The Siddha concept of aruḷ / iruḷ in the service of politics: how the vision of backwaters defined by Nārāyaṇa Guru in Śiva Śatakam 65 by means of the poḻi-āḻi-cuḻi trio could become the metaphysical reflection of the social and religious transformation implemented within Kerala’s body

The aruḷ / iruḷ concept which constitutes the basis for the Siddha vision of the release process has been introduced by Nārāyaṇa Guru in plenty of his devotional hymns. The idea emphasises the key-role of Grace (aruḷ) – the essential form of the Sole Substance (oru poruḷ) identical with Śivaṉ / Śivam, by means of which the ultimate Bliss becomes attained – in the process of transformation of iruḷ (darkness = ignorance) rooted itself within the One. The mentioned above concept – when superimposed on the image of backwaters phonomenon – could be used by Guru as an instrument in his attempt to transform the “dark” social status of the low caste people into the “social bliss”. Such a social aspect of the aruḷ / iruḷ idea has been depicted by Guru in his Arddhanārīśvara Stavam; on the other hand, Guru’s biography itself turns to be an intriguing transcript of this Siddha concept employed in the service of politics. The metaphysical reflection of the social and religious transformations initiated by Guru should be thus considered in terms of Tamil literary sources. In such a case the poḻi-āḻi-cuḻi trio presented in Śiva Śatakam could be comprehended as follows: 1. poḻi symbolizes obstacles = limitations [of any kind], also the turning point [of transformation of any kind]; 2. cuḻi means the twists and turns within saṁsāra-ocean, as well as the cakra-whirlpools activated within the transcendent ocean; 3. āḻi symbolizes [the depth of] the ocean = the ocean of phenomenal world, or the transcendent ocean of grace. Both meanings are included in the equivalent of the term āḻi – tīkkuḻi (which means the fiery pit [of saṁsāra] and the fiery pit [of activated mūlādhāra cakra] as well as the ājňācakra by means of which the the former type of ocean [saṁsāra depth] becomes transformed into the latter [i.e. the depth of Grace or Bliss]).