The Temples of Divya Prabandham

The Nalayira Divya Prabandham is a collection of 4,000 Tamil verses[Naalayiram in Tamil means 'four thousand'] composed before 8th century AD, by the 12 Alvars, and was compiled in its present form by Nathamuni during the 9th – 10th centuries. The work is the beginning of the canonization of the 12 Vaishnava poet saints, and these hymns are still sung extensively even today. The works were lost before they were collected and organized in the form of an anthology by Nathamuni.

The Prabandha sings the praise of Narayana [or Vishnu] and his many forms. The Alvars sung these songs at various sacred shrines. These shrines are known as the Divya Desams.

The Tamil Vaishnavites are also known as Ubhaya Vedanti [those that follow both vedas]. In many temples, Srirangam, for example, the chanting of the Divya Prabhandham forms a major part of the daily service. Prominent among the 4,000 verses are the 1,100+ verses known as the Thiru Vaaymozhi, composed by Nammalvar [Kaari Maaran, Sadagopan of Thiruk Kurugoor].

The Tiruvaymozhi ["words of the sacred mouth"] is one of the Divya Prabandham, an important liturgical compilation of the Tamil Alvar Bhaktas, collected in the 9th century by Nammalvar. The author self-identifies as a lovelorn Gopi pining for Krishna

Compilation

These once thought of being lost were collected and organized in the form of an anthology by Nathamuni.

Nathamuni was born in Veera Naarayanapuram [Veeranam] or present day Kaattu Mannaar Koil. There is a lot of gap in time between Thirumangai Alvar(the last alvar) and Nathamuni. In this dark period, nobody knew what happened to the 4000 verses.

Legend has it that once Nathamuni heard some people reciting the decad of Aaraavamude of Nammaazhvaar at Kumbakonam. Captivated by these paasurams [hymns], he wanted to know more about them. One of the verses also mentioned Aayiraththul Ippaththu [Tamil: these 10 out of the 1000]. When Nathamuni enquired about the remaining 990, the people who sang the 10 did not know anything about the other verses. But as the song mentioned the name and place of the azhwar [Kurugoor Satakopan], Nathamuni proceeded to Thirukurugoor and asked the people there about Swami Nammazhwar's 1000 verses.

The people did not know the 1000 that Nathamuni wanted, but they told him about 11 pasurams [hymns] of Madhurakavi Alvar, who was the disciple of Nammazhwar Kanninun Siruthaambu. They asked him to go to Thiruppuliaazhwar, the place where Nammazhwar lived, and recite these 11 pasurams [hymns] for 12000 times. Nathamuni did as advised, and pleased with his penance, Nammazhwar granted him not only his 1000 pasurams [hymns], but the entire 4000 pasurams [hymns] of all the alvars.

Details of Pasurams

The following table shows the details of the 4000 pasurams [hymns]:

Sl no	Name of the prabandham	Starting  from	Ending with	Number of  pasurams	Sung by
1	Periazhvar Thirumozhi	1	473	473	Periyalvar
2	Thiruppavai	474	503	30	Aandaal
3	Nachiar Tirumozhi	504	646	143	Aandaal
4	Perumal Thirumozhi	647	751	105	Kulasekara alvar
5	Thiruchchanda Viruththam	752	871	120	Thirumalisai alvar
6	Thirumalai	872	916	45	Thondaradippodi alvar
7	Thiruppalliyezhuchchi	917	926	10	Thondaradippodi alvar
8	Amalanadhi piran	927	936	10	Thiruppaan alvar
9	Kanni Nun Siruththambu	937	947	11	Madhurakavi Alvar
10	Peria Thirumozhi	948	2031	1084	Thirumangai alvar
11	Kurun Thandagam	2032	2051	20	Thirumangai alvar
12	Nedum Thandagam	2052	2081	30	Thirumangai alvar
13	Mudhal Thiruvandhadhi	2082	2181	100	Poigai Alvar
14	Irandam Thiruvandhadhi	2182	2281	100	Bhoothathalvar
15	Moonram Thiruvandhadhi	2282	2381	100	Peyalvar
16	Naanmugan Thiruvandhadhi	2382	2477	96	Thirumalisai alvar
17	Thiruviruththam	2478	2577	100	Nammalvar
18	Thiruvasiriyam	2578	2584	7	Nammalvar
19	Peria Thiruvandhadhi	2585	2671	87	Nammalvar
20	Thiruvezhukkurrirukkai	2672	2672	1	Thirumangai alvar
21	Siriya Thirumadal	2673	2673	1	Thirumangai alvar
22	Peria Thirumadal	2674	2674	1	Thirumangai alvar
23	Thiruvay Mozhi	2674	3776	1102	Nammalvar
	Total number of pasurams			3776

