50. Why chant the Vedas, hear the Sastras' lore?
Why daily teach the books of righteousness?
Why the Vedangas six say o'er and o'er?
Release is theirs, and theirs alone, whose heart
From thinking of its Lord shall ne'er depart.

51. Why roam the jungle, wander cities through?
Why plague life with unstinting; penance hard?
Why eat no flesh, and gaze into the blue?
Release is theirs, and theirs alone,
Who cry Unceasing to the Lord of wisdom high.

52. Why fast and starve, why suffer pains austere?
Why climb the mountains, doing penance harsh?
Why go to bathe in waters far and near?
Release is theirs, and theirs alone, who call
At every time upon the Lord of all.

It looks like a sudden drop when the same writer in our next hymn seems to say that everything depends upon the pronunciation of the five sacred syllables which can be translated 'Hail, Siva!' In the later development of Saivism the pronunciation of these syllables was exalted into a primary religious duty. But in the creative period in which these hymns were written the name probably stood for the person, so that we have here a religious 'calling upon the name of

the Lord' in the devotion of worship. In the first stanza there is a remarkable use of the term 'Word.' Modern Saivites identify this 'Word' with Uma, Siva's consort. We can compare the Sanskrit Vak (Word) in the Rig Veda.

The last lines of verse 53 are connected in the minds of Saivites with a story that Apparswami was actually sunk in the sea by Jain persecutors, with two great stones tied to him, but on crying 'Hail, Siva! he floated to the surface.

The five products of the cow referred to in verse 54 are all used together in ceremonial purification--milk, curds, ghee, urine, and dung.

53. O Lord of Scripture, whom the Word doth help,
Celestial light of heaven, so I but praise,
With hands meetly upraised, Thy golden feet,
Then though men tie on me two weighty stones,
And sink me in the ocean's depth, e'en then
The cry 'Hail, Siva,' would salvation be.

54. The lotus is the glory of all flowers;
The glory of all kine is Hara's use
Of that which they put forth. Glory of kings
Is the unswerving straightness of their deeds.
But if we ask the glory of the tongue,
'Tis to cry out aloud, 'Hail, Siva, hail.'

55. For men who all renounce, 'tis glory true
To wear the sacred ash. For Brahmans pure
The Vedas and Vedangas are their pride.
The white moon's glory is to shine serene
On the long locks of Siva, while for us
True glory is to cry 'Hail, Siva, hail.'