Panniru Thirumurai – Introduction

(panniru = "twelve"; thirumurai = "holy books")

Dr. S. SundarabaluVisiting Professor ,ICCR’s Tamil Chair Institute of Oriental Studies, Dept. of IndologyJagiellonian University, Krakow-Poland Sunder_balu@yahoo.co.inIndia-9715769995

Between Me & Lord Shiva:

Lord Shiva: What is ur wishes my dear child? Me: I don't want to reborn My Lord, Lord Shiva: But if u reborn again...what will be ur wishes? Me: My Lord, just give me the heart that never forgets u.. it's enough.

Happiness two srrinpam and peerinpam

• This is a list of popular Hindu temples in the Indian

state of Tamil Nadu, known as Land of Temples. Nearly

34,000 ancient temples, many at least 800 to 1200

years old, are found scattered all over the state. Most

of the largest Hindu Temples reside here.

• Studded with complex architecture, variety of

sculptures, and rich inscriptions, the temples remain

the very essence of the culture and heritage of Tamil

land, with historical records dating back to at least

3,000 years.

Panniru Thirumurai (panniru = "twelve"; thirumurai = "holy books") refers to the twelve-book collection of hymns and writings of South Indian Saivite Saints, compiled by Saint Nambi-Andar-Nambi .

One of the greatest movements of the world — the Saiva bakthi movement — took place in Tamil Nadu between the seventh and tenth centuries. The movement surrounded the entire land and the inspiration for this was the writings of the Saiva Saints, which formed the canonical literature of Saivism.

• Saivism is a pan-Indian phenomenon. But it was these saints who took it to the common man through their hymns. For the first time, hymns were composed in the regional language, namely Tamil, instead of Sanskrit.

• The Panniru Thimurai is a canonical literature that is unique in more than one sense. It was written in Tamil and formed the fountain head of Saiva Siddhanta philosophy. It was also divine and attracted people. The outpourings were superbly devotional and it was this that sparked off the bakthi movement.

• The sincerity and depth of the poems of the Panniru Thirumurai captured the head and heart of the common people. The result was that the popular and powerful faiths of Buddhism and Jainism slowly faded away.

• The Tamil Panniru Thirumurai Saivite literature covered the way for devotional literature in other regions to appear in their regional languages instead of Sanskrit. The Bakthi movement spread all over the country. We find that this canonical literature occupies a special place in Indian religious literature. A study of Saivism in India is incomplete if the contribution of Tamil saints is not understood.

• The canonical literature, as mentioned earlier,

comprises of the poetry of Tamil Saivite Saints like

1. Thiru-jnana sambanthar,

2. Thiru-navukk-arasar (Appar),

3. Sundarar,

4. Manikkavasagar, and others. The corpus of

devotional literature is collectively called Panniru

Thirumurai. As the name reveals, it consists of

twelve major titles.

• These 12 Thirumurais are arranged into four categories. They are:

• sthothiram (stothram)- hymns in praise (thirumuRais 1-9)

• chaaththiram (shaastram)- guidelines or philosophical treatises (10th

thirumuRai)• prabhantam (assorted)

- songs composed of various language constructs (11th thirumuRai)

• puraaNam (history)- historical recount (12th thirumuRai)

The Thirumurais (holy books) have been named numerically as the

• 1st Thirumurai (Book 1), 2nd Thirumurai (Book 2), etc. Of these, the spiritual outpourings of Thiru-jnana sambanthar (ca 600) are divided into the first three books (Thirumurai 1-3).

• Thirumurais 4-6 are the hymns of Thiru-navukk-arasar (Appar) — (a contemporary of Sambanthar).

• Thirumurai 7 contains the hymns of Saint Sundarar (ca 800). All these seven books are collectively called Thevaaram.

• The 8 th Thirumurai is by Manikkavasagar (ca 850) and contains two works, namely Thiruvaasagam and Thirukkovaiyaar.

• The 9 th Thirumurai, known as Thiruvisaippaa and Thiruppallaandu, which together comprise an anthology of hymns by nine saints (described in table below).

• Thirumanthiram, a unique book by Saint Thirumular (ca 200 BCE) forms the 10th Thirumurai.

• The 11th Thirumurai contains the hymns of ten saints, including Saint Nakkeerar and Nambi-Andar-Nambi (the compiler), called Prabhantams.

• The 12th Thirumurai is the Periyapuraanam by Saint Sekkilaar (11th century), narrating the life story of the 63 Nayanar (Saivite) saints.

