27. See, there His bright trident appears to me;
See, there is the moon in His tangled hair;
His garland of flowers from the kondai tree,
And the ear-ring white in His either ear,
The cloak that He tore from the elephant wild,
His glittering crown and His body's sheen.
Ash-smeared, He is ever the undefiled,
In Puvanam circled by groves all green.

The singer, standing at the shrine of Tiruvalur (Arur) in the Tanjore district, muses over the ancient connection of his lord with the holy place, suggesting that it began before the creation, before Siva wrought his greatest marvels, perhaps even before the one Supreme, Isvara, expanded into the triad Brahma, Vishnu and Rudra.

28. When was that ancient day our Lord
Chose Arur should His temple be?
Was't when He stood 'mid praising worlds
Alone, or when the One grew three?
Was't when in wrath He burned up Death,
Or turned on Lust His flaming eye?
Or when creative, immanent,
He called to being earth and sky?
Was't when, his young deer in his hand,
He came, with Uma as His part?
Or ere He joined that lady fair
Took He our Arur to His heart?

It is often said, not without truth, that Hinduism fails to create a strong sense of sin. But there are great exceptions: witness the following verses, samples of many, taken from a hymn which trembles with feeling. The author is sunk in sin. Or he has been like a swing, flying first toward evil and then towards God; but now, joy! the cord has snapped, and he lies fixed at his Lord's feet. Yet the old mood returns; his soul is bound and drugged with sleep, and life has no joys to offer unless God will save.