The Praise of God
Tap an underlined Tamil word to explore its sound, meaning, and use.
akara mudhala ezhuttellām ādhi / pakavaṉ mudhaṟṟē ulaku
Just as ‘A’ stands first among all letters, the Primal Divine stands first for the world.
▸Other translations · Pope (1886) & Aiyar (1916)
“A, as its first of letters, every speech maintains; the 'Primal Deity' is first through all the world's domains.”
“A is the starting-point of the world of sound: even so is the Great Original the starting-point of all that exists.”
Parimelazhagar’s commentary
13th century · public domainParimelazhagar’s own words come first, unaltered. The plain reading follows below.
எழுத்து எல்லாம் அகர முதல = எழுத்துக்கள் எல்லாம் அகரமாகிய முதலை உடையன; உலகு ஆதிபகவன் முதற்று = அதுபோல உலகம் ஆதிபகவனாகிய முதலை உடைத்து. (இது தலைமை பற்றி வந்த எடுத்துக்காட்டுவமை; இப்பாட்டான் முதற்கடவுளது உண்மை கூறப்பட்டது.)
Source: Tamil Wikisource
Just as the vowel 'A' is the foundational first of all letters and sounds, the Primal Divine (Aadi-Bhagavan) is the originating source of the world. Parimelazhagar explains this as an implied simile: just as consonants cannot vocalize without 'A', all living beings and worldly phenomena exist and move only through the First Cause.