Thirugnana Sambandar

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Thirugnana Sambandar

The Child Saint Sampandar, Chola dynasty, 12th century India, Freer Gallery of Art, Washington DC
Born unknown
Sirkali
Birth name Sambandan
Titles/honours Nayanar saint, Moovar
Philosophy Saivism Bhakti
Literary works Tevaram

Thirugnana Sambandar (Tamil:திருஞானசம்பந்தர் - also rendered as Tirugnana Sambanthar, Sambandar, Campantar, Champantar, Sambandar, Jnanasambandar, Gnanasambandar) was a young Saiva poet-saint of Tamil Nadu who lived around the 7th century CE.[1]

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. Sampandar'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.[2]

Contents

[edit] Life

Om symbol
Tirumurai
Om symbol
The twelve volumes of Tamil Shaivite hymns of the sixty-three Nayanars
Parts Name Author
1,2,3 Tirukadaikkappu Thirugnana Sambandar
4,5,6 Tevaram Appar
7 Tirupaatu Sundarar
8 Tiruvasakam &
Tirukkovaiyar		 Manikkavacakar
9 Tiruvisaippa &
Tiruppallaandu		 Various
10 Tirumandhiram Tirumular
11 Various
12 Periya Puranam Sekkizhar
Padal petra stalam
Padal Petra Stalam
Raja Raja Chola I
Nambiyandar Nambi

Information about Sambandar 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 , Nambiyandar Nambi's Tiru Tondar Tiruvandadi and umapathi sivacharya's "Tiru thondar purana saram". A Sanskrit hagiography called Brahmapureesa Charitam is now lost. The first volumes of the Tirumurai contain three hundred and eighty-four poems of Sampandar, all that survive out of a reputed more than 10,000 hymns.Around 16000 of these were known to nambi andar nambi. Sambandar is reputed to have sung nearly 1000 hymns at thillai chidambaram which is also known as bhooloka kailasam or kailasam on earth. Lord sivan famously accosted him inside the temple through the southern gate(thekku gopuram), after sambandar out of love and devotion had declined to come inside the temple precincts as he considered this an insult to the lord to set one's mortal foot into his kailasam abode. He was also blessed with a beatific vision of kailasam there, along with lord and his host of ghouls and the three thousand servitor priests at chidambaram.[3]

Sampandar was born to Sivapada Hrudiyar and his wife Bhagavathiar who lived in Sirkazhi in what is now Tamil Nadu. They were Saivite brahmins. The group of servitors wore a tuft on top of their head as can be seen in all ancient murals of tirugnanasambandar (like for example in temples of tiru ambar, kudavayil, tirumakaalam and vilamar etc.), all statues and even paintings. The ancient literature has referred to this visual identification as "koor kondrai vaar chadai"( a knot that is on top of head and tilted). The ancient hagiographies have also noted this and so do the writings of subsequent periods. The knot is similar to the ones of "the three thousand ones of chidambaram", that sambandar praises in his hymn at chidambaram. Both sambandar and sundarar have themselves referred to this in their respective hymns. There is evidence to point that at that point of time the group worked on Rig veda. Sankaracharya who lived in the subsequent century has referred to him in one hymn of his Saundarya Lahari, praising him as a gifted Tamil child ("dravida sisu") who was fed with milk of divine gnosis by the goddess Uma. According to legend, 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. At his investiture with the sacred thread, at the age of seven, he is said to have expounded the Vedas with great clarity. Sampandar attained liberation (mukti) in "Visaka Nakshtara" in the Tamil month of "Visakam" at the age of sixteen soon after his marriage.[citation needed]

He went to Madurai during the reign of the Pandyan Dynasty King, Koon Pandiyan (கூன் பாண்டியன்). In the first half of the seventh century, the most popular faiths in south India were Jainism and Buddhism. The Pandyan king had converted to Jainism: Sekkizhar in more than 20 long verses scorned the conspiracy of the Jains. It is said that his queen Mangayarkarasi (மங்கையர்கரசி) invited Sambandhar.[4] As a wandering minstrel Sampandar sang hymns opposing Jain and Buddhist thought and is credited with the conversion of the Pandya king from Jainism.[1] Different hymns of Sambandar on the Madurai Meenakshi Amman Temple mention the queen of Pandya Nadu, his desire to defeat Jains in debate, the miracle of him curing the king's fever, the Jains' provocation of Sambandar by burning his house and challenging him to debate, and Sambandar's eventual victory over them.[5][6]

[edit] Shrines

An inscription of Rajaraja Chola I at Tiruvarur mentions Sampandar along with Appar, Cuntarar and the latter's wife Nangai Paravaiyar.

