Notes

1. The dedication is composed by Bāratam Pādiya Perundźvanār, whose also composed the dedication to the Aingurunûru, Neduntogai, Puranânûru and the Narrinai. The Invocation is to Murugan who is the God of the kuriñci tinai, and there are references to karupporul from four of the tinai: the lotus - marutham (agricultural land), coral - neythal (the seashore), the kundri seed - mullai (woodland) and mountains - kuriñci (hilly tracts). The kundri seed ("Crab's eye vine" lat.abrus precatoris) is brilliant red in colour with black near the stem and is used in jewellery, though highly posionous if breached. The Narrinai has an invocation to Vishnu/Krishna, but in the rest the invocation is to Šiva, presumably because the Gods of the tinai (Indra, Varuna and Durga) were not commonly worshipped. This and the other invocation would have been appended at later date when Saivism was the predominant religion as it remains today.
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2. Turai (situation / context) - on the the heroine's behalf, her friend refuses a gift of kântal flower from her suitor. Commentaries offer a number of explanations for the refusal, but the simplest would be that the friend is gently reminding the lover that the lady he has set his sights on has a rare and noble nature and that it will take something special to win her over.Another explanation of the turai is that the friend, aware of the lover's arrival, takes the heroine to a meeting place in the woods, and leaves her there on the pretext of picking kântal flowers, saying: "You'd better not come - that place is the dwelling place of the God".
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3. Murugan is the God of the kuriñci tinai (see note 1). His ûrthi (vehicle Skt. vâhana) is usually the peacock The phrase kazhal todi could also mean "(wearing a warrior's)anklets and armlets".
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4. The last four lines are the first example of ullurai. The creation of a great honeycomb, little by little, through the labours of countless bees suggest the many lifetimes that the couple have come together to build their love. The kurińci, taking 10-12 years to flower, suggests the the age of the young woman, just reaching maturity.
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