THE HISTOEY OF MANIKKA-VACAQAR. 103 



request to be permitted to take down his songs from his 

 own mouth. Tlie saint sang them all, while the stranger 

 (•arefully noted down every word, and having done so dis- 

 appeared. It was (^iva himself, — (^okka-Nayagar — who had 

 quitted his slii-ine in Madura for the purpose. Straightway 

 the god goes up to his silver mountain Kailasam, and, assem- 

 bling all the gods around him, makes them glad with 

 ]\Ianikka-Va9agar's verse. Next morning, on the pedestal ot 

 the image in Tillai, is found the copy made by the god's own 

 hand, and attested by his signature, — a thousand verses 

 without a flaw. The devotees of the temple take np the 

 book with astonishment and reverence, and sing over the 

 songs to the enraptured multitudes. They then in a body 

 go to the sage and ask him to give them an authoritative 

 exposition of the meaning of the whole. In answer he bids 

 them follow him, and proceeding to the Golden Court points 

 to the image of the god, adding " the lord of the assembly 

 himself (Sabhapati) is the meaning" ; and then disappeared, 

 melting into the image of his master. The devotees return 

 to their resting places with joy and thanksgiving.* 



These poems, of which it is hoped that the translation may 

 be printed, are sung throughout the whole Tamil country 

 with tears of rapture, and committed to memory in every 

 temple by the people, amongst whom it is a traditional 

 saying, that " he whose heart is not melted by the Tiru- 

 Varagam must have a stone for a heart." It is probable that 

 a portion of these poems is of later date. It is scarcely 

 possible to determine what sands of truth have been brought 

 down in these traditions, and it is very hard indeed to say 

 how much of their undoubted beauty and symbolic truth is 

 due to influences (historically quite probable) from Western 

 sources ; but it is impossible to read the poems without feeling- 

 that the sage of Tiru-Vathavur was a sincere seeker after 

 God, whom in ways that he then knew not of he has since 

 been permitted to know and worship. 



The success of Mdnihka-Vdgagar in reviving (^aivism, 

 which seems to have been then almost extinct, was imme- 

 diate, and we may say permanent ; for, although there was a 

 period of declension when the Jain and Buddhist systems 

 again became very prevalent, there arose another set of 



* Comp. I, 93, &c. 



"... Adoring ev^er, Thee tliey name. 

 Whom words declai'e not ; then beneath Thy sacrbd feet 

 They learn the meaning of their song. . . ." 



I 



