuine moments of being — remains with the atma. This is why Pattinathar renounced everything.
🌸 Tamil
சிவவாக்கியர் — கல்லால் கட்டினார் கோவில்
கல்லால் கட்டினார் கோவில் என்று கண்டோர் கேட்கவே
சொல்லால் கட்டினோம் சோதி மண்டபம் தேடவே
கல்லால் கட்டிய கோவிலுக்கு கர்ம விளக்கமா
மல்லால் கட்டிய மனதுக்குள் மலர்ந்திடும் கடவுளே
🔤 Transliteration
Siva Vaakkiyar — Kallaal Kattinaark Kovil
Kallaal kattinaark kovil endru kandor kaethkave
Sollal kattiinom soodhi mandabam thaedhave
Kallaal kattiya kovil kku karma vilakamaa
Mallaal kattiya manadhukkul malarnthi dum kadavule
🌐 English
Siva Vaakkiyar — The Temple of Stone
Building with stones, calling it a temple — for others to see and hear!
We built with words a radiant hall, to seek the divine light!
For a temple built of stone — does only karma-obligation light shine?
In the heart built with strength-of-sincerity — God blossoms!
💡 Meaning
Siva Vaakkiyar's most famous verse challenging external religion. A stone temple is built for social visibility ("for others to see"). He builds a "word-temple" — poetry and inner awareness as sacred space. The stone temple's lamp burns on obligation (karma — you feel you should go); the heart's lamp burns on genuine love. Only the heart-temple where God "blossoms" naturally is the true temple. This 12th-century verse remains radically relevant.
🌸 Tamil
பாம்பாட்டி — ஆடும் பாம்பே
ஆடும் பாம்பே ஆடும் ஆடும்
ஆடும் அகிலம் எல்லாம் நீயே ஆடும்
வாடும் வினைகள் வழுவிட ஆடும்
வாழ்க்கை விளங்க வானவர் காண ஆடும்
🔤 Transliteration
Pambatti Siddhar — Aadum Pambhe
Aadum pambhe aadum aadum
Aadum agilam ellam neeyae aadum
Vaadum vinaigal vazhuvida aadum
Vaazhkai vilanga vaanavr kaana aadum
🌐 English
Pambatti Siddhar — O Dancing Serpent
O Dancing Serpent — dance! Dance!
You alone dance within the entire universe — dance!
Dance so that withering karmas slip away and fall!
Dance so that life shines and the celestials witness — dance!
💡 Meaning
Pambatti Siddhar addresses Kundalini energy as the dancing cosmic serpent. "Aadum" (dance) repeated 8 times is itself a mantra — the repetition creates energetic vibration. The serpent dancing = Kundalini energy rising through the chakras. When Kundalini "dances" fully (reaches the sahasrara crown chakra): karmas dissolve, life becomes luminous, celestial dimensions open. This is Kundalini awakening described in Tamil verse.
🌸 Tamil
அகத்தியர் — மண்ணில் நல்ல வண்ணம்
மண்ணில் நல்ல வண்ணம் வாழலாம் வைகலும்
வைகலும் நல்ல சீலம் வாழலாம் என்று
தன்னில் நல்ல சீலம் தான் வளர
மன்னில் நல்ல வண்ணம் மாளிகை ஆகுமே
🔤 Transliteration
Agathiyar — Mannil Nalla Vannam
Mannil nalla vannam vaazhalaam vaikkalum
Vaikkalum nalla seelam vaazhalaam endru
Thannil nalla seelam thaan valar
Mannil nalla vannam maaligai aaghume
🌐 English
Agathiyar — Living Beautifully in This World
One can live virtuously and beautifully in this world every day!
Every day one can live with good character — knowing this,
When good character grows within oneself naturally —
This noble earth becomes a palace!
💡 Meaning
Agathiyar's teaching is beautifully practical: do not wait for a next life or heavenly reward — live WELL now. The key: "character grows within" (naturally, not forced by external rules). When one's inner character is genuinely good (seelam), the entire world around that person becomes a palace — not literally, but experientially. The world is transformed by the quality of one's consciousness. This is the Siddha teaching that heaven and earth are states of mind.
🌸 Tamil
குதம்பை — ஊர் சுற்றும் உலகினை
ஊர் சுற்றும் உலகினை ஒன்றும் நம்பேல்
ஒரு நாளும் உள்ளத்தில் ஒழிவு இல்லை
கூர் வேல் தண்டாயுத கோவே என்று
கோவர்த்தன னே குமரா போற்றி
🔤 Transliteration
Kuthamban — Oor Suttrum Ulagini
Oor sutrum ulagini ondrum nambel
Oru naalum ullathil ozhivu illai
Koor vel thandaayudha kove endru
Kovarthdhana ne kumaraa portri
🌐 English
Kuthamban — Do Not Trust This World That Wanders
Do not trust at all this wandering world that circles around!
Not even for a single day does the heart find rest (in worldly things) —
O Lord of the sharp Vel and the Staff weapon — O King!
O Govardhanar (Krishna)! O Kumara (Murugan)! Praise!
💡 Meaning
Kuthamban is known for his sharp, satirical social observations. Here he warns: the world (social life, wealth, status) is always "wandering" — unstable, unreliable, never providing lasting peace. The heart that seeks satisfaction in external things finds no rest. The solution: turn to the divine (Murugan, Krishna) who alone provides stable peace. Kuthamban invokes both Murugan and Krishna — crossing sectarian boundaries as all Siddhars did.
🌸 Tamil
கொங்கணர் — வானைப் பார் வானைப் பார்
வானைப் பார் வானைப் பார்
வானில் உள்ள ஒளியை பார்
கடவுளின் கணக்கை நட்சத்திரங்கள் சொல்லும்
கட்டி வைத்தார் அவனே காலம் கணக்கையும்
🔤 Transliteration
Konkanar — Vaanai Paar Vaanai Paar
Vaanai paar vaanai paar
Vaanil ulla oliyai paar
Kadavulin kanakkai natchathirangal sollum
Katti vaitthar avanae kaalam kanakkaiyum
🌐 English
Konkanar — Look at the Sky!
Look at the sky! Look at the sky!
Look at the light within the sky!
The stars tell the accounting (the mathematical plan) of God.
He alone established the reckoning of time!
💡 Meaning
Konkanar was a Siddhar-astronomer. His verse asks us to look upward — the sky reveals divine order. "God's accounting" means the precise mathematical structure embedded in astronomical cycles — the divine mathematics of creation. Konkanar understood astronomy and spirituality as inseparable: the movement of stars IS the divine writing in the cosmic text. Modern physics might call this the mathematical laws governing the universe.