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| The twelve volumes ofTamilŚaiva hymns of the sixty-threeNayanars | ||
| Parts | Name | Author |
| 1,2,3 | Thirukadaikkappu | Sambandar |
| 4,5,6 | Thevaram | Thirunavukkarasar |
| 7 | Thirupaatu | Sundarar |
| 8 | Thiruvasakam & Thirukkovaiyar | Manickavasagar |
| 9 | Thiruvisaippa & Tiruppallaandu | Various |
| 10 | Thirumandhiram | Thirumular |
| 11 | Various | |
| 12 | Periya Puranam | Sekkizhar |
| Paadal Petra Sthalam | ||
| Paadal Petra Sthalam | ||
| Rajaraja I | ||
| Nambiyandar Nambi | ||
Tirumular, also known asSuntaranāthar, was aTamilShaivite mystic and writer, considered one of the sixty-three poet-saints called theNayanars, and is listed among a group of 18 sages called theSiddhars. His magnum opus, theTirumantiram, consisting of over 3000 verses, forms a part of the key text of the TamilShaiva Siddhanta compilation called theTirumurai.
The dates of Tirumular's life are controversial, and because his work makes reference to so many currents of religious thought, the dates that different scholars assign are often appealed to for anchoring the relative chronology of other literature in Tamil andSanskrit. Verse 74 of theTirumantiram makes the claim that Tirumular lived for 7yugas (ages) before composing theTirumantiram.[1]
Some are therefore inclined to place his composition well before theCommon Era. The scholar and lexicographer S. Vaiyapuripillai, however, suggested that he probably belonged to the beginning of the eighth-century CE, pointing out that Tirumular could not very well be placed earlier given that he appears to refer to theTevaram hymns ofSambandar,Appar, andSundarar, that he used "very late words" and that he made mention of the weekdays.[2]
Others wish to push the date still later: Dominic Goodall, for instance, appears to suggest, on the grounds of religious notions that appear in the work withTamil labels for which a certain historical development can be traced in other datable works, that theTirumantiram cannot be placed before the 11th- or 12th-century CED.[3] Yet another view, alluded to for instance by Vaiyapuripillai (ibid.), is that the text may contain an ancient core, but with "a good number of interpolated stanzas" of later date. Whatever the case, allusions to works and ideas in theTirumantiram cannot, at least for the moment, be used as useful indicators of their chronology.[citation needed]
Suntaranāthar,[4] as the saint was known, was ayogi originally from then Madurai. According to legend, he is believed to have travelled toMount Kailash, where he was initiated by the deityShiva. After spending 5 years at Mount Kailash, he undertook a journey under the order of Shiva toTamilakam to meet his contemporary, the sageAgastya inPothigai Hills. After meeting Agastya, he went toChidambaram, and after worshiping Shiva at theNataraja Temple, he was about to return to Mount Kailash. During his journey, near Sathanur village (a village nearAaduthurai), he saw a group of cows crying. He discovered that their cowherd, Mulan, was dead, having been bitten by a snake. Touched by the sight of the cows, he decided to use his yogic powers and move his soul from his body to that of the dead cowherd's, leaving his own body inside a log. On waking up in the body of the cowherd, the cows became happy; he then motioned them towards the village. When the saint wished to return to his own body, he was surprised to find that it was nowhere to be found. At this moment, he heard a divine voice from the sky, that of Shiva, who told him that he had been behind the disappearance of the body. The deity told him that he wished the saint to spread his teachings through the body of Mulan, allowing him to preach to the common folk in the vernacular Tamil spoken by the cowherd, as opposed to the literary Tamil in which the saint was well-versed. Suntaranāthar was henceforth calledTirumular,tiru meaning an epithet indicating respect. The saint is regarded to have engaged in meditation under apeepal tree inThiruvavaduthurai, receiving holy hymns in Tamil. These three thousand holy hymns were compiled to become the book called theTirumantiram.
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