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Sambandar

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Sambandar
A copper alloy sculpture of Sambandar with forefinger pointing slightly up (symbolically towards Parvati and Shiva)
Personal
Born
6th–7th century
Sirkazhiswaram,
Chola Empire(present
Sirkazhi,Tamil Nadu,India)
ReligionHinduism
Organization
PhilosophyShaivism,Bhakti
Religious career
Literary worksTevaram
HonorsNayanarsaint, Muvar

Sambandar(Tamil:சம்பந்தர்,romanized:Campantar), also referred to asTirujnana Sambandar(Tamil:திருஞானசம்பந்தர்,romanized:Tiruñāṉacampantar), was aShaivapoet-saint ofTamil Naduwho lived sometime in the 7th century CE.[1][2]According to the Tamil Shaiva tradition, he composed anoeuvreof 16,000 hymns in complex meters, of which 383 (384) hymns with 4,181 stanzas have survived.[3]These narrate an intense loving devotion (bhakti) to the Hindu godShiva.Sambandar died when he was sixteen years of age. The surviving compositions of the poet-saint are preserved in the first three volumes of theTirumurai,and provide a part of the philosophical foundation of Shaiva Siddhanta.[2][3]

He is one of the most prominent of the sixty-threeNayanars,TamilShaivabhaktisaints who lived between the sixth and the tenth centuries CE. He was a contemporary ofAppar,another Shaiva poet-saint.[4]

Life

Amirthakadaieeshwarar temple relief depicting Appar bearing Sambandar's palanquin

Information about Sambandar comes mainly from thePeriya Puranam,the eleventh-century Tamil book on the Nayanars that forms the last volume of theTirumurai,along with the earlierTiruttondartokai,poetry bySundararandNambiyandar Nambi'sTiru Tondar Tiruvandadi.ASanskrithagiographycalledBrahmapureesa Charitamis now lost. The first three volumes of theTirumuraicontain three hundred and eighty-four poems of Sambandar, all that survive out of a reputed more than 10,000 hymns.[5]

According to the Tamil texts, Sambandar was born to Sivapada Hrudiyar and his wife Bhagavathiar who lived inSirkazhi,Tamil Nadu.They wereShaivitebrahmins.When Sambandar was three years old his parents took him to the Shiva temple where Shiva and his consortParvatiappeared before the child. His father saw drops of milk on the child's mouth and asked who had fed him, whereupon the boy pointed to the sky and responded with the songTodudaya Seviyan,the first verse of theTevaram.At the age of three, he is said to have mastered theVedas.Sambandar died in the Tamil month of "Vaigasi" at the age of sixteen at his wedding.[1][2]

The Child Saint Sambandar,cholabronze, 12th century India,Freer Gallery of Art,Washington DC

Inscriptions

An inscription ofRajaraja Chola IatTiruvarurmentions Sambandar along withAppar,Sundararand the latter's wife Nangai Paravaiyar.

Many other inscriptions likely are related to the musical bhakti singing tradition founded by Sambandar and other Nayanars. The singers of these hymns were referred to asTirupadiyam Vinnapam seyvarorPidararin Tamil inscriptions from about the 8th to 16th centuries, such as the inscriptions ofNandivarman IIIin the Tiruvallam Bilavaneswara temple records. Rajaraja deputed 48pidararsand made liberal provisions for their maintenance and successors.[6]A few earlier records give details about the gifts rendered to the singers ofTevaramfromParantaka Iof the 8th century.[7]A record belonging toRajendra ImentionsTevaranayakan,the supervisor