[ Courtesy: Wikipedia]

Temples of Thevaram Hymns

The Tevaram denotes the first seven volumes of the Tirumurai, the twelve-volume collection of Tamil Saiva  devotional poetry. All seven volumes are dedicated to the works of the three most prominent Tamil poets of 7th century, the Nayanars - Sambandar, Tirunavukkarasar and Sundarar. The singing of Tevaram is continued as a hereditary practise in some Shiva temples in Tamil Nadu. 

In the tenth century, during the reign of Raja Raja Chola-1, a collection of these songs was found abandoned in the Chidambaram temple, along with other religious literary works, and collated by Nambiyandar Nambi. It is during the Chola dynasty  that Tamil Shaivism came of age and Tevaram, with its body of texts on rituals, philosophy and theology, was canonized. The 276 temples revered by these verses are calledpaadal petra sthalam and another 276 places having Shiva temples that are casually mentioned in the verses are classified as vaipu sthalam. It was Tevaram for Shaivism and Nalayira Divya Prabandam for Vaishanvism. There are 796 of these songs with a total of more than 8200 stanzas. The three poets were not only involved in portraying their personal devotion to Shiva but also involved a community of believers through their songs.  It is one of the important sources of Tamil Bhakti, a movement that inspired the agricultural community

Evolution

Three stages have been identified in the evolution of Thevaram - first is the mark of Shiva as the supreme deity during the 7th - 9th century, the second involved Chola kings initiating the compilation of all the hymns and installing the images of the 3 saint poets during the 10th to 11th century and the last being the restructuring done by the pontiffs of the mathas who incorporated the hymns into Saiva Siddantha canon in 13th century. Both the Saiva and Vaishnava textual tradition negated the Vedic orthodoxy and Smartha tradition practised during the era. The authority of the hymns were established with the Saivities calling the Tevaram as Tamil Marai [meaning Tamil Veda], while Vaishnavities called the Nalayira Divya Prabandham as Dravida Veda. The usage of Sanskrit liturgies for religion was overcome with the usage of Tamil in both Tevaram and Prabandham. Sangam literature established the convention of akam [internally orineted] and puram [externally orientated] poetry. Though influence of Sangam literature is often seen in Thevaram, the strict conventions were not followed. The verses were more oriented towards folk tradition, which was easily accessible to people

The 3 foremost Nayanars with Manikkavasakar -
collectively called the Nalvars:
 [from left] Sambandar, Tirunavukkarasar, Sundarar and Manickavasakar.

The Poets

The first three Tirumurais [meaning parts] of Tevaram are composed by ThiruGnaana Sambandhar, the next three by Appar, and the seventh one is composed by Sundarar  Appar and ThiruGnaanaSambandhar lived around the 7th century, while Sundarar lived in the 8th century. During the Pallava period these three travelled extensively around Tamil Nadu offering discourses and songs characterised by an emotional devotion to Shiva and objections to Vaishnavism, Jainism and Buddhism.

