02 REV. G. U. POPE, D.D., ON 



disciple, who shall restore to all tlie iSouthem lands the 

 teaching of the truth, and make the Tamil language for ever 

 glorious with the " nectar of sacred and devout poesy." His 

 adoring hosts are to accompany him in the guise of disciples, 

 for one of the titles of (^iva is " Lord of Hosts." (Note XH.) 

 The poet has a great many beautiful verses, and some very 

 fanciful ones about this gracious advent of Qivd. 



The trees put forth their verdure, the flowers exhale new 

 fragrance, the birds sing on every branch, the beautiful 

 grove around Tiru-perun-Turrai is hushed in expectancy, 

 when under a thick and spreading Kuruntham* tree, in 

 human form, the mighty Guru, attended by his hosts, all 

 like himself to ajDpearance ^aiva saints, takes his seat. 

 Meanwhile the youthful prime minister \A'ith his gorgeous 

 company di-aws near the town, and hears from amid the 

 grove solemn mysterious strains, the voices of the 999 

 saintly attendants of the god who are chaunting the 

 venerable (^^aiva-iigamas. He at once stops the royal 

 cavalcade, and sends a messenger to inquire the source 

 and reason of this sweet mystic music. 



The answer is, that surrounded by a vast multitude of 

 devotees, beneath a Kuruntham tree, there sits a venerable 

 saintly guru Avith braided lock, crowned with a garland of 

 Koiirrai, in majestic grace, most like unto (^ivan Himself. 



Our traveller forthwith alights, draws near, and at once is 

 transported with rapture. He beholds a mystic Guru who 

 has a rosary of scarlet Eleocarpus beads around his head and 

 throat and breast ; who is smeared with sacred ashes of 

 dazzling white, has a third eye of fire in the centre of 

 his resplendent forehead, and holds in his hand a book. 

 "What book is this?" he ventures to inquire. The answer 

 is, " It is the Qiva-nana-Bodham." We must pause to remark 

 the daring anachronism of this reply. This celebrated work 

 of the Tamil Aquinas, the great Meykanda-Devar, did not 

 exist fen- probably two centuries after Manikka-Va^agar's 

 time. "And what,'' inquires the neophyte, "is Qivam'f? 

 What is J^dnam ? and what is Bodham /* " " (^ivam," was 

 the god's reply, "is the incomparable true and divine 

 Essence. Rdnam is the science of that Essence. Bodham 

 is its right apprehension." No sooner does this answer 

 fall upon his ears than the inquirer, Avho has reached the 



* The tree is the " thorny trichilia." Its flowers are very fragrant, 

 t The neuter form. 



