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Appar

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Appar
Appar
Personal
Born
Marul Neekkiyar

570 CE
Tiruvamur, Panruti,Chola Kingdom
(modern day Tiruvamur,Tamil Nadu,India)
Died650 CE (aged 80)
ThiruppugalurChola Kingdom
(modern dayThiruvarur,Tamil Nadu,India)
ReligionHinduism
Organization
PhilosophyShaivismBhakti
Religious career
Literary worksTevaram4,5 (Tirukkuruntokai), 6 (Tiruttantakam)
HonorsNayanarsaint, Muvar

Appar(Tamil:அப்பர்) also referred to asTirunavukkaracar(Tamil:திருநாவுக்கரசர்,romanized:Tirunāvukkaracar) orNavukkarasar,was a seventh-century TamilShaivapoet-saint. Born in a peasant Shaiva family, raised as an orphan by his sister, he lived about 80 years and is generally placed sometime between 570 and 650 CE.[1][2]Appar composed 4,900 devotional hymns to the godShiva,out of which 313 have survived and are now canonized as the 4th to 6th volumes ofTirumurai.[3]One of the most prominent of the sixty-three reveredNayanars,he was an older contemporary ofSambandar.[1][4]

His images are found and revered in Tamil Shiva temples. His characteristic iconography in temples show him carrying a farmer's small hoe – a gardening tool and weed puller.[1]

Names

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Appar is also known as Tirunavukkaracar (lit."King of the Tongue, Lord of Language" ). His birth-name was Marulneekkiyar, and was renamed to Dharmasenar while he studied and later served as the head of a Jain monastery. After he returned to Shaivism and began composing devotional hymns to Shiva, he has been historically referred to asAppar(lit."father" ), after the child poet-saint Sambandar lovingly called himAppar.[4]

Early life

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An outline about Appar's life, without specifics, are found in his own hymns that were preserved by anoral tradition.A written collection of his hymns as well as more details are found in texts about four centuries after he died. One of the most studied version is the Sekkizhar'sPeriya Puranam,the last book of theTirumurai.There, underThiruninrasargamand in 428 verses, Sekkizhar presents the legendary life of Appar.[3]

Appar was born in late 6th-century, likely between 570 and 596 CE.[2]Some scholars place him a bit later, in early 7th-century.[5]Appar was born in the Guruaruludaiyan kothiraam of theVellalarcaste by birth.[6][7]His childhood name was Marunikkiyar (Marulneekiar). Orphaned, he was raised by his older sister Thilagavathiar.[8][9]Thilagavathiar was betrothed to a military commander who died in war. She never married thereafter, devoted herself to Shaivism and to taking care of her little brother.[8]He spent his childhood in Tiruvamur village near Atikai by most accounts.[8]

Conversion to Jainism and return to Shaivism

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Om symbol
Om symbol
Tirumurai
Om symbol in Tamil
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

Unlike his sister, Appar turned to Jainism. He left home, joined a Jain monastery, where he was renamed Dharmasena (Tarumacenar). He studied Jainism and years later became the head of the Jain monastery in Tiruppatirippuliyur.[8][10]After a while, afflicted by a painful stomach illness, Dharmasena returned home.[11]His sister gave himTiruniru(sacred ash) and taught him the five syllable mantra "namaccivaya" (Namah Shivaya). Then they went together to a Shiva temple in Atikai, where he spontaneously composed his first hymn of Tevaram. As he sang the second verse, he was miraculously cured of his stomach illness. Thereafter, he came to be known as Navukkaracar (from Skt: Vagisa, "king of speech" ) or more popularly just Appar. He thus left Jainism and become a devout Shaiva.[8]

Appar's hymns are intimately devotional to Shiva, but occasionally include verses where he repents the Jain period of his life.[8]In Tevaram hymn IV.39 and others, he criticizes the Jain monastic practice of not brushing teeth, the lack of body hygiene, their barbaric ascetic practices, the doctrine ofpallurai(anekantavada) as self-contradictory relativism, the hypocrisy of running away from the world and work yet begging for food in that same world, and others.[12]

