The Alvars and Nayanars of Tamil Nadu

Detail

Who they were

• Two groups of poet-saints in Tamil Nadu. They start the earliest bhakti movements, from about the 6th century.
• Alvars — devotees of Vishnu. The word means "immersed" (lost deep in love of god). There are 12 of them. One, Andal, is a woman.
• Nayanars (also spelt Nayanmars) — devotees of Shiva. The word means "leaders". There are 63 of them. Three are women.
• Britannica dates the main Nayanar poet-musicians to the 7th and 8th centuries CE [2].
• Alvar poets named by Britannica include Poykai, Putan (Pey), Peyar, Tirumankaiyalvar, and in the 8th century Andal, Periyalvar, Kulachekarar, Tiruppanalvar and Nammalvar, who is held to be the greatest of all [3].
• Their bhakti is very emotional. The poets compare the soul to a woman longing for her lord's love [3].

How they worked, and how temples grew

• They were itinerant (always travelling) singers. They sang hymns in Tamil, not Sanskrit.
• As they moved, they picked out shrines as the home of their god.
• Chain of growth:
• Saint sings at a small shrine → shrine becomes famous.
• Kings and devotees give money and land → it grows into a great temple.

• The temple becomes a pilgrimage centre people travel to.

• Two things then entered the daily temple ritual:

• singing the saints' own compositions, and
• worship of the images of the saints themselves — the poets became objects of worship.

The two anthologies (collected song-books)

Anthology	Tradition	Contents
Nalayira Divyaprabandham — "Four Thousand Sacred Compositions", compiled 10th century	Alvar (Vaishnava)	works of the 12 Alvars; called the "Tamil Veda" — claimed to be as important as the Sanskrit Vedas
Tevaram — compiled and classified in the 10th century on the basis of the music of the songs	Nayanar (Shaiva)	poems of Appar, Sambandar, Sundarar

• The Alvar hymns were gathered in the 10th century by Nathamuni, a leader of the Shrivaishnava sect. He also started the regular singing of these hymns inside Vaishnava temples of South India [4].
• Note the name: Nalayira = four thousand. Divyaprabandham = divine compositions [4].
• The Tevaram trio is sometimes spelt Appar, Sambandar and Chuntarar (Sundarar) [2].

Caste and social protest

• Some historians suggest (this is the NCERT chapter's careful phrasing, not a settled fact) that the Alvars and Nayanars led a protest against caste and Brahmana dominance.
• Evidence used for this: the bhaktas came from every level — Brahmanas, artisans, cultivators, and even "untouchable" castes.
• Tondaradippodi — a Brahmana Alvar. He sang that Vishnu prefers outcaste "servants" to chaturvedins (Brahmanas who know all four Vedas) who have no love for god.
• Appar — a Nayanar. He dismissed the "rogues who quote the law books", and rejected their gotra (clan line) and kula (caste group).
• Careful point for answers: the protest is against caste pride, not always a full plan to end caste.

Women devotees

• Andal (Alvar, Vishnu) — she saw herself as the beloved of Vishnu. Her love-poems use the language of a woman waiting for her lord.
• Karaikkal Ammaiyar (Nayanar, Shiva) — she chose extreme asceticism (giving up all comfort, starving the body). She described herself as a demoness (pey), turning the usual ideas of female beauty upside down.
• Why this matters:
• Both women left ordinary family duties behind.
• But they did not join any other order and did not become nuns.
• So there was no safe, accepted slot for them. Their lives stood as an open challenge to patriarchal norms (rules that keep men in charge).

Relations with the state — Pallavas and Pandyas

• Period: about the 6th to 9th centuries.
• Buddhism and Jainism were strong. They drew support from merchants and artisans, and sometimes got royal patronage (kings' money and protection) too.
• Tamil bhakti hymns, especially the Nayanar ones, are openly hostile to Buddhism and Jainism.
• Historians explain this as competition for royal patronage — each group wanted the king's favour. NCERT marks this as a hypothesis (a likely explanation, not proof).

