Nayanars

This article is about Shaivite poets of Tamil Nadu. For the ethnic group, see Nayanar (Nair subcaste).

The 3 foremost Nayanars with Manikkavacakar - collectively called the Nalvars: (from left) Sambandar, Appar, Sundarar, Manikkavacakar.

For other uses of the name, see Nayanmar.

The Nayanars or Nayanmars (Tamil: நாயன்மார்கள்) were Shaivite devotional poets of Tamil Nadu, active between the fifth and the tenth centuries CE. The Tamil Śaiva hagiography Periya Puranam, a volume of the Tirumurai, written during the thirteenth century CE, narrates the history of each of sixty-three Nayanars and the history of nine Thokai Adiyar.

Sundarar's eighth century work Tirutoṇṭar tokai lists 60 Shaiva saints^[1] but gives none of the legends associated with them. In the tenth century CE Nambiyandar Nambi composed the Tirutoṇṭar Antādi, a sequence of interlocking verses the title of which can be rendered as the Necklace of Verses on the Lord's Servants. In this work Nambi and Sundarar, himself and his parents to the sequence, creating what is now the canonical list of sixty-three saints, each with a brief sketch of their legend.

Nayanars were from varied backgrounds, ranging from kings and soldiers to untouchables. The foremost Nayanars are Appar, Sundarar and Sambandar. Together with the twelve Vaishnava Alvars, the Nayanars are sometimes accounted South India's 75 Apostles of Bhakti because of their importance in the rise of the Hindu Bhakti movement.

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

The sixty-three Nayanmars

The 63 nayanmars in a Shiva temple

Kannappa Nayanar

1. Anaya
2. Adipaththar
3. Aiyadigal Kaadavarkon, Pallava King Aiyadigal Perumaanaar
4. Amaraneedi Nayanar
5. Appudhi Adigal
6. Arivattaya
7. Chandeshvara Nayanar
8. DhandiyadigaL
9. Enatinatha
10. Eripaththa
11. Eyarkon Kalikkaama
12. Gananatha
13. Idankazhi
14. Ilayankudi maranar
15. Isaignaniyaar - a woman
16. Iyarpagaiar
17. Kaari
18. Kalikkamba
19. Kaliya
20. Kanampulla
21. Kannappa Nayanar
22. Karaikkal Ammaiyar a woman
23. Kazharchinga
24. Kazharir-rarivaar, Chera King, also Cheraman Perumal
25. Kochengat Cholan, A Chola King
26. Kootruva
27. Kotpuli
28. Kulachchirai
29. Kungiliyak Kalaya
30. Manakkanychaara Nayanar
31. Mangayarkkarasiyar, a woman
32. Meiporul Nayanar
33. Murkha
34. Murti
35. Munayaduvaar
36. Muruga
37. Nami Nandi Adigal
38. Narasingha Munayaraya
39. Nesa Nayanar
40. Ninra Seer Nedumaara
41. Perumizhalaik Kurumba
42. Pusalar
43. Pugal Chola, A Chola King
44. Pugazh Thunai Nayanar
45. Saakkiya
46. Sadaiya Nayanar
47. Saththi
48. Seruthtunai
49. Sirappuli
50. Siruttonda
51. Somaachi
52. Sundarar
53. Sambandar (Tirugnaana Sambandar)
54. Tirukkuripput Tonda
55. Tirumular
56. Thirunalai Povar Nayanar, popularly known as Nandanar
57. Tirunavukkarasar, popularly known as Appar
58. Thiruneelakandar
59. Tirunilakanda Yaazpaana
60. Tirunilanakka
61. Uruttira Pasupati
62. Vaayilaar
63. Viralminda nayanar

See also

• Manikkavacakar
• Nandanar
• Tamil mythology

Notes

1. ^ Dr R. Nagasamy. Siva Bhakthi. Chapter 2.

External links

• Nayanmar temples map

References

• Lord Siva and His Worship
• Sixty-Three Nayanmar Saints.
• - 63 Nayanmar Stories
• Stories Of Nayanars PDF Download - In Telugu