Appar (Wooden Image),ASIMuseum,Vellore
Amirthakadaieeshwarar temple relief depicting Appar bearing Sambandar's palanquin

Bhakti

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Appar largely stayed at Atikai with his sister before visiting other Shiva temples to sing in praise of Shiva. He heard ofSambandarand went to Sirkali to meet him. Sambandar respectfully addressed Navukkarasar asAppar(father) and he and Appar travelled together singing hymns. Appar is said to have traveled to about a hundred and twenty-five temples in different cities or villages in Tamil Nadu. He died inSadhaya Nakshtrain theTamil monthofChithiraiat Tirupukalur Shiva temple at the age of 81.[13]

Appar's Tevaram

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The Tamil Shaiva tradition believes that Appar extolled Siva in 4,900 hymns (49,000 stanzas). Of these 313 hymns (3,130 stanzas) have survived, later compiled in the fourth, fifth and sixth volumes of theTirumurai,the Tamil poetic canon ofShaiva Siddhanta.The compilation of these books is generally ascribed toNambiyandar Nambi(10th century CE). Some of Appar's hymns set to variousPanns,the melodic modes ofAncient Tamil music– the rest are set toTirunerisaiandViruttammetres. In the last four decades of his life, he visited on foot no less than 125 shrines ofShiva,scattered over a territory of a one thousand miles (1,600 km). He was the only one of the fourkuravarsto visit the shrine atTirukokarnamon the western coast ofIndia.He sang 312 decads comprising 3,056 stanzas of devotion.[4]

All the songs in the Tevaram (calledpathikam,Tamil:பதிகம்) are believed to be in sets of ten. The hymns were set to music denoted byPannsand are part of the canon of theTamil music.[14]They continue to be part of temple liturgy today.[15][16]Several of these poems refer to historic references pointing to the saint-poets' own life, voice of devotee persona, using interior language of the mystic.[17]Multi-vocal rhetoric is commonly used taking on personal emotions and genres and some voices of classicalSangam literature. Appar's poems dealt with inner, emotional and psychological state of the poet saint.[2]The metaphors used in the poems have deep agrarian influence that is considered one of the striking chords for common people to get accustomed to the verse.[18]The quote below is a popular song of Appar glorifying Shiva in simple diction.[19]

மாசில் வீணையும் மாலை மதியமும்
வீசு தென்றலும் வீங்கிள வேனிலும்
மூசு வண்டறை பொய்கையும் போன்றதே
ஈசன் எந்தை இணையடி நீழலே "
("Mācil vīṇaiyum mālai matiyamum
vīcu těņṛalum vīŋkiḷa vēņilum
mūcu vaṇţaṛai pǒykaiyum pōņṛatē
īcaņ ěntai iṇaiyaţi nīļalē ")

translating to

"My Lord's twin feet are like the blemishless Veena
like the full-moon of the evening
like the gentle breeze blowing from the South
like the young spring
like a bee-humming pond "[19]

The tendency to incorporate place names known to the folks in the idiom of the poems is another characteristic feature ofTevaram.[20]The poems also involved glorifying the feat of Shiva in the particular location – the usage of locale continuously occurring in the verses is a testament.[20]According to Prentiss, the poems do not represent social space as a contested space, the hymns represent the hymnists were free to wander and to offer their praise of Shiva.[21]The emotional intensity of the hymns represent spontaneous expression of thought as an emotional responses to God.[21]The hymnists made classificatory lists of places likekatu(for forest),turai(port or refuge),kulam(water tank) andkalam(field) being used – thus both structured and unstructured places in the religious context find a mention inTevaram.[21]

Compilation

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Raja Raja Chola I(ruled 985–1013 CE) embarked on a mission to recover the hymns after hearing short excerpts ofTevaramin his court.[22]He sought the help of Nambi Andar Nambi,[23]who was a priest in a temple.[24]It is believed by Tamil Shaiva that Nambi found the scripts by divine intervention, in the form of cadijam leaves half eaten by white ants in a chamber inside the second precinct inThillai Nataraja Temple, Chidambaram.[22][24]

