TO PLUNGE WITHIN: Selections from Nammaazhwaar’s Thiruvaimozhi by TRANSLATED BY VASANTHA SURYA

Thiruvaimozhi, a significant work in the Tamil Vaishnava canon, was composed in the eighth century by Nammaazhwaar, ‘our one who goes deep’, the most prominent of the twelve Vaishnava Aazhwaar saints. The poet ascribes this impressive 1,100-verse work not to himself but to one whom he visualizes as the very spirit of truth, from whose mouth it emerges as ‘holy utterance’. Taken as a whole, Thiruvaimozhi reflects a broad view of what the poet saw as the innate human need to venerate, and his belief that the god of the sky, of all-encompassing space itself—Vishnu—was the ‘original god’, containing in himself all others.
Superbly translated by Vasantha Surya, this book brings together a selection of 110 verses of the Thiruvaimozhi, showcasing its intricate weave of sense and syllable and its sparkling insights that echo the highs and lows of the enquiring human spirit. Using an interlinear format, the book provides an English translation along with the Tamil original and transliterated text.