Fourth Centum, in retrospect (Decad-wise Summary)

(4-1): The Āḻvār’s tender solicitude and irrepressible fellow-feeling induce him to turn his attention to the world once again and that too, so soon after his repulsion in UI-9. In the opening decad of this Centum, the straying subjects are called upon by him to eschew the so-called material wealth, much-too-flimsy and fleeting, and realise the importance of holding on to the Supreme Lord, the wealth Supreme and everlasting, unlike the earthly monarchs who once held supreme away, being ground to mere bits of dust and reduced to abject beggary in one and the same span of life;

(4-2): The Āḻvār’s advice, as in the first decad, to an unresponsive world has only served to excite his own God-love to such an extent that he longs for the ‘tuḷaci’ (basil leaves) worn on the Lord’s feet, during His Avatāras, in the days gone-by and feels frustrated due to the immediate non-fulfilment of his aspiration by the Lord. The Āḻvār becomes insensate, like a female forsaken by her lover after their erstwhile union and the gnostic mother steps in to describe the critical condition of her daughter (Parāṅkuśa Nāyakī), as in the second decad. It is, however, clear from the end-song of this decad that the Lord did, at last, oblige the Āḻvār and regale him;

(4-3): Time being at the beck and call of the Supreme Lord, He could certainly fulfil the aspiration of the Āḻvār, as in the second decad, and regale Him. In the third decad, a fully satisfied Āḻvār gives expression to his immense joy over the unique blending of his soul with the Lord, with perfect reciprocity of connubial love;

(4-4): Apprehending that overwhelming divine ecstasy, as in the third decad, might jeopardise the Āḻvār’s very existence, the Lord reduced the tempo a little, just to stabilise the Āḻvār’s God-enjoyment. Even this upsets the Āḻvār, whom we see, in the fourth decad, transformed once again, as the Nāyakī (female lover), in a state of heavy depression. She runs after the objects bearing the likeness of the Lord in one respect or another but disenchantment, on nearer approach, makes her sweat with disappointment and wither down. The gnostic mother steps in and relates the pitiable condition of her love-smitten daughter and the words she utters. The merciful Lord, however, presents Himself before the Āḻvār towards the end of this decad and puts the Āḻvār back on his feet.

(4-5): Visualising, right from where he is, the Lord’s cosmic wealth and splendour, the Āḻvār sings, in the fifth decad, with cymbals in hand, the Lord’s glory to his heart’s fill and goes into raptures. It seems as though the Lord had called upon the Āḻvār to sing His glory so that it can acquire special lustre through his laudation. (The spiritual vicissitudes of the Āḻvār, alternating between satiate and disconsolate states are studiously engineered by the Lord, in order to enrich and intensify the Āḻvār’s God-love and stabilise his God-enjoyment, by stages);

(4-6): In the sixth decad, we see the Āḻvār, once again consigned to the bottom-most depths of dejection, transformed (figuratively) as a Nāyakī, insensate and thus unable to speak out her woes, the Lord having once more withdrawn Himself from the Āḻvār’s mental vision. It is the Nāyakī’s mate, who speaks out in this decad, extremely critical that she is of the wrong steps taken by the elders around, such as propitiation of minor deities with meat and liquor, to cure the Nāyakī of her strange malady, misled by a female gipsy whom they had approached for divining the cause of the malady. The recipe strongly suggested by the mate who vehemently condemned the activities of the elders, is that the holy names of Lord Viṣṇu be uttered in the Nāyakī’s hearing besides sprinkling on her the dust collected from the feet of the Lord’s pious devotees;

(4-7): As the holy names of the Lord trickled down his ears, the Āḻvār regained consciousness but kept pondering how the Lord, the friend-in-need, capable of dispensing the appropriate remedies, could keep away from him. Unable to stand the separation from the Lord, the Āḻvār cries out his heart, in the seventh decad, so lustily that it melts down even the stony hearts of his listeners:

(4-8): Continuing in the feminine state, the frustrated Āḻvār laments in the eighth decad, that neither he nor his possessions (bangles, garments, complexion etc.) deserved to exist, so long as he was not in the good books of the Lord, as evidenced by the absence of response to his passionate appeal, as in the seventh decad;

(4-9); In the ninth decad, the Āḻvār displays his intolerance of living in the midst of the worldlings, with their stupid pursuits, straying away from Him, with the serious risk of his straying back into the domain of the sensual pleasures, under the cruel impact of the five senses and the domineering senseorgans. As in the case of salvation, the Āḻvār has to depend upon the Lord even for this kind of dissolution and hence his dialogue with the Lord, as in this decad, to get him removed from the wretched surroundings;

(4-10); Having already dwelt on the Supremacy of Lord Viṣṇu, in His ‘Para’ (transcendent) and ‘Vibhava’ (Incarnate) aspects, in I-I and II-2 respectively, the Āḻvār proceeds, in the concluding decad oj this centum, to establish His supremacy, in His Area (Iconic) manifestation, as well. For this purpose, the Āḻvār concentrates on Lord Ātinātha, the First Lord or Progenitor, enshrined in Kurukūr, the Āḻvār’s birth-place, whose exquisite Form compels attention and makes one instinctively cognise Him as the Supreme Lord, the causeless Cause, the Primordial One. The Āḻvār calls upon people to worship the Lord in His iconic Form, right here and be redeemed of their age-long sins, instead of going adrift, running after lesser deities. Thus, this decad shakes off the stupor of the votaries of the minor deities and exhorts them to concentrate on the Supreme God, the one and only God.