Thirumurai Name Author Verses1

Thevaaram (thirukkadaikkaappu) Thiru-jnana sambanthar 4147234

Thevaaram Thiru-navukk-arasar (Appar) 3067567 Thevaaram (thiruppaattu) Sundarar 1026

8 Thiruvasaagam & ThirukkOvaiyaar Manikkavasagar 1056

9 Thiruvisaippaa & Thiruppallaandu

Composed by nine authors:thirumALigaiththEvar, chEndhanAr,

karuvUrththEvar, pUnthuruththi kADanambi, kaNDarAdhiththar, vENATTaDikaL,

thiruvAliyamudhanAr, puruDoththama nambi, chEdhirAyar

301

10 Thirumanthiram Thiru-Mular 3047

11 Prabanthams

Composed by twelve authors (consisting of 41 prabhantams):

thiru-AlavAyuDaiyAr, kAraikkAl ammaiyAr, aiyaDikaL kADavarkOn, chEramAn perumAL,

nakkIrar, kallADar, kapilar, paraNar, iLamperumAn aDikal, adhirAvaDikaL,

paTTinaththup piLLaiyAr, nambi-ANDAr-nambi

1419

12 Periya-Puraanam Sekkilaar 4286

Total (Number of verses available): 18349

The Panniru (twelve) Thirumurais are summarized in the following table:

• Being a popular and favourite faith of Tamil Nadu,

Saivism has attracted the attention of scholars of

other religions too. This fact is exemplified by the

efforts Dr. Rev. G.U. Pope, who took to translate

Thiruvasagam and Tiruvarutpayan (one of the

philosophical treatises of Saiva Siddhanta) into

English. • Thus, Panniru Thirumurai has proven to be a subject for translation

and research. More importantly, it is a subject to be studied in depth to understand Saivism, its people, and the culture of Tamil Nadu.

• http://www.skandagurunatha.org/deities/siva/thirumurai/

Life of the Sixty three Nayanmar - Periyapuraanam

12 Periya-Puraanam Sekkilaar

Nayanars• The Nayanars or Nayanmars (Tamil: நா�யன்மா�ர்கள்)

were devotional saint poets of vishnu in Tamil Nadu,

who were active between the 5th and 10th

centuries CE. The Tamil Śhaiva (related to Shiva)

hagiography(Biography of saints) Periya Puranam (a volume of the

Tirumurai written during the 13th century CE) narrates the history of

each of 63 Nayanars and 9 Thokai Adiyars.

• Sundarar's 8th century work, Thiruthoṇdar thogai, lists

60 Shaiva saints but does not describe any of the legends

associated with them.

• In the 10th century CE Nambiyandar Nambi composed

the Tirutoṇṭar Antādi, a sequence of interlocking verses,

whose title can be rendered as the Necklace of Verses on

the Lord's Servants. In this work, Nambi adds Sundarar

and his parents to the sequence, creating what is now

the canonical list of 63 saints, each with a brief sketch of

his legend.

• Nayanars were from varied backgrounds, ranging from kings and soldiers to Dalits. The foremost Nayanmars were Appar, Sundarar , Thirughana Sambandar and Manikka vasagar.

• Together with the twelve Vaishnava Alvars, the Nayanars are sometimes considered South India's 75 Apostles of Bhakti because of their importance to the rise of the Hindu Bhakti movement.

• They praised 275 of this deity's most holy temple residence as the Paadal Petra Sthalams of the Shiva Sthalams on the continent

GROUP Nayanmars Alwars

Brahmins 16 4

Kshatriyas 12 2

Vaishyas 5 -

Farmers 14 1

Shepherds 2 -

Fisherman 1 -

Oil monger 1 -

Hunter 1 -

Washer man 1 -

Potter 1 -

Weaver 1 -

Untouchables 2 1

Caste not Known 6 4

Total 63 12

http://www.academia.edu/310962/The_Early_Bhakti_Poets_of_Tamil_Nadu_Exploring_the_Bhakti_Movement_Literature_and_Iconography

Panniru_Thirumurai_-_Songs_Mp3_Youtube_Video_Movie_Padam_Ly-1.mpeg

Panniru_Thirumurai_-_Songs_Mp3_Youtube_Video_Movie_Padam_Ly.mpeg

http://www.inbaminge.com/t/devotional/Panniru%20Thirumurai/

• Tirunavukkarasar (Tamil: திருநா�வுக்கரசர்

Tirunāvukkaracar "King of the Tongue, Lord of

Language"), also known as Appar "Father", was a

seventh-century Śaiva Tamil poet-saint, one of the

most prominent of the sixty-three Nayanars. He was

an older contemporary of Sambandar. His birth-

name was Marulneekkiyar: he was called "father"

by Sambandhar, hence the name Appar.

