Nayanars

Also called: Nayanmars · Topic: Bhakti and Sufi Traditions · NCERT: Class 7, Ch 3 "Empires and Kingdoms: 6th to 10th Centuries"; Class 9, Ch 5 "State and Society up to 1000 CE"; Class 12, Ch 2 "Bhakti-Sufi Traditions"

Meaning

The Nayanars (also spelt Nayanmars) were 63 Tamil poet-saints who worshipped Shiva. Their name means "leaders". With the Alvars (who worshipped Vishnu), they started the earliest bhakti movement in India, from about the 6th century CE. The main Nayanar poet-musicians lived in the 7th and 8th centuries CE [2].

They matter because they sang to god in Tamil, not Sanskrit. Their songs turned small shrines into great temples. Later, the Chola kings used the Nayanar tradition to build their own power.

Explanation

Background: who they were

• Bhakti means personal, loving devotion to one god. The Nayanars took this path for Shiva.
• There were 63 Nayanars. Three of them were women.
• They came from every level of society: Brahmanas, artisans, cultivators, and even "untouchable" castes.
• Their devotion was very emotional. They sang to Shiva as a living, loving god, not as the object of dry ritual.
• Famous Nayanars:
• Appar, Sambandar and Sundarar. Sundarar is sometimes spelt Chuntarar [2]. Their hymns were later collected in the Tevaram.
• Karaikkal Ammaiyar, a woman saint known for extreme asceticism.

How they worked: from song to temple

• The Nayanars were itinerant (always travelling) singers. They went from place to place, singing hymns in Tamil.
• As they travelled, they named certain shrines as the home of their god.
• How a small shrine became a big temple:
• A saint sings at a small shrine, so the shrine becomes famous.
• Kings and devotees give money and land, so it grows into a great temple.

• The temple becomes a pilgrimage centre (a holy place people travel to).

• Two new practices then became part of daily temple worship:

• singing the saints' own hymns, and
• worshipping images of the saints themselves. The poets became holy figures too.

Main features: protest, women and rivals

• Against caste pride. Some historians suggest that the Nayanars and Alvars protested against caste and the power of Brahmanas. NCERT words this with care, so it is a view, not a settled fact.
• Appar mocked the "rogues who quote the law books". He rejected their gotra (clan line) and kula (caste group).

• Write it carefully in answers: they attacked caste pride. They did not always have a full plan to end caste.

• Women saints. Karaikkal Ammaiyar chose extreme asceticism, which means giving up all comfort and starving the body. She called herself a pey (demoness), which turned the usual idea of female beauty upside down.

• She left ordinary family duties behind.
• But she did not join any other order and did not become a nun.

• So her life openly challenged patriarchal norms (rules that keep men in charge).

• Hostility to Buddhism and Jainism. The Nayanar hymns in particular attack Buddhism and Jainism openly.

• At this time, Buddhism and Jainism were strong. Merchants and artisans supported them, and they sometimes got royal patronage (money and protection from kings).
• Historians explain the hostility as competition for royal patronage. NCERT calls this a hypothesis (a likely explanation, not proof).

Results: Chola patronage and the Tevaram

• The Cholas (c. 9th–13th centuries) supported both Brahmanical and bhakti traditions through land grants to temples and Brahmanas.
• Why the kings backed the saints:
• The Nayanars and Alvars were revered by the Vellala peasants, a large and powerful farming group.

• Supporting the saints' tradition won the Vellalas' loyalty.

• Key steps:

• Around 945 CE, the Chola king Parantaka I set up metal images of Appar, Sambandar and Sundarar in a Shiva temple. These images were carried in procession at festivals.
• Chola kings had the Tamil Shaiva hymns collected into the Tevaram. It was compiled and arranged in the 10th century on the basis of the music of the songs.

• Great Shiva temples were built at Chidambaram, Thanjavur and Gangaikondacholapuram. The Nataraja bronzes (metal images of Shiva as lord of dance) also come from this Chola patronage.

• The Brihadisvara temple at Thanjavur was the greatest work of Rajaraja I (AD 985–1012). The king himself opened it in his 19th regnal year, AD 1009–10 [4].

• The Gangaikondacholapuram temple was built by Rajendra I and finished in 1035. Its vimana (the tower over the inner shrine) is 53 m high [4].

Time, place and evidence

• Period: from about the 6th century CE. The main poet-musicians belong to the 7th and 8th centuries CE [2]. Their hymns were collected in the 10th century.
• Region: Tamil Nadu.
• Political setting:
• Pallavas and Pandyas (c. 6th–9th centuries). Buddhism and Jainism were rivals for royal favour.

