Introduction to the first Volume

I

The Tamil Country, more than any other part of this world, continues even now to be the home of all religions. Among these religions, the authoritative treatises on the Shaiva Siddhanta and the Tenkalai Vainnavism are found only in Tamil. They are the wonderful products of the Tamilian intellect and history. Of these two, Shaivism has become, in the course of the history of the Tamil Land, identified with pure Tamil Literature as contrasted with the Manipravala or Sanskritized Tamili which has become, in the popular view, identified with Vaispavism.

II

The Sacred books of the Shaivites in Tamil consist of two series: the one, the Sacred Literature called the Tirumurais, and the other, the exposition of the Shaivite Philosophy called the Fourteen Sastras. The Tirumunais are placed on a par with the Vedas themselves. Being poetry of a very high order, they are naturally more popular and authoritative than the other collection which attempts but to systematize the philosophical thought, running through this sacred literature of the hymns.

III

These Tirumurais are twelve in number, as they sland at present; for, their number must have evidently been growing from time to time. Tirumupai really means a Sacred book. The first seven Tirumurais are the hymns of the three great Shaivite saints, Tirunanacampantar, Tirunavukkaracar (otherwise known as Appar) and Nampi Arurar (otherwise known as Cuntarar). These three saints occupy a pre-eminent position in the Tamilian Shaivite world and therefore they are called ‘Muvar Mutalikalli ‘the three great Lords of Shaivism.’ It is their hymns that were probably first collected. These hymns were the best musical compositions of their age and it is on the basis of their music, that the poems of Campantar were grouped as three different books, the first, the second and the third

Tirumurais. In the same way, the hymns of Tirunavukkaracar were compiled into three different books, the fourth, the fifth and the sixth Tirumurais. Though there was a variety of musical compositions in Nampi Arurar’s poems as well, his works were collected, into one single book alone, as the seventh Tirumurai, because of the lesser number of his poems then available.

IV

Of these three saints, Campantar and Appar are contemporaries and Arurar comes after them. Appar is admitted on all sides to have been the contemporary of Mahendravarman whom he has converted to Shaivism. Mahendravarman belongs to the first part of the seventh century A.D. Campantar, who is a younger contemporary of Appar, is also a contemporary of Ciruttontar, the conqueror of Vatapi (Badami). In the seventh century itself, Badami was twice conquered by the Great Pallavas, once in the reign of Narasnhhavarman the Mamalla, and again in the reign of his descendant Paramesvara. Because of these, some like the late Prof. Sundaram Pillai would make Campantar belong to the first half of the seventh century and others like Prof. M. Raghava Aiyangar would assign him to the last part of the seventh century. Arurar refers to these two great saints, Campantar and Appar, with great reverence and love. In great humility, he sings that he is only repeating what these two great saints have sung. Therefore, by his time, the two saints and their poems must have become very popular and authoritative. As there is a good deal of conflict about Arurar’s age, it has to be discussed separately, but it may be stated here that he is not assigned to any period later than the 9th century A.D.

V

The poems that comprise the eighth Tirumurai are Tiruvacakam and Tirukkovaiyar by Manikkavacakar. These ‘bone-melting hymns’ as Dr. Pope would praise them, could not have been missed. The singing of these hymns set to music became a regular part of temple worship and because of their importance, even members of the Royal families composed a few hymns. These musical compositions of kings and others were collected together as the ninth Tirumurai, somewhere in the eleventh century, perhaps after the construction of the great temple Kankaikonni Colapuram, which is referred to in this collection. The omission of the popular and eclectic poems of Tirumular was soon felt and they were collected as the tenth Tirumurai. Other Shaivite poems belonging to different ages were redacted into a miscellaneous collection called the eleventh Tirumurai. The adoration of Shaivite saints and their poems required a Purann or an Epic. Cekkilar gave expression to this universal desire of the Tamilian Shaivites in his Periyapuranam which was classified as the twelfth Tirumurai, somewhere about the 12’th or the 13th century A.D. It is in this century that the age of Philosophical expositions by Meikantar and his disciples called the Santana Acaryas, began; for Meikanta Tevar of Thiruvennainallur is mentioned in an inscription of the year 1232 A.D., and Umapaticivam, the disciple of Marainana Campantar, himself a disciple of Arulnanti, who is in turn a disciple of Meikantar, writes that his work Cankarpanirakaranam was written in Saka 1235, i.e., 1313 A.D.

VI

It is clear from this enumeration of sacred books that the first place of importance was given from very early times to the hymns of the three Tevaram saints as they were called. They belong to the heyday of the glorious Pallavas. It was Mahendravarman that claims to have introduced a new way of building temples in rocks as opposed to the old temples, all of which must have been built either of wood or of bricks. The political revival of the Pallava Age had its counterpart in the religious and cultural revival of the Tamil country; and in this revival the ever-increasing temples became the community centres for the Tamil people. The three great Shaivite saints of Tevaram, along with their hosts of followers, went round the whole of the Tamil country and composed and sang their beautiful and original musical compositions in every one of the temples they visited. The cult of the temples and pilgrimages was thus unconsciously laying its deep foundations in this country. The beautiful descriptions of landscapes in every village of which these saints sang, made the inhabitants take a pride in their native villages and cherish the memory of the associated musical verses. This local appeal and colouring made these poems really universal and popular all through the Tamil land.

VII

The very fact that these hymns were collected together shows the importance attached to them in public and private worship. The first place of importance the Tirumutais occupy in such worship is explained by the fact, that they were sung and made popular by these great saints themselves, thanks to the practice of singing these hymns in temples, and their singing became an indispensable part of the temple worship.

The Kamikagama, the agama which rules most of the temples in South India lays down that the hymns in Tamil should be sung immediately after the daily worship in every temple:

“Tadurdhvam grandha bhasadyair ganam dhupantamacaret
Urdhvam Dravida bhasangam ganam nrttayutam tu va’.

VIII

It is the hymns of the Shaivite aliyars and the Vaisnnvite alaars that revitalised Hinduism in the Tamil country. The early Pallava Inscriptions are all in Prakrit and reveal the influence of Sanskrit. The Pallavas were also great patrons of Sanskrit learning and Sanskrit centres of learning, viz., the Sanskrit Universities like Cofijivaram, Bahur and Ghatikacalam. Dandin was a poet of the Pallava Court and Mahendravarman himself had written a Sanskrit Drama, Matta Vilasam. But Sanskrit could never have appealed to the popular minds of the Tamil country. The Buddhists and the Jains had realised this truth very early in the history of converting Tamil country to their fold. They, therefore, gave the place of importance to the regional languages and developed them by writing in them text books on grammar, ethics, popular stories and philosophy. The Hindu revivalists realized this secret of their success and began singing in Tamil. This had such a tremendous effect; and soon Buddhists and Jains lost their hold on the common man. The revolutionary move has to be explained at length.

IX

As Nampi Arurar himself admits that he is giving expression to the same thoughts and ideas which the two other great saints had sung, his work can be looked upon as a key to unlock the secret treasures of the earlier writers. Compared to the small compass of Arurar’s writings—there are not even 1,000 verses of his—the poems of the other saints are voluminous and without this key they are a labyrinth for beginners. It is therefore safer to begin the study of Tevaram with Arurar.