ThiruGnaanaSambanthar is a 7th-century Holy Guru Paramaachariyaar[The great Teacher] born in SeeKaazhi, now wrongly called as Sirkali in Brahmin community and was believed to be breastfed by the goddess Parvathi, whereupon he sang the first hymn. On the request of queen of Pandiya Nadu, ThiruGnaanaSambandhar went on pilgrimage to south, defeated Jains in debate, the Jains' provocation of Sambandhar by burning his house and challenging him to debate, and ThiruGnaanaSambandhar 's eventual victory over them.  He was a contemporary of Appar, another Saiva saint. Information about Sambandhar comes mainly from the Periya Puranam, the eleventh-century Tamil book on the Nayanars that forms the last volume of the Tirumurai, along with the earlier Tiruttondartokai, poetry by Cuntarar and Nambiyandar Nambi'sTiru Tondar Tiruvandadi. A Sanskrit hagiography called Brahmapureesa Charitam is now lost. The first volumes of the Tirumurai contain three hundred and eighty-four poems of Campantar [in 4181 stanzas], all that survive out of a reputed more than 10,000 hymns. ThiruGnaanaSambandhar merged with Lord around the age of 16 in 655 CE on the day of his marriage. His verses were set to tune by ThiruNeelaKanda Yaazhp Paanar, who is set to have accompanied the musician on his yal or lute.

Appar's [aka Tirunavukkarasar] was born in the middle of 7th century in Tiruvamur, Tamil Nadu, his childhood name for Marulneekiar. His sister, Thilagavathiar was betrothed to a military commander who died in action. When his sister was about to end her life, he pleaded with her not to leave him alone in the world. She decided to lead an ascetic life and bring up her only brother. During boyhood, Appar was very much interested in Jainism and started studying its scriptures. He went away from home and stayed in their monastery and was renamed Darmasena. Details of Appar's life are found in his own hymns and in Sekkizhar's Periya Puranam[the last book of the Tirumurai]. Appar had travelled to nearby Patalipura to join a Jain monastery where he was given the name Dharmasena. "Seeing the transient, ephemeral world he decided to probe into truth through renunciation. After a while, afflicted by a painful illness, Dharmasena returned home. He prayed for relief at the Siva temple where his sister served and was cured by Lord. Lord gave the name 'ThiruNaavukkuArasar'. He was also involved in converting the Pallava king, Mahendravarman to Saivism. This was also the period of resurrection of the smaller Shiva temples. Appar sanctified all these temples by his verses and was also involved in cleaning of the dilapidated temples called uzhavarapadai. He was called Tirunavukkarasu, meaning the "King of divine speech". He extolled Siva in 49,000 stanzas out of which 3130 are now available and compiled in Tirumurais [4,5,6]. When he met Sambandhar, he called him Appar [meaning father]. 

He merged with lord around the age of 81 in Tirupugalur. He famously known for his ThiruThandagam[6th Thirumurai]. ThiruThandagam is difficult to compose, He is called as 'Thandagach Chadhurar' [Expert in ThiruThaandagam] Sundarar [aka Sundaramurthi] was born in Tirunavalur in a Brahmin family during the end of 7th century. Sadayanar and IsaiGnanyiaar are his parents. His own name was Nambi Arurar and was prevented from marrying by the divine grace of Siva. He later married a temple girl namely Paravi Naachiyaar and a vellala community girl by name Changili naachiyaar.  He is the author of 1026 poems compiled as 7th Tirumurai. He is close friend of KazharitruArivaar Nayanar aka Cheramaan perumaal Nayanar(one among the holy 63 nayanar) and EyarKon KalikKaama Nayanar(also one among the holy 63 nayanar. From ThiruAnjaiKalam [now ThiruVanjikulam], He went to Kaiylaayam in Holy Elephant which have 1000 horns.

The Hymns

All the songs in the Tevaram [called pathikam, Tamil:பதிகம்] are believed to be in sets of ten. The hymns were set to music denoted by Panns and are part of the canon of the Tamil music. They continue to be part of temple liturgy today. Several of these poems refer to historic references pointing to the saint-poets' own life, voice of devotee persona, using interior language of the mystic. Multi-vocal rheotoric is commonly used taking on personal emotions and genres and some voices of classical Sangam literature. Of the three, Sambandhar's life is better interpreted by his verses.  According to Zvelebil, Sambandhar's lyrics are characterized by egocentricism, by militancy and great ardour, by a warm feeling for the greatness and beauty of Tamil language with scholarly experimentation in meters showing familiarity with Sanskrit forms.  Sambandhar's poetry shows structural and thematic distinctiveness of the bhakti poetry: 

"In the temple where he is throned, who bids us not lose heart

In the hour when our senses grow confused, the way grows dim,

Our wisdom fails, and mucus chokes our struggling breath,

In Tiruvaiyar, where the girls dance around, and the drumbeats sound,

The monkeys fear the rain, run up the trees, and scan the clouds".

