{{Short description|Group of Shaiva saints}} {{Use Indian English|date=September 2014}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2025}} [[File:Nalvar.JPG|thumb|right|290px|The ''Nalvar'' ({{literal translation|The Four}}) of Shaiva Siddhanta – (from left) Sambandar, Appar and Sundarar, the three foremost Nayanars, and Manikkavacakar.]] {{Saivism}} The '''Nayanars''' (or '''Nayanmars'''; {{Langx|ta|நாயன்மார்|Nāyaṉmār|hounds}})<ref name="hounds">{{cite book |last=Sadasivan |first=S. N. |author-link=S. N. Sadasivan |year=2000 |title=A Social History of India |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Be3PCvzf-BYC&pg=PA150 |pages=150–51 |location=New Delhi |publisher=A.P.H. Publishing Corporation |isbn=81-7648-170-X}}</ref> were a group of 63 Tamil saints living during the 6th to 8th centuries CE. Along with the Alvars, their contemporaries, they influenced the Bhakti movement in early medieval South India.<ref name="dictionary">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H4q0DHGMcjEC&pg=PA167 | title = Historical Dictionary of the Tamils | first=Vijaya |last=Ramaswamy | publisher = Scarecrow Press | year = 2007 | page = 167 | isbn = 978-0-8108-6445-0 }}</ref> The names of the Nayanars were first compiled by Sundarar. The list was expanded by Nambiyandar Nambi during his compilation of material by the poets for the ''Tirumurai'' collection, and would include Sundarar himself and Sundarar's parents.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sekkizhar |url=http://archive.org/details/periya-puranam-english-translation-vanmikanathan-g.-r.-k.-mutt-ocred |title=Periya Puranam: A Tamil Classic On the Great Saiva Saints of South India, By Sekkizhaar, English translation by Vanmikanathan |date=2000}}</ref>
The '''Nalvar''' ({{literal translation|The Four}}) are the three foremost Nayanars Appar, Sundarar, Sambandar along with Manikkavacakar.
==History== The list of the Nayanars was initially compiled by Sundarar (Sundararmurthi). In his poem ''Tiruthonda Thogai'' he sings, in eleven verses, the names of the Nayanar saints up to Karaikkal Ammaiyar, and refers to himself as "the servant of servants".<ref name="dictionary"/><ref name="divine life">{{cite web |last=Sivananda |first=Swami |author-link=Sivananda Saraswati |title=Sixty-Three Nayanar Saints |at=19. Tiru Kurippu Thonda Nayanar |publisher=The Divine Life Society Uttar Pradesh |url=https://www.dlshq.org/download/nayanar.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191123171907/https://www.dlshq.org/download/nayanar.htm |archive-date=23 November 2019 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Mahadevan |first=T. M. P. |author-link=T.M.P. Mahadevan |year=1971 |title=Ten Saints of India |edition=3rd |location=Mumbai |publisher=Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan |page=35 |lccn=70-924698}}</ref> The list did not go into the detail of the lives of the saints, which were described in detail in works such as ''Tevaram''.<ref name="Zvelebil"/>
In the 10th century, king Raja Raja Chola I collected the volumes of ''Tevaram'' after hearing excerpts of the hymns in his court.<ref name="Cutler 50">{{cite book |last=Cutler |first=Norman |title=Songs of Experience: The Poetics of Tamil Devotion |year=1987 |publisher=Indiana University Press |location=Bloomington |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=veSItWingx8C&q=tevaram&pg=PA4 |isbn=0-253-35334-3}}</ref>{{rp|50}} His priest Nambiyandar Nambi began compiling the hymns into a series of volumes called the ''Tirumurai''. He arranged the hymns of three saint poets Sambandar, Appar and Sundarar as the first seven books which he called the ''Tevaram''. He compiled Manikkavasakar's ''Tirukovayar'' and ''Tiruvasakam'' as the eighth book, the 28 hymns of nine other saints as the ninth book, the ''Tirumandiram'' of Tirumular and 40 hymns by 12 other poets as the tenth book. In the eleventh book, he created the ''Tirutontanar Tiruvanthathi'' (also known as ''Tirutoṇṭar Antādi'', lit. Necklace of Verses on the Lord's Servants), which consisted of 89 verses, with a verse devoted to each of the saints. With the addition of Sundarar and his parents to the sequence, this became the canonical list of the 63 saints.<ref name="Zvelebil">{{cite book |last=Zvelebil |first=Kamil |author-link=Kamil Zvelebil |title=Tamil Literature |series=A History of Indian Literature |volume=10 |year=1974 |location=Wiesbaden |publisher=Otto Harrasowitz |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OQ33i496MsIC&pg=PA130 |page=130 |isbn=3-447-01582-9}}</ref> In the 12th century, Sekkizhar added a twelfth volume to the ''Tirumurai'' called ''Periya Puranam'' in which he expands further on the stories of each of 63 Nayanars.<ref name="hounds"/><ref name="dictionary"/><ref name="divine life"/>
The Nayanars were from various backgrounds, including Nadar, Vanniyar, Vellalas, Idayars, Kurumbars, Thevars, oilmongers, Brahmins, Vannar, and Paraiyars.<ref name="hounds"/> Along with the twelve Vaishnava Alvars, they are regarded as the important Hindu saints from South India.