Rajaraja thus became known asTirumurai Kanda Cholanmeaning one who saved theTirumurai.[25]The king added the images of the Nayanar poet-saints inside the Shiva temple.[25]Nambi arranged the hymns of three saint poets Sambanthar, Appar and Sundarar as the first seven books.[26]

In 1918, 11 more songs were found engraved in a stone temple in Tiruvidavayil in a village close to Nannillam, and it was the first instance found whereTevaramverses were found in inscriptions.[27]

Translations

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Francis Kingsbury and Godfrey Phillips selected and translated 39 out of 313 of Appar's hymns into English in 1921. These were published with small collection of Sambandar and Sundarar hymns in a book titledHymns of the Tamil Śaivite Saints,released by the Oxford University Press. They stated that these were some of the hymns fromDevaram(Tevaram) that they could hear being chanted in South Indian Shiva temples of their times.[28]

In 1959, Dorai Rangaswamy published a prose translation with commentary on about 100 Appar's hymns in Volume 3 of his collected works on Tevaram.[29]More recent English translations of many more select hymns by Appar have been published by Indira Peterson.[30]

Legacy

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Bronze image of Appar from 12th century - Vembavur, Perambalur district

Appar is traditionally credited with converting thePallavaking,Mahendravarmanto Shaivism.[31]His efforts helped expand the sacred geography of Shaivism and bring fame to smaller Shiva temples. Appar sanctified all these temples by his verses[31]and was also involved in cleaning of the dilapidated temples with hisulavarapadai(farmer's gardening hoe) – now a part of his iconography.[1][13]

Temple services

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Appar celebrated the Vedas, and connected the Vedic ritual to the templeAgamicpujathat is ever since followed in Shiva temples.[32][33]According to John Cort – a scholar of Jainism and Hinduism studies, the Agamic temple rituals perpetuate the Vedic practices. Appar and other Nayanars helped transform this "as the central element of the Saiva Siddhanta philosophical and theological system, and thus of Tamil Saiva soteriology", states Cort, by emphasizing the instrumentality and efficacy of the temple and its rituals. According to Appar and others, the Vedic and the Agamic overlap, are alternate roads to the same spiritual end, both evoke a transformation in the devotee, with the difference that temple-based Saiva puja alone is emphasized in the tradition that Appar and other Nayanars helped create.[33]

Appar's tradition has thrived in Tamil Shiva temples.Odhuvars,Sthanikars,orKattalaiyarsoffer musical programmes in Shiva temples of Tamil Nadu by singingTevaramafter the daily rituals.[34]These are usually carried out as chorus programme soon after the divine offering. The singing of Tevaram was followed by musicals from the music pillars in such temples likeMadurai Meenakshi Amman Temple,Nellaiappar TempleandSuchindram.[35]The singers of these hymns were referred asTirupadiyam Vinnapam seyvarorPidarar,from the inscriptions ofNandivarman IIIin the Tiruvallam Bilavaneswara temple records. Rajaraja deputed 48pidararsand made liberal provisions for their maintenance and successors.[25]

Historic inscriptions give details about the gifts rendered to the singers ofTevaramfromParantaka Iof the 8th century.[25]A record belonging toRajendra ImentionsTevaranayakan,the supervisor ofTevaramand shows the institutionalisation ofTevaramwith the establishment of a department.[25][36]There are records fromKulothunga Chola IIIfrom Nallanyanar temple in South Arcot indicating singing ofTiruvempavaiandTiruvalamof Manickavasagar during special occasion in the temple.[25]From the 13th century, the texts were passed on to the Odhuvars by theAdheenamsor charitable establishments. The charitable establishments that ran on philanthropy of individuals and merchant caravans had come to be because after the 13th century, the time of ancient nation states viz. cholas etc. was finished, and the temples became only denominated, voluntary, charitable places. This is briefed by a 15th-century, chidambaram temple inscription. During the time of cholas etc. the temple hymn service workers were known asuvaccharandmarars.These terms are of very ancient origin and traceable to even early sangam times.

