The Nāyanmārs
c. 6th–9th century · Tamil Nadu · Śaiva saints
The sixty-three Nāyanmārs are the Tamil saints of Śiva. They include kings and potters, hunters and housewives, Brahmins and those outside caste; their lives are told in the Periya Purāṇam of Sekkiḻār (12th century).
Three of them — Appar (Tirunāvukkarasar), Sambandar (Tiruñānasambandar) and Sundarar — composed the Tēvāram hymns, sung for over a thousand years in Śiva temples of Tamil Nadu and forming the first seven books of the Śaiva canon, the Tirumurai. Travelling from shrine to shrine, they sang of Śiva’s grace in simple, moving Tamil and helped bring Śaiva devotion to the heart of Tamil life.
Tradition says that the three-year-old Sambandar, left on the steps of the temple tank at Sīrkāḻi, cried for his parents, and the Goddess Pārvatī fed him milk from a golden cup. When his father returned and asked who had fed him, the child pointed to the sky and sang his first hymn.
63 saints · Tēvāram · Periya Purāṇam · Appar, Sambandar, Sundarar