Periya Puranam

Om symbol Tirumurai Om symbol in Tamil
The twelve volumes ofTamilŚaivahymns 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

ThePeriya Purāṇam(Tamil:பெரிய புராணம்), that is, thegreat puranaor epic, sometimes calledTiruttontarpuranam( "Tiru-Thondar-Puranam", the Purana of the Holy Devotees), is aTamilpoetic account depicting the lives of the sixty-threeNayanars,the canonical poets of TamilShaivism.It was compiled during the 12th century bySekkilar.ThePeriya Puranamis part of the corpus of Shaiva canonical works.

Sekkilar compiled and wrote thePeriya Puranamor theGreat PuranainTamilabout the life stories of the sixty-three Shaiva Nayanars, poets of the deityShivawho composed the liturgical poems of theTirumurai,and was later himself canonised and the work became part of the sacred canon.Among all the hagiographicPuranasinTamil,Sekkilar'sTiruttondar PuranamorPeriyapuranam,composed during the rule ofKulottunga II(1133–1150 CE) stands first.

Background

Sekkilar was a poet and the chief minister in the court of theCholaKing,Kulothunga Chola II.Kulottunga Chola II, king Anabaya Chola, was a staunch devotee of Natraja, the form of Shiva worshipped atChidambaram.He continued the reconstruction of the center of Tamil Shaivism that was begun by his ancestors. However, Kulottunga II was also enchanted by theJaincourtly epic,Chivaka Chinthamanian epic of erotic flavour (sringara rasa) whose hero, Chivaka, combines heroics and erotics to marry eight damsels and gain a kingdom. In the end he realises the transiency of possessions, renounces his kingship and finally attains Nirvana by prolonged austerity (tapas).

In order to wean Kulottunga Chola II from the hereticalChivaka Chintamani,Sekkilar undertook the task of writing thePeriyapuranam.

Periyapuranam

The study ofChivaka Chintamaniby Kulottunga Chola II, deeply affected Sekkilar who was very religious in nature. He exhorted the king to abandon the pursuit of impious erotic literature and turn instead to the life of the Shaiva saints celebrated bySundaramurti NayanarandNambiyandar Nambi.The king thereupon invited Sekkilar to expound the lives of the Shaiva saints in a great poem. As a minister of the state Sekkilar had access to the lives of the saints and after he collected the data, he wrote the poem in theThousand Pillared Hallof theChidambaramtemple.Legend has it that Shiva himself provided Sekkilar with the first feet of the first verse as a divine voice from the sky declaring "உலகெலாம்" (ulakelam: All the world).

This work is considered the most important initiative of Kulottunga Chola II's reign. Although, it is only a literary embellishment of earlier hagiographies of the Shaiva saints composed bySundararandNambiyandar Nambi,it came to be seen as the epitome of high standards of theCholaculture, because of the highest order of the literary style.ThePeriyapuranamis considered afifth VedainTamiland immediately took its place as the twelfth and the last book in the Shaiva canon. It is considered one of the masterpieces of theTamil literatureand worthily commemorates the Golden age of theCholas.

Significance

All the saints mentioned in this epic poem are historical persons and not mythical. Therefore, this is a recorded history of the 63 Shaiva saints called asNayanars(devotees of Shiva), who attain salvation by their unflinching devotion toSiva.The Nayanmars that he talks about belonged to different communities, different occupations and lived in different times.

External links

• Periya Puranam in Tamil.
• Periya Puranam in English.
• Nayanar temples locationsArchived17 November 2019 at theWayback Machineexplained in Periya puranam
• [1]Periya Puram as per Mahaperiyava