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

See also

• Manikkavacakar
• Nandanar
• Tamil mythology

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