[edit] Compilation

Raja Raja Chola I (985-1013 CE) embarked on a mission to recover the hymns after hearing short excerpts of Tevaram in his court.[7] He sought the help of Nambi Andar Nambi, who was a priest in a temple at tirunaraiyur close to chidambaram. It is noted from the temple's inscriptions that the polla pillayar or ganesha enshrined in that temple of narayur gave the king and the priest further details with regards to the tirumurai collection.[8] 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.[7][8] The brahmanas (Dikshitars) in the temple consulted to the king that the works were too divine in nature to be taken out, but emperor Rajaraja prevailed by displaying true devotion to lord at thillai.ref name="Culter 50"/>[9] Rajaraja thus became to be known as Tirumurai Kanda Cholan meaning one who saved the Tirumurai.[9] 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.[9] Nambi arranged the hymns of three saint poets Sampandar, 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.[10] 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.[10]

However the information about Raja Raja's and Nambi andar nambi's tracing of tevaram hymns and the emperor's projection as being a pioneer in instituting the hymn services in the temple may have been taken out of context during later period because going by two inscriptions of pallava kings nandivarman II and dantivarman who ruled during the 8th and 9th centuries, we see that the temples hosted the canonical hymn(tevaram) chanting services to the music of udukkai(small drums),timilai(medium sized drum) and talam(cymbals). Thereby it could be possible that emperor Raja Raja re-instituted the same after a brief period of pause that may have been necessitated by frequent warfares.

[edit] Temples reverred

Paadal Petra Sthalams are 275[11] temples that are revered in the verses of Tevaram and are amongst the greatest Shiva temples of the continent. Vaippu Sthalangal are places that were mentioned casually in the songs in Tevaram.[12] The focus of the moovars (first three poets) hymns suggests darshan (seeing and being seen by God) within the puja (worship) offering.[13] The hymnists made classificatory lists of places like katu (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.[13]

[edit] The Tirumurai in worship services

Tirumurai was one of the sole reasons for converting Vedic ritual to Agamic puja followed in Shiva temples.[14] 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.[14] Odhuvars, Sthanikars, or Kattalaiyars offer musical programmes in Shiva temples of Tamil Nadu by singing Tevaram after the daily rituals.[15] These are usually carried out as chorus programme soon after the divine offering. 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.[9] .ref name="K1">Khanna 2007, p. xxii</ref> [16]During the times of cholas and previous pallavas the hymn reciters and musicians were known as uvacchar(chanters) and marars. It is noteworthy that these terms are also traceable in sangam period works.

Periya Puranam, the eleventh-century Tamil book on the Nayanars that forms the last volume of the Tirumurai primarily had references only to Tevaram and subsequently expanded to 12 parts and is one of the first anthologies of Tirumurai.[17] 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.[17] The category headings are God, soul, bond, grace,divine initiation, methodology, enlightenment, bliss, mantra and liberation - correspond to Umapthi's work, Tiruvarutpayan.[18] 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 as Tirumurai.[18]

[edit] Review comments

There is strong dose of anti-Jain, anti-buddist and in general anti-communal polemic in Tevaram poetry of Sambandar.[19] This is only expected as we see from the hagiographies as to how the saint was incarnated to oust the duplicitous propoganda of false communal creeds. The same war against communalism can be seen in works of sankara and also in the prabhandams of vaishnava alwars. [20] According to Aiyangar, Manickavasagar's Tiruvachakam partakes the characters of Tevaram hymners before him and express more intense form of devotion. Manikkavasagar, like sundarar and sambandar before him does not mince words while criticising the misinformation campaign of sramana( buddist and jain) communal creeds and in many places of tiruvasagam calls them senseless, duplicitous,deceitful and falseful(poy samayattar).[21] The fervor of utterances, the appeals to God by the Tamils do not find clear expression in other part of India.[22]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b Dr. R. Nagasamy. "A New Pandya Record and the Dates of Nayanmars and Alvars". Tamil Arts Academy. http://tamilartsacademy.com/articles/article08.xml. Retrieved 2007-07-09. 
  2. ^ Encyclopaedia of Jainism, Volume 1, page 5468
  3. ^ The History and Culture of the Indian People: The classical age, page 330
  4. ^ Hymns of the Tamil Śaivite saints, page 11
  5. ^ Harman 1992, p. 24
  6. ^ Prentiss 1999, p. 43
  7. ^ a b Culter 1987, p. 50
  8. ^ a b Cort 1998, p. 178
  9. ^ a b c d Vasudevan 2003, pp. 109-110
  10. ^ a b Zvelebil 1974, p. 191
  11. ^ "A comprehensive description of the 275 Shivastalams glorified by the Tevaram hymns". templenet.com. http://www.templenet.com/Tamilnadu/shivlist.html. Retrieved 11 January 2011. 
  12. ^ International review for the history of religions, Volumes 15-17. International Association for the History of Religions, CatchWord (Online service)
  13. ^ a b Prentiss 1992, pp. 51-52
  14. ^ a b Cort 1998, p. 176
  15. ^ Ghose 1996, p. 239
  16. ^ Khanna 2007, p. xxii
  17. ^ a b Prentiss 1992, p. 140
  18. ^ a b Prentiss 1992, p. 144
  19. ^ Das 2005, p.32
  20. ^ Cort 1998, p. 213
  21. ^ Aiyangar 2004, p. 174
  22. ^ Eliot, p. 172

[edit] References

[edit] Futher Reading

[edit] External links

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