avathārikai (Introduction)
The dark, tumultuous ocean, though fervently beseeched by the nāyakī (the soul personified as the beloved), remains utterly devoid of compassion. Beholding her, who is bereft of all other support, it roars with the unyielding resolve of a warrior sounding a battle-cry. How profoundly cruel is this! O Lord, whose divine complexion is