Many Kannada works, such has ''Nambiyannana Ragale'' and ''Tiru Nilakanta Devara Ragale'', are written on Nayanars by Kannada poet Harihara. Sundara Murthy nayanar is known as Nambiyanna in Kannada literature.{{citation needed|date=October 2023}}
==List of Nayanars== [[File:Sri Kokarneshvarar Temple in Tirukokarnam.JPG|thumb|The 63 Nayanars in a Shiva temple]] thumb|Kannappa Nayanar
Sundarar's original list of Nayanars did not follow any sequence with regard to chronology or importance. However, some groups have since followed an order for arranging their Nayanar temple images according to Sundarar's poem as well as the information from Nambi and Sekkizhar.<ref name="divine life"/><ref name="skanda">{{cite web |last=Vanmikanathan |first=G. |author-link=G. Vanmikanathan |url=http://www.skandagurunatha.org/deities/siva/nayanars/ |title=The Sixty-Three Nayanars |website=Skandagurunatha.org |access-date=2024-06-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190930104213/http://www.skandagurunatha.org/deities/siva/nayanars/ |archive-date=2019-09-30 |url-status=live}}</ref> {{Saivism}} {| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" |+ List of 63 Nayanars |- ! style="background:#b0c4de;"| No.<ref name="skanda"/> ! style="background:#b0c4de;"| Person ! style="background:#b0c4de;" class="unsortable"| Notes |- | 1 || Sundarar || Born in Aadi month, Swathi nakshathiram |- | 2 || Tiru Neelakanta || |- | 3 || Iyarpagaiar || His name "Iyarpagai" means "Contrary to Nature" |- | 4 || Ilayankudi Maranar || |- | 5 || Meiporul || |- | 6 || Viralminda || |- | 7 || Amaraneedi || |- | 8 || Eripatha || |- | 9 || Yenathinathar || A Brave swordsman/general in Chola Military |- | 10 || Kannappa || Believed to be a reincarnation of Arjuna |- | 11 || Kungiliya Kalaya || |- | 12 || Manakanchara || |- | 13 || Arivattaya || |- | 14 || Anaya || |- | 15 || Murthiyar || |- | 16 || Muruga || |- | 17 || Rudra Pasupathi || |- | 18 || Nandanar (Thirunalai Povar) || |- | 19 || Tiru Kurippu Thonda || |- | 20 || Chandeshvara|| |- | 21 || Appar (Tirunavukkarasar) ||His efforts convinced the Pallava king, Mahendra- Varman I to take up Shaivism. |- | 22 || Kulachirai ||He became the Prime Minister of the Pandyan King Koon Pandiyan. |- | 23 || Perumizhalai Kurumba || |- | 24 || Karaikkal Ammaiyar || Nagarathar Woman saint who lived in the 6th century;<ref>{{cite book |last=Das |first=Sisir Kumar |author-link=Sisir Kumar Das |title=A History of Indian Literature, 500-1399: From Courtly to the Popular |year=2005| publisher=Sahitya Akademi |location=Chennai |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BC3l1AbPM8sC&pg=PA31 |pages=31–36 |isbn=81-260-2171-3}}</ref> one of the three female Nayanars |- | 25 || Apputhi Adigal || |- | 26 || Tiruneelanakka || |- | 27 || Nami Nandi Adigal || |- | 28 || Sambandar ||A child prodigy Saiva Saint who lived only 16 years |- | 29 || Eyarkon Kalikama || |- | 30 || Tirumular || |- | 31 || Dandi Adigal || |- | 32 || Murkha|| |- | 33 || Somasi Mara|| |- | 34 || Sakkiya || |- | 35 || Sirappuli|| |- | 36 || Siruthondar||Army general of the Pallava king Narasimavarman I |- | 37 || Cheraman Perumal || Tentatively identified with Chera ruler Rama Rajasekhara'''<ref name=":2">{{cite book |last=Karashima |first=Noboru |author-link=Noboru Karashima |editor-last=Karashima |editor-first=Noboru |year=2014 |orig-date= |chapter=States in Deccan and Kerala |title=A Concise History of South India: Issues and Interpretations |location=New Delhi |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=146–47 |isbn=978-0-19-809977-2}}</ref>''' Born in Aadhi month, Swathi nakshathiram |- | 38 || Gananatha|| |- | 39 || Kootruva || |- | 40 || Pugal Chola || Chola King |- | 41 || Narasinga Muniyaraiyar|| |- | 42 || Adipaththar|| |- | 43 || Kalikamba|| |- | 44 || Kalia|| Born in Aadhi month, Kettai nakshathiram |- | 45 || Satti|| |- | 46 || Aiyadigal Kadavarkon|| |- | 47 || Kanampulla|| |- | 48 || Kari|| |- | 49 || Ninra Seer Nedumaara || Pandya King |- | 50 || Mangayarkkarasiyar || Queen and consort of Nindra Seer Nedumaran; one of the three female Nayanars |- | 51 || Vayilar|| |- | 52 || Munaiyaduvar || |- | 53 || Kazharsinga || Tentatively identified with Pallava king Narasimhavarman II (Rajasimha) |- | 54 || Idangazhi|| |- | 55 || Seruthunai|| |- | 56 || Pugazh Thunai || |- | 57 || Kotpuli|| |- | 58 || Pusalar || |- | 59 || Nesa Nayanar|| Saliyar, weaver who donates clothes to Lord Shiva's devotees |- | 60 || Sengenar (Kochengat Chola)|| |- | 61 || Tiru Nilakanta Yazhpanar || |- | 62 || Sadaiya || Sundarar's father |- | 63 || Isaignaniyaar || Sundarar's mother; one of the three female Nayanars |- |}
==Other saints== The 9th-century poet Manikkavacakar was not counted as one of the 63 Nayanars but his works were part of the eighth volume of the ''Tirumurai''.
In Tiruchuli, the Tamil poet-philosopher Valluvar is worshipped as the 64th Nayanar.<ref name="Kannan2013">{{cite news | last = Kannan | first = Kaushik | title = Saint poet's guru pooja at Tiruchuli | newspaper = The New Indian Express | location = Tiruchuli | publisher = Express Publications | date = 11 March 2013 | url = https://www.newindianexpress.com/states/tamil-nadu/2013/mar/11/saint-poets-guru-pooja-at-tiruchuli-457417.html | access-date = 3 September 2020}}</ref> Valluvar was also added as the 64 saint in the annual Mylapore procession of the 63 Nayanars since c. 1905.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Arupathu Moovar – 110 years ago|author=Karthik Bhatt |date=16–31 March 2020|journal=Madras Musings|volume=XXIX|issue=23|url=http://www.madrasmusings.com/vol-29-no-23/arupathu-moovar-110-years-ago/}}</ref><ref name="Musings2009">{{cite journal|title=Thiruvalluvar's shrine|author=Pradeep Chakravarthy |author2=Ramesh Ramachandran |date=16–31 August 2009|journal=Madras Musings|volume=19|issue=9|url=http://madrasmusings.com/Vol%2019%20No%209/thiruvalluvars_shrine.html}}</ref>
==See also== * Manikkavacakar * Tamil mythology
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Further reading== * {{cite book |last=Cort |first=John E. |author-link=John E. Cort |title=Open Boundaries: Jain Communities and Culture in Indian History |year=1998 |publisher=State University of New York Press |location=Albany |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WWfnXbVWjKcC |isbn=0-7914-3786-8}}
==External links== * {{cite web |url=https://shaivam.org/devotees/63-nayanmarkal |title=63 Nayanmarkal – History of the Great Shiva Devotees |work=Shaivam.org |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231210211019/https://shaivam.org/devotees/63-nayanmarkal/ |archive-date=2023-12-10}} * {{cite book |author=Sekkizhaar |author-link=Sekkilhar |editor-last=Mahalingam |editor-first=N. |editor-link=N. Mahalingam |translator-last=Vanmikanathan |translator-first=G. |translator-link=G. Vanmikanathan |year=2000 |orig-date=1985 |title=Periya Puranam: A Tamil Classic on the Great Saiva Saints of South India |url=https://archive.org/details/periya-puranam-english-translation-vanmikanathan-g.-r.-k.-mutt-ocred/ |edition=Condensed English |location=Chennai |publisher=Sri Ramakrishna Math |via=Internet Archive}}
{{Nayanars}} {{Shaivism}}
Category:Nayanars * Category:Indian Shaivite religious leaders