Appar's stone image is revered in almost all Shiva temples of Tamil Nadu. AChola bronzeof Appar with 57 cm (22 in) in standing posture dated to about 12th century was found in Vembavur inPerambalur district.He is sported with beads ofRudrakshaon both his arms and neck. The bronze image is stored in the Bronze gallery inGovernment Museum, Chennai.[37]

History and culture

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Appar's hymns provide a window into the history and culture of Tamil Hindus between the 7th and 9th-century, states Paramasivanandan. They mention names of rulers, towns, villages, festivals, agriculture, trade, temples, role of temple in providing social support during famines and economic hardship, role of temples in dance, music, arts, life rituals, social conditions, literature, and the education system. Given Appar's study of Digambara Jainism prior to returning to Shaiva Hinduism, it also includes a historic view into the two traditions.[38]

References

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  1. ^abcdPeterson 1989,pp. 19–21, 270–273, 283–297.
  2. ^abcZvelebil 1974, p. 95
  3. ^abNagaswamy 1989,pp. Chapter 2.
  4. ^abcVanmikanathan 1983,p. 8.
  5. ^Spencer 1970,pp. 234–235.
  6. ^Smith, Ronald Morton (2002).Developments in Indian Religion.Canadian Scholars' Press. p. 33.:"Appar was a vaisya"
  7. ^Leiden, International Congress of Orientalists (2018).Actes Du Sixième Congrès International Des Orientalistes.Wentworth Press. p. 300.ISBN978-0-27090-885-5.:"He was born in the Guruaruludaiyan kothiraam of Vellala caste by birth."
  8. ^abcdefPeterson 1989,pp. 283–287.
  9. ^Zvelebil 1974,p. 95.
  10. ^Das 2005,p. 33
  11. ^Nagaswamy 1989,ch. 2
  12. ^Peterson 1989,pp. 286–293 with footnotes.
  13. ^abZvelebil 1974, p. 96
  14. ^Sabaratnam 2001, p. 26
  15. ^"Glossary".TempleNet.Retrieved10 January2007.
  16. ^"Abodes of Shiva".Indiantemples.Retrieved10 January2007.
  17. ^Callewaert 1994, p. 199
  18. ^Sabaratnam 2001, p. 27
  19. ^abAiyangar 2004, p. 35
  20. ^abSabaratnam 2001, pp. 27-28
  21. ^abcPrentiss 1992,p. 51-52.
  22. ^abCulter 1987, p. 50
  23. ^Xavier Irudayaraj, "Self Understanding of 'Saiva Siddanta' Scriptures," in The St. Thomas Christian Encyclopaedia of India, Ollur [Trichur] 2010 Ed. George Menachery, Vol. III, p.14 ff.
  24. ^abCort 1998, p. 178
  25. ^abcdefVasudevan 2003, pp. 109-110
  26. ^Zvelebil 1974, p. 191
  27. ^Ayyar, p. 23
  28. ^Kingsbury, F (1921).Hymns of the Tamil Saivite Saints (1921)(PDF).Oxford University Press. pp. 35–68.Retrieved8 July2014.
  29. ^Dorai Rangaswamy 1959.
  30. ^Peterson 1989.
  31. ^abVasudevan 2003, p. 13
  32. ^Nagaswamy 1989,pp. Chapter 6: Vedic Nature of Appar’s Saivism.
  33. ^abCort 1998, p. 176
  34. ^Ghose 1996, p. 239
  35. ^Bhargava 2006, p. 467
  36. ^Vasudevan 2003,p. 101.
  37. ^T.S., Dr. Sridhar, ed. (2011).An exhibition on Chola bronzes - 1000th anniversary of Thanjavur Big temple celebration(PDF)(Report). Chennai: Department of Archaeology & Government Museum. p. 25.
  38. ^A.M. Paramasivanandan (1982),The Historical Study of the Thevaram Hymns, Tamilkalai,OCLC13103354

Bibliography

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Further reading

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