Muruganar (1890-1973), the gifted Tamil poet and one of the foremost devotees of Bhagavan Ramana was instrumental in persuading Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi to compose Upadesa Undiyar and Ulladu Narpadu two of his most important poetical works embodying his unique teachings The poet-devotee was also responsible for Bhagavan composing Atma Vidya (the Song of Self-knowledge). Thanks to Muruganar we have thus Bhagavan’ s teachings in His own words in a compact form.

Once Bhagavan told Muruganar, “Why not write poems like Manickavachagar (the great 9th-century Siva devotee and saint singer)?" That spark of a gracious sentence kindled a flaming stream of about 25000 spontaneous and natural outpourings of poems in Tamil over a few decades. They are now available in three classified forms: stotram (prayers), sastram (philosophy or teaching), and anubhavam (personal spiritual experiences). However, there are poems or verses in Muruganar that combine all three aspects.

Muruganar's poems, Sri Ramana Sannidhi Murai, Ramana Deva Malai, and Ramana Sarana Pallandu, the stotras, and Guru Vachaka Kovai, embodying the complete teachings of Bhagavan, were published during the lifetime of Bhagavan and Muruganar by Ramana Padananda, an ardent devotee of Bhagavan and admirer of Muruganar, as soon as the bulk of the contents were composed. Sri Ramana Anubhti, The Ramana Experience, was also published by Ramana Padananda in two parts in 1960 and 1961.

After his Maha Samadhi in 1973, an unsorted collection of over 17,000 verses by the poet-devotee was handed over to Sadhu Om, an ardent devotee of Bhagavan and a talented poet. He scrutinized them for three decades, and with the help of Prof. K. Swaminathan, they were brought out in nine volumes entitled Sri Ramana Nana Bodham by Delhi Ramana Kendram over a period of 18 years from 1978.

Starting with Ramana Padananda, many other devotees were active in disseminating the works of Muruganar. Prof. K. Swaminathan translated into English most of the verses of Sri Ramana Sannidhi Murai and the entire Guru Vachaka Kovai. They have been published by Sri Ramanasramam. Sadhu Om also brought out a translation of Guru Vachaka Kovai and a revised translation made by David Godman. Ramana Maharshi Centre for Learning, Bangalore, brought out the audio version of a few works of Muruganar.

The 9th Volume of Sri Ramana Jnana Bodham, published in 1996, contains a) Deiva Malai, b) Padamalai [Paadha Maalai], c) Sarana Tiruvahaval, and a few miscellaneous verses and prose works of Muruganar. A fine selection of 1700 out of a total of 3059 Padamalai verses have been translated in English by Dr. Venkatasubramanian, Robert Butler, and David Godman, with annotation and thematic arrangement by David Godman. The book was published by David Godman in 2004.

The nine volumes of Sri Ramana ]nana Bodham in original Tamil were uploaded in Sri Ramanasramam website in 2014. Padamalai along with its English translation is being uploaded now with due permission from its English translators. In the introduction to the Padamalai, Muruganar mentions that this work is meant for chanting by devotees in order to increase

their'remembrance of the divine feet of the Lord’. The audio chanting of the entire work has also been uploaded along with the text.

A Complete English translation of Padamalai will be made available online when it is ready.

* Download Padamalai Song’s full text - Click Here