Nayanars

This article is about Shaivite poets of Tamil Nadu. For he created the Tirutotanar Tiruvanthathi (also known as
the ethnic group, see Nayanar (Nair subcaste).
Tirutoar Antdi, lit. Necklace of Verses on the Lords
The Nayanars (alt. Nayanmars, Tamil: , Servants), which consisted of 89 verses, with a verse devoted to each of the saints. With the addition of Sundarar
and his parents to the sequence, this became the canonical list of the 63 saints.[5] In the 12th century, Sekkizhar
added a twelfth volume to the Tirumurai called Periya Puranam in which he expands further on the stories of each
of 63 Nayanars.[3][2][1]
The Nayanars were from various backgrounds, including
Channars, Vellalas, oilmongers, Brahmins, and nobles.[1]
Along with the twelve Vaishnava Alvars, they are regarded the important saints from Tamil Nadu.
Statues of the three foremost Nayanars with Manikkavacakar
collectively called the Nalvars: (from left) Sambandar, Appar,
Sundarar, Manikkavacakar.

2 List of Nayanars

lit. hounds of Siva, later teachers of Siva)[1] were a

group of 63 saints (also saint poets) in the 6th to 8th century who were devoted to the Hindu god Shiva in Tamil
Nadu. They, along with the Alvars, inuenced the Bhakti
movement in Tamil.[2] The names of the Nayanars were
rst compiled by Sundarar. The list was expanded by
Nambiyandar Nambi during his compilation of material
by the poets for the Tirumurai collection, and would include Sundarar himself and Sundarars parents.

History

The list of the Nayanars was initially compiled by

Sundarar (Sundararmurthi). In his poem, Tiruthonda
Thogai, he sings, in eleven verses, the names of the Nayanar saints up to Karaikkal Ammeiyar,[2][3] and refers to
himself as the servant of servants.[4] The list did not
go into the detail of the lives of the saints, which were
described in detail in works such as Tevaram.[5]

The 63 Nayanmars in a Shiva temple

Sundarars original list of Nayanars did not follow any sequence with regards to chronology or importance. However, some groups have since followed an order for arIn the 10th century, king Raja Raja Chola I collected ranging their Nayanar temple images according to Sunas well as the information from Nambi and
Tevaram literature after hearing excerpts of the hymns darars poem
[3][7]
Sekkizhar.
[6]
in his court. His priest Nambiyandar Nambi began
compiling the hymns into a series of volumes called the
Tirumurai. He arranged the hymns of three saint poets Sambandar, Appar and Sundarar as the rst seven
3 Other saints
books which he called the Tevaram. He compiled
Manikkavacakar's Tirukovayar and Tiruvacakam as the
eighth book, the 28 hymns of nine other saints as the ninth 9th century poet Manikkavacakar was not counted as one
book, the Tirumandiram of Tirumular and 40 hymns by of the 63 Nayanars but his works were part of the eighth
12 other poets as the tenth book. In the eleventh book, volume of the Tirumurai.
1

EXTERNAL LINKS

[8] Das, Sisir Kumar (2005). A History of Indian Literature, 5001399: From Courtly to the Popular 6. Sahitya
Akademi. p. 31. ISBN 9788126021710.

Cort, John E. (1998). Open boundaries: Jain communities and culture in Indian history. Albany: State
University of New York Press. ISBN 0-7914-37868.

6 External links
63 Nayanmar Stories. Shaivam.org.
A map of Nayanar temples

Kannappa Nayanar

See also
Manikkavacakar
Tamil mythology
List of Dalit Hindu saints

References

[1] Sadasivan, S.N. (2000). A Social History of India. APH.

p. 150-151. ISBN 9788176481700.
[2] Ramaswamy, Vijaya (2007). Historical Dictionary of the
Tamils. Scarecrow Press. p. 167. ISBN 9780810864450.
[3] Sivananda, Sri Swami (1999). Sixty-Three Nayanar
Saints (web ed.). Divine Life Society.
[4] Ten saints of India By T. M. P. Mahadevan, page 35
[5] Zvelebil, Kamil (1974). A History of Indian literature Vol.
10 (Tamil Literature). Otto Harrasowitz. p. 130. ISBN
3-447-01582-9.
[6] Cutler, Norman (1987). Songs of experience: the poetics
of Tamil devotion. USA: Library of Congress Catalogingin-Publication-Data. p. 50. ISBN 0-253-35334-3.
[7] Dehejia, Vidya. Introduction: The sacred sequence of
the Sixty-Three Nayanars. Sixty-Three Nayanars webpage. Skanda Guru Natha. Retrieved 25 September 2014.

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

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Nayanars Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nayanars?oldid=653305078 Contributors: Sam Spade, Shash, Auric, Profvk, Eep,
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