• 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.

• Appar had travelled to Patalipura in bihar 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. He was also involved in converting the Pallava king, Mahendravarman to Saivaism. This was also the period of resurrection of the smaller Shiva temples.

• Appar sanctified (holy) 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 4-7.

sundarar• Sundarar or Sundaramurthi (Tamil சுந்திரர், 8th

century CE), also known affectionately as Tampiran Tōzhan (Comrade of the Master (Shiva))was one of the most prominent among the Nayanars, the Shaiva bhakti (devotional) poets of Tamil Nadu. He was a contemporary of Cheraman Perumal and Kotpuli Nayanar who also figure in the 63 Nayanmars.

• The songs of praise are called Thiruthondathogai and is the original nucleus around which the Periyapuranam is based. The Periya Puranam, which collects the legends of the Nayanars, starts and ends with him. The hymns of seventh volume of the Tirumurai, the twelve-volume compendium of the poetry of Tamil Shaiva Siddhanta, were composed by him.

Sambandar• Sambandar (also called Thirugyana Sambandar,

Tirugnana Sambanthar, Campantar, Champantar, Jnanasambandar, Gnanasambandar) was a young Saiva poet-saint of Tamil Nadu who lived around the 7th century CE.

• He is one of the most prominent of the sixty-three Nayanars, Tamil Saiva bhakti saints who lived between the sixth and the tenth centuries CE. Sambandar's hymns to Shiva were later collected to form the first three volumes of the Tirumurai, the religious canon of Tamil Saiva Siddhanta. He was a contemporary of Appar, another Saiva saint.

• The first volumes of the Tirumurai contain three hundred and eighty-four poems of Sambandar, all that survive out of a reputed more than 10,000 hymns.

• According to the ancient texts, Sambandar was born to Sivapada Hrudiyar and his wife Bhagavathiar who lived in Sirkazhi in what is

now Tamil Nadu. They were Saivite brahmins. When Sambandar was three years old his parents took him to the Shiva temple where Shiva and his consort Parvati appeared before the child. His father saw drops of milk on the child's mouth and asked who had fed him, whereupon the boy pointed to the sky and responded with the song Todudaya Seviyan, the first verse of the Tevaram.

clip from gnanakuzhanthai.flv

• Manikkavacakar was a Tamil poet who wrote Tiruvasakam, a book of Shaiva hymns. Manikkavasakar was one of the main authors of saivite tirumurai: his work forms one volume of the Tirumurai, the key religious text of Tamil Shaiva Siddhanta. A minister to the Pandya king Varagunavarman II (c. 862 C.E. – 885 C.E.) (also called Arimarthana Pandiyan), he lived in Madurai. His work is a poetic expression of the joy of God-experience, the anguish of being separated from God. Although he is a prominent saint in Southern India, he is not counted among the sixty-three nayanars.

• Manikkavasakar is said to have born in Vadhavoor (Thiruvadhavoor, near by melur [madurai D.t]), seven miles from Madurai on the banks of river Vaigai. He belonged to Brahmin community.

• According to accounts the king of Pandyan dynasty had selected Manikkavasagar as a part of his legion after seeing his military acumen and had once entrusted him with a large amount of money to purchase horses for his cavalry. On his way he met an ascetic devotee of Siva, who in fact was Siva himself.

• Manikkavasakar received enlightenment, realised that material things are transitory and built the temple of Siva in Tirupperunturai with the money. King Varaguna also was preached with knowledge of reality and blessed with mukthi after Lord Siva made him realize his small worldly mistake. Varaguana maharaja immediately gave up his throne and attained mukthi at feet of Lord Sivan.

wisdom

BHAKTI POETS OF TAMILNADU

KARAIKKAL AMMIYAR

woman poet Punithavathiar, famously known as Karaikkal Ammaiyar. Her life incidents are mentioned in the Periyapuranam

.From her childhood she developed a love of God and studied religious literature. She was married to a rich merchant Paramadattan. The anecdote of the mango is very famous one which tells about her divine gifts and sadly reveals how her husband left her.

• The story goes like this, once Paramadattan handed

two mangoes to Punithavathiar from his friends.