Appar's poems dealt with inner, emotional and psychological state of the poet saint.  The metaphors used in the poems have deep agrarian influence that is considered one of the striking chords for common people to get accustomed to the verse. The quote below is a popular song of Appar glorifying Shiva in simple diction.

"மாசில் வீணையும் மாலையும் மதியமும்

வீசு தென்றலில் வீங்கிள வேணியில்

மூசு வண்டறை பொய்கையும் போன்றதே

ஈசன் எந்தை இணையடி நிழலே"

translating to

"My Lord's twin feet are like the sweet-sounding Veena

like the full-moon of the evening

like the gently breeze blowing from the South

like the young spring

like a bee-humming lake"

Cuntarar's hymns [ Cuntarar was the Lord's comrade]  had a touch of humour, a rare thing in religious literature. In one of the verses, he playfully draws an anology with Siva with himself, both having two wives and the needs of nagging wives.  

"Thou art half woman. Thyself

Ganga is in thy long hair

Full well canst thou comprehend

Burden of woman so fair".

Cuntarar's hymns also gives us some idea of the complexity of his earthly life with two women, as well as his love and concern for each.  

The tendency to incorporate place names known to the folks in the idiom of the poems is another characteristic feature of Tevaram.  The poems also involved glorifying the feat of Shiva in the particular location - the usage of locale continuously occurring in the verses is a testament.  According to Prentiss, the poems do not represent social space as a contested space, the hymns represent the hymnists were free to wander and to offer their praise of Shiva.  The emotional intensity of the hymns represent spontaneous expression of thought as an emotional responses to God.  

Paadal Petra Sthalams are 275 temples that are revered in the verses of Tevaram and are amongst the greatest Shiva temples of the continent. The Divya Desams  by comparison are the 108 Vishnu temples glorified in the poems of the contemporary Vaishnava Alvars of Tamil Nadu, India. Vaippu Sthalangal are places that were mentioned casually in the songs in Tevaram.  The focus of the moovars hymns suggests darshan [seeing and being seen by God] within the puja [worship] offering.  The hymnists made classificatory lists of places likekatu [for forest], turai [port or refuge], kulam [water tank] and kalam [field] being used - thus both structured and unstructured places in the religious context find a mention in Tevaram.  

Compilation  

Raja Raja Chola [985-1013 CE] embarked on a mission to recover the hymns after hearing short excerpts of Tevaram in his court.  He sought the help of Nambi Andar Nambi. who was a priest in a temple.  It is believed that by divine intervention Nambi found the presence of scripts, in the form of cadijam leaves half eaten by white ants in a chamber inside the second precinct in Thillai Nataraja Temple, Chidambaram. Thebrahmanas [ Dikshitars] in the temple opposed the mission, but Rajaraja intervened by consecrating the images of the saint-poets through the streets of Chidambaram. Rajaraja thus became to be known as Tirumurai Kanda Cholan meaning one who saved the Tirumurai. Thus far Shiva temples only had images of god forms, but after the advent of Rajaraja, the images of the Nayanar saints were also placed inside the temple.

Nambi arranged the hymns of three saint poets Sambandhar, Appar and Sundarar as the first seven books, Manickavasagar's,Tirukovayar and Tiruvacakam as the 8th book, the 28 hymns of nine other saints as the 9th book, the Tirumandiram of Tirumular as the 10th book, 40 hymns by 12 other poets as the 10th book, Tirutotanar Tiruvanthathi - the sacred anthathi of the labours of the 63 nayanar saints and added his own hymns as the 11th book. The first seven books were later called as Tevaram, and the whole Saiva canon, to which was added, as the 12th book, Sekkizhar's Periya Puranam (1135 CE) is wholly known as Tirumurai, the holy book. Thus Saiva literature which covers about 600 years of religious, philosophical and literary development.

Nambi was also involved in setting musical modes for Tevaram. He accomplished this by visiting his native village of Tirunilakanta Yalpanar, where he met a woman of the panar caste who learned the mode of divine revelation. She returned to Chidambaram with Nambi, where she sang and danced for Shiva. 