• Cholas (c. 9th–13th centuries). They patronised the Nayanar tradition and the temples linked to it.

• Key people: Appar, Sambandar, Sundarar (Chuntarar), Karaikkal Ammaiyar; the Chola kings Parantaka I, Rajaraja I and Rajendra I.

• How we know:
• Texts. The Tevaram holds the hymns of Appar, Sambandar and Sundarar.

• Images and temples. Parantaka I's metal saint-images (c. 945), the Nataraja bronzes, and the Shiva temples at Chidambaram, Thanjavur and Gangaikondacholapuram.

• Heritage status: the Great Living Chola Temples are a UNESCO World Heritage site. The group is the Brihadisvara temples at Thanjavur and Gangaikondacholapuram plus the Airavatesvara temple at Darasuram (built by Rajaraja II). Thanjavur was listed in 1987, and the site was later extended to add the other two [4][5]. They are called "living" because worship based on older Agamic texts (temple ritual manuals) still goes on daily, weekly and yearly [4].

Don't confuse with

• Alvars: these were 12 Tamil saints devoted to Vishnu, not Shiva. Their name means "immersed", not "leaders". Their only woman saint is Andal, while the Nayanars had three women.
• Tevaram vs Nalayira Divyaprabandham: the Tevaram is the Shaiva (Nayanar) collection, arranged by music. The Nalayira Divyaprabandham ("Four Thousand Sacred Compositions") is the Vaishnava (Alvar) collection, gathered by Nathamuni in the 10th century and called the "Tamil Veda" [3].
• Karaikkal Ammaiyar vs Andal: both were women saints. Karaikkal Ammaiyar (Nayanar, Shiva) chose harsh asceticism and called herself a pey. Andal (Alvar, Vishnu) wrote love-poems as Vishnu's beloved.
• Appar vs Tondaradippodi: both attacked caste pride. Appar was a Nayanar who rejected gotra and kula. Tondaradippodi was a Brahmana Alvar who attacked chaturvedins (Brahmanas who know all four Vedas) with no love for god.

Prelims Hooks

• 63 Nayanars → Shiva; 12 Alvars → Vishnu. Nayanar = "leader"; Alvar = "immersed".
• Three of the 63 Nayanars were women, including Karaikkal Ammaiyar, who called herself a pey (demoness).
• The Tevaram holds the hymns of Appar, Sambandar and Sundarar. It was arranged in the 10th century on the basis of music. Trap: it is not the "Tamil Veda". That title belongs to the Alvars' Nalayira Divyaprabandham.
• Parantaka I (Chola), c. 945 CE, set up metal images of Appar, Sambandar and Sundarar in a Shiva temple.
• The main Nayanar poet-musicians lived in the 7th and 8th centuries CE [2]. Their hymns were openly hostile to Buddhism and Jainism.
• Kings backed the saints because the Vellala peasants revered them.

Mains Points

• Was Nayanar bhakti a real social protest? Give both sides.
• For: the saints came from all castes, from Brahmanas down to "untouchables". Appar rejected gotra and kula.

• Against: NCERT says only some historians hold this view. The Brahmana-run temple ritual later took in the same hymns, and Chola kings installed the saints' images. So the protest was partly tamed by the institutions it helped to build.

• Religion and royal power went together. The Nayanars' hostility to Buddhism and Jainism is explained as a contest for royal patronage under the Pallavas and Pandyas. The Cholas then made the bond official through land grants, temples at Chidambaram, Thanjavur and Gangaikondacholapuram, Nataraja bronzes, Parantaka I's saint-images (c. 945) and the collection of the Tevaram. Devotion gave kings legitimacy, and kings gave devotion stone and gold. The link also helped kings win over the powerful Vellala peasants.

• Devotion in the local language and in women's voices. Tamil hymns let ordinary people take part in worship without Sanskrit. Karaikkal Ammaiyar left family duty but joined no other order, which challenged patriarchal norms. This is a useful early example to compare with Andal, Mirabai and the women of Basavanna's Virashaiva movement in a GS-I answer on regional culture and women in bhakti.

Related concepts

• Alvars
• Nalayira Divya Prabandham
• Tevaram
• Appar
• Sambandar
• Sundarar
• Manikkavachakar
• Nammalvar
• Tondaradippodi
• Andal

Read more

• The Alvars and Nayanars of Tamil Nadu