She gave one to a hungry devotee of the Lord.

When her husband came for lunch she served him

the other one which was very delicious. He asked

for the second one and she prayed to the lord. Lord

gifted a mango to her which she gave it to

Paramadattan. He found it very tasty and asked

where she had got it.

• She told him what happened and he forced her to

get another one. She prayed and got another

mango but this time it vanished from his hands.

Scared by her divine powers he left her and married

another woman. Shattered by this incident she

renounced the worldly pleasures and decide to

dedicate her life to the god. She shed her flesh and

took the form of a demoness. She then composed

her first poem called

Abirami pattar

• Subramaniya Iyer (Tamil: சுப்ரமாணி�ய அய்யர்) was born to one Amirthalinga Iyer in the village of Thirukadaiyur. Tirukkadaiyur has one of elegant Brahmin quarters near the temple called as agraharams established by the Maratha ruler Serfoji-I, a great admirer of Brahmin poets and bards, in the early part of the 18th century. The village was famous for its Lord Shiva temple named asAmritaghateswarar AbiramiTemple, Thirukkadaiyur. Right from his childhood, Subramaniya Iyer was drawn to the temple and the Goddess.

• One day, Raja Serfoji, the Maratha Raja of Thanjavur who ruled over the land, visited the temple to pay homage to Lord Shiva. On noticing the peculiar behavior of Subramaniya Iyer who was a temple priest, he inquired the other priests about the individual. One of them remarked that he was a madman while another rejected this categorization explaining to the king that Subramaniya Iyer was only an ardent devotee of Goddess Abhirami.

• Seeking to know the truth himself, Serfoji approached the priest and asked him what day of the month it was i.e. whether it was a full-moon day or a new-moon day. Subramaniya Iyer answered mistakenly that it was a Pournami (Tamil: பௌ��ர்ணிமா�, Lit. full-moon day) who could see nothing else but the shining luminant form of the Goddess. While in reality, the night was an Amavasya (Tamil: அம்மா�வசைச, Lit. new-moon day). The king rode off informing the former that he would have his head cut off, if the moon did not appear on the sky by six in the night.

• Immediately realizing his mistake, Subramaniya Iyer supposedly lit a huge fire and erected a platform over it supported by a hundred ropes. He sat upon the platform and prayed to the Goddess Abhirami to save him. He cut off one rope after another in succession on completion of each verse of his prayer. These hymns form the Abhirami Anthadhi.

• On verge of completing the 79th hymn, the Goddess Abhirami manifested herself before him and threw her thadanga (Tamil: திடங்சைக, Lit. diamond earring ornament), over the sky such that it shined with bright light upon the horizon. Overcome with ecstasy, Subramaniya Iyer composed 22 more verses in praise of the Goddess.

• The king repented his mistake and immediately cancelled the punishment he had awarded Subramaniya Iyer. He also bestowed upon the latter the title of "Abirami Pattar" or "One who worships Goddess Abhirami or The Priest of Goddess Abhirami" and supposedly awarded his successors the privilege of using the title "Bharathi".

Maniye Maniyin Oliye _ Aathi Parasakthi _ Tamil Film Song.flv

Avaiyar

• Avaiyar• The Avvaiyars (Tamil: ஔசைவய�ர்; English: Respectable

Women) was the title of more than one poet who was active during different periods of Tamil literature. The Avvaiyar were some of the most famous and important female poets of the Tamil canon. Abithana Chintamani states that there were three female poets titled Avvaiyar.

• Among them, Avvaiyar I lived during the Sangam period (c. 1st and 2nd century CE) and had cordial relation with the Tamil chieftains Paari and Athiyaman. She wrote 59 poems in the Puṟanāṉūṟu.

• Avvaiyar II lived during the period of Kambar and Ottakoothar during the reign of the Chola dynasty in the 13th century. She is often imagined as an old and intelligent lady by Tamil people. She wrote many of the poems that remain very popular even now and are inculcated in school textbooks in Tamil Nadu. These books include a list of dos and don'ts, useful for daily life, arranged in simple and short sentences.

Pazham Neeyappa - Thiruvilayadal Tamil song - K.B. Sundaramb.flv

srinisha_s Pazham Neeyappa_.flv

• There is a very famous legend that is associated with Auvaiyar (also Auvayar) (Tamil: ஔசைவய�ர்), a prominent female poets/ethicist/political activist of Sangam period (Tamil literature), and Naaval Pazham (Jambu) in Tamil Nadu. Auvaiyar, believing to have achieved everything that is to be achieved, is said to have been pondering her retirement from Tamil literary work while resting under Naaval Pazham tree.

