தலைமலை கண்ட தேவர் இயற்றிய: மருதூரந்தாதி: இழைய உரையுடன் - Maruthurandathi: Composed by Thalaimalaikandadevar: Source Text (Tamil)

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Preface ”Of what avail can all the learning be
if one adores not the feet of Omniscient God?"

So sang the immortal Saint-poet of Tamil Nadu, Tiruvalluvar. It is the second stanza in his great and glorious work, Tirukkural, but second to none in the wealth of wisdom contained in it. The philosopher-poet of our own century, Dr. Rabindra nath Tagore, has substantiated the dictum of Tiruvalluvar by setting up divine devotion as the goal of all his learning and he beseeches God thus in his Gitanjali:

"Let all my songs gather together their diverse strains into a single
at And flow to a sea of silence in one salutation to Thee. " Milton who has combined Earth and Heaven in his great poem, "Paradise Lost" set before himself as his poetic mission to justify the ways of God to Man". By the consensus of the great poets of al nations and of all ages, who have survived the ravages of time, the true purpose of all poetry that lasts forever, to glorify the Lord.
Thalaimalai Kanda Devar, the author of Marudur Andadi comes of the hierarchy of such poets who have laid their poetic achievements as an offering on the altar of the Omniscient Lord. Tamil Muse is as sacred as she is charming and she would not choose for her hero any one less than the Supreme Lord Siva, enshrined in Marudur. In one of his stanzas (St. 75), the poet says:
"Oh my Lord that abideth in luxuriant
Marudur!
Where the kine revel in feeding on the red Water lilies in the blooming ponds around! I shall continue to extol Thee in songs of purest Tamil, till my very tongue gets fatigued "
Unlike many poets who set monetary benevolence of rich patrons, or public approbation and fame as the reward for their literary achievements, the illustrious author of this Andadi declares in one of the stanzas (St. 94) that the blissful approval of the God of his adoration is the only reward he expects for this poetic composition :
Even like two ripe my robolans, held in the palm of my hand,
I shall keep before my vision, the well matched pair of the feet of my Lord of Marudur. I shall extol him with the stream of my flowing song till it pleases Him to nod in sweet approval His head, adorned with the flowing stream of Ganga.
The poet has set. before himself the highest possi ble literary ideal and we leave it to the readers to satisfy themselves how far the poet has achieved his end. We cannot know whether Siva nodded his head. We are sure we do so and we may well conclude that Siva might have done so too.

**Contents and Sample Pages**