In 1918, 11 more songs were found engraved in stone temple in Tiruvidavayil in a village close to Nannillam and it was the first instance found where Tevaram verses were found in inscriptions. 

In Culture

Tevaram was one of the sole reasons for converting Vedic ritual to Agamic puja followed in Shiva temples. Though these two systems are overlapping, Agamic tradition ensures the perpetuation of the Vedic religion's emphasis on the efficacy of ritual as per Davis.Odhuvars,Sthanikars, or Kattalaiyars offer musical programmes in Shiva temples of Tamil Nadu by singing Tevaram after the daily rituals. These are usually carried out as chorus programme soon after the divine offering. The singing of Tevaram was followed by musicals from the music pillars in such temples like Madurai Meenakshi Amman Temple, Nellaiappar Temple and Suchindram. 

The singers of these hymns were referred as Tirupadiyam Vinnapam seyvar or Pidarar from the inscriptions of Nandivarman III in the Tiruvallam Bilavaneswara temple records. Rajaraja deputed 48 pidarars and made liberal provisions for their maintenance and successors. A few earlier records give details about the gifts rendered to the singers of Tevaram from Parantaka I of 8th century.  A record belonging to Rajendra I mentions Tevaranayakan, the supervisor of Tevaram and shows the institutionalisation of Tevaram with the establishiment of a department. There are records from Kulothunga Chola III from Nallanyanar temple in South Arcot indicating singing of Tiruvempavai and Tiruvalam of Manickavasagar during special occasion in the temple. 

From the 13th century, the texts were passed on to the Odhuvars by the Adheenams or mathas and there was no more control by the kings or the Brahmanas. The Odhuvars were from vellala community and were trained in ritual singing in Tevaram schools. 

Periya Puranam, the eleventh-century Tamil book on the Nayanars that forms the last volume of the Tirumurai primarily had references only toTevaram and subsequently expanded to 12 parts. One of the first anthologies of moovars hymns called the Tevara Arulmuraitirattu is linked to Tamil Saiva siddhantha philosophy by grouping ninety-nine verses into 10 categories. The category headings are God, soul, bond, grace, guru, methodology, enlightenment, bliss, mantra and liberation - correspond to Umapthi's work, Tiruvarutpayan. Tirumurai kanda puranam is another anthology for Tirumurai as a whole, but primarily focuses on Tevaram. It is the first of the works to refer the collection of volumes asTirumurai

Saiva Neri [The Saiva Way]

63Nayanars are from Holy South India. Tamilnadu is the land of Temples and 64 ThiruVilayadal by Lord. ThiruGnaanaSambanthar beat Jainism by curing the fever of the King,Contest in Fire and Contest in Water. The Jains,themselves agreed to die if they failed to win the contests. ThiruGnaanaSambanthar,ThiruNaavukkuArasar,Sundara Murthy Nayanar,Manickavasagar are the four Paramaacharyas [holy teachers]. Manickavasagar beat Budhisht monks in a debat by curing the Dumbness of Srilanka King' daughter in Chidambaram. ThiruNaavukarasar beat Jain Monks who gave many troubles to him. Jain Monks gave poison to him, Locked him in a Lime stone furnace and Throwed him in the sea by tied to big stone. But ThiruNaavukarasar won all the troubles and Praised Lord. SaivaNeri is the one follows in the path of Naalvar.Tevaram helps us to follow in the Saiva Neri.

Tirumurai
The twelve volumes of Tamil Śaiva hymns of the sixty-three Nayanars
Parts	Name	Author
1,2,3	Tirukadaikkappu	Sambandar
4,5,6	Tevaram	Tirunavukkarasar
7	Tirupaatu	Sundarar
8	Tiruvacakam & Tirukkovaiyar	Manikkavacakar
9	Tiruvisaippa & Tiruppallaandu	Various
10	Tirumandhiram	Tirumular

11	Various
12	Periya Puranam	Sekkizhar
Paadal Petra Sthalam
Paadal Petra Sthalam
Raja Raja Chola  Nambiyandar Nambi [Courtesy: Wikipedia]