11. She shares His form whose shoulders' curve vies with the bamboo's grace.
His throat the poison drank, He touched the vina into tune.
The lustrous moon and Ganges crown His hair, and He a place
Hath made Himself within my heart. Wherefore let shine the moon
Or sun or any star of good or ill, or serpents twain.
For Siva's slave all are benign, all work for him great gain.

White ash from burnt cow-dung must be worn by all true Saivites. Every day the worshipper, facing north-east and crying 'Siva, Siva,' must dip in the ash the fingers of his right hand and draw the three middle fingers from left to right along his forehead, so leaving three horizontal white lines. The ceremonial side of Saivism is so prominent that this one stanza must be given, a specimen of many extolling the virtues and potencies of the ash.

The Tantras are works inculcating ceremonies, also magic performances and mystic rites. Some of these are of an immoral nature.

12. The sacred ash has mystic power,
'Tis worn by dwellers in the sky.
The ash bestows true loveliness.
Praise of the ash ascends on high.
The ash shows what tile Tantras mean,
And true religion's essence tells,
The ash of Him of Alavay,
In whom red-lipped Uma dwells.

Equally important with the wearing of the sacred ash is the constant repetition of the five syllables, or panchakshara, 'Namasivaya.' This, which means literally 'a bow to Siva,' is the chief mantra or mystic utterance of Saivism. In Saivite catechisms a whole chapter is devoted to its uses.

13. Those who repeat it while love's tears outpour,
It gives them life, and guides them in the way.
'Tis the true substance of the Vedas four,
The Lord's great name, wherefore 'Hail Siva,' say.

The next three stanzas are from a hymn written in a very attractive short-lined metre, and promise light, freedom from rebirth, and bliss, through devotion to Siva at Arur (now Tiruvallur in the Tanjore District).

14. For the Father in Arur
Sprinkle ye the blooms of love;
In your heart will dawn true light,
Every bondage will remove.

15. Him the holy in Arur
Ne'er forget to laud and praise;
Bonds of birth will severed be,
Left behind all worldly ways.

16. In Arur, our loved one's gem,
Scatter golden blossoms fair.
Sorrow ye shall wipe away,
Yours be bliss beyond compare.

Associated with the hymn from which our next verse is taken is a story of the author, Sambandar, helping a sorrowing woman by raising to life the man she loved, who had been killed by snake-bite. The hymn makes no allusion to such a miracle, but it does give an example of intercession on behalf of another, an element which is somewhat rare in these devotional books.