• But she is met with and was wittily jousted by a disguised Lord Murugan (regarded as one of the guardian deities of Tamil language), who later revealed himself and made her realize that there was still a lot more to be done and learnt. Following this awakening, Auvaiyar is believed to have undertaken a fresh set of literary works, targeted at children. These works, even after a millennium, are often among the very first literature that children are exposed to in Tamil Nadu schools.

Sutta Pazham Sudatha Pazham Super Scene.flv

Avvaiyar Song with Eng Translation.flv

• Arunakiri• Arunagirinathar was a Tamil poet who lived during the

15th century in Tamil Nadu, India. He was the creator of Tiruppugazh, a book of poems in Tamil in praise of the Hindu God Murugan.

• The Thiruppugazh composed by him, consisted of 16,000 songs, of which only about 1,365 has been traced. His poems are known for their lyricism coupled with complex rhymes and rhythmic structures. In Thiruppugazh, the literature and devotion has been blended harmoniously.

• Thiruppugazh is one of the major works of medieval Tamil literature, known for its poetical and musical qualities, as well as for its religious, moral and philosophical content.

• Arunagiri was born in Thiruvannamalai, a town in Tamil Nadu. His father died soon after his birth and his mother and sister instilled him with their cultural and religious traditions. Legends claim that Arunagiri was attracted to the pleasures of the flesh and spent his youth in pursuing a life of debauchery. His sister always gave whatever she earned to make her brother happy, and he frequented devadasis.

• It was said since he was enjoying life luxuriously he started to suffer leprosy and which people started avoiding him. There came a time when his sister had no money to meet his demands. She said that he should sell her in order to have money, upon hearing which Arunagirinathar realised how selfish he had been. He decided to end his life, went to a temple and hit his head against the pillars and steps, begging for forgiveness. Then he leapt from the temple tower. He was however miraculously saved from the death by the god Muruga who transformed him into a saint.

• Arunagiri sang his first devotional song and thereafter decided to spend the rest of his life writing poetry and singing in praise of God. He was a devotee of Muruga and worshipped him at Vedapureeswarar temple at the sacred place known as Cheyyar.

Muthai tharu - Thiruppugazh.flv

thiruvilaiyaatalpuranam• Hinduism has a very rich body of religious works and

literature. Vedas and their associated works and their branching sciences and fields, etc. There is a body of literature called Puranas and Ithihasas. They are collection and compilations of stories, history, descriptions, explanations of rituals, geography, etc. The Puranas are 18 in number.

• They are the major puranas. Apart from these there are the minor puranas. Then there are the sthala puranas. These deal with the

• greatness of a particular holy place or religious centre. There is one unique purana which is of a different calibre. This the ThiruViLaiyaadal PuraNa. This purana describes the 64 Divine Sports and Exploits of Lord Siva of Madurai known as Chokanatha or Sundaresvara. There have been several puranas which dealt with the same theme. There is a Sanskrit version known as Halasya Mahathmiyam.

• The stories which form the corpus of the latest version of the Thiruvilayadal puranam are ancient. Some of the stories go backwards in time to the period of the second Tamil Sangam. Many of the 64 stories have been mentioned by Thirugnyanasambandhar and Thirunavukkarasar. That would take them back before the 6th century AD. Which would mean that whatever puranas about them that existed, must have vanished. The latest version was composed by Parajothi Munivar in the 16th - 17th century.

• ThiruviLaiyAl puraNam is the national puranam for Pandya nadu. The present version was composed by Parajothi Munivar in the 16th century. He was a native of Vedaranyam of Tanjavur District. He was Tamil scholar. He wrote the Vedaranya Puranam in Tamil from the original Sanskrit form.

• After its completion, he started on an itinery which took him to many Saivite pilgrimage centres. He went to all the important places like Chidambaram, Thiruvanaikkaa, Thiruvannamalai, Thiruvarur and finally reached Madurai. He became very popular with people of Madurai who revered him. He stayed in Madurai and was performing his worships to the Siva of Madurai. One day the people of Madurai made a popular request. They wanted Paranjothi Munivar to compose a puranam involving the 64 Divine Sports of Siva which took place in Pandyanadu centred around Madurai.

?????????? ?? ????? ?????????? - Isai thamizh nee seidha aru.flv

Thiruvilayadal - Paattum Naanae Song.flv