Relations with the state — the Cholas

• Period: about the 9th to 13th centuries. The Cholas backed both Brahmanical and bhakti traditions.
• Support took the form of land grants to temples and Brahmanas.
• Great Shiva temples built: Chidambaram, Thanjavur, Gangaikondacholapuram.
• The Brihadisvara temple at Thanjavur was the grandest work of Rajaraja I (AD 985–1012), and the king himself inaugurated it in his 19th regnal year, AD 1009–10 [5].
• The Brihadisvara temple at Gangaikondacholapuram was built by Rajendra I and completed in 1035. Its vimana (the tower over the sanctum) is 53 m high, with recessed corners and a curved, graceful line — different from the straight, severe tower at Thanjavur [5].
• Along with the Airavatesvara temple at Darasuram (built by Rajaraja II, 24 m vimana), these form the "Great Living Chola Temples", a UNESCO World Heritage site. Thanjavur was listed in 1987; the site was extended later to add the other two [5][6].

• They are called "living" temples because the worship and rituals set up over a thousand years ago, based on still older Agamic texts, still go on daily, weekly and yearly [5].

• The famous Nataraja bronzes (Shiva as lord of dance, cast in metal) belong to this Chola patronage.

• Why kings courted the saints:
• Both Alvars and Nayanars were revered by the Vellala peasants, a large and powerful farming group.

• Winning the saints' tradition meant winning the Vellalas.

• Two hard facts to remember:

• Around 945 CE, the Chola king Parantaka I consecrated 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.

Prelims Hooks

• 12 Alvars worship Vishnu; 63 Nayanars worship Shiva. Alvar = "immersed"; Nayanar = "leader".
• Andal — the one woman among the 12 Alvars. Three women among the 63 Nayanars.
• Nalayira Divyaprabandham = anthology of the 12 Alvars, compiled 10th century, called the "Tamil Veda".
• Tevaram = Shaiva anthology of Appar, Sambandar, Sundarar, classified on the basis of the music of the songs.
• Nathamuni, a Shrivaishnava leader, gathered the Alvar hymns in the 10th century and began singing them in temples [4].
• Karaikkal Ammaiyar — Shiva devotee, chose extreme asceticism, called herself a pey (demoness).
• Tondaradippodi (Alvar, a Brahmana) attacked unattached chaturvedins; Appar (Nayanar) rejected gotra and kula.
• Parantaka I, c. 945, set up metal images of Appar, Sambandar and Sundarar in a Shiva temple.
• Brihadisvara temple, Thanjavur — built by Rajaraja I, inaugurated AD 1009–10 (his 19th regnal year) [5].
• Gangaikondacholapuram temple — Rajendra I, completed 1035, vimana 53 m [5].
• Great Living Chola Temples — UNESCO World Heritage; Thanjavur listed 1987, later extended to Gangaikondacholapuram and Airavatesvara, Darasuram [5][6].
• Saints were revered by the Vellala peasants — the reason kings backed them.

Mains Points

• Was Tamil bhakti a real social protest? Use both sides. For: bhaktas came from Brahmana down to "untouchable" castes; Tondaradippodi and Appar attack caste pride and ritual learning. Against: NCERT says only some historians argue this; the same saints' hymns were later absorbed into temple ritual run by Brahmanas, and their images were installed by kings. So the protest was partly tamed by the very institutions it helped build.
• Religion and royal power moved together. The hostility of Nayanar hymns to Buddhism and Jainism is explained as a fight for royal patronage. The Cholas then made the link official — land grants, temples at Chidambaram, Thanjavur and Gangaikondacholapuram, Nataraja bronzes, Parantaka I's metal saint-images (c. 945), and the collection of the Tevaram. Devotion gave kings legitimacy; kings gave devotion stone and gold.
• Vernacular (local language) devotion changed access to god. Hymns in Tamil, not Sanskrit, let ordinary people take part. Calling the Divyaprabandham the "Tamil Veda" was a bold claim that a regional language could carry the same authority as Sanskrit — a key theme for any GS-I answer on regional cultures.
• Women in bhakti. Andal and Karaikkal Ammaiyar took two opposite routes — bridal love and harsh asceticism — but both rejected family duty without entering any alternative order. Compare later with Mirabai and with the women of the Virashaiva movement under Basavanna, and with Sufi practice, to show a long pattern of women using devotion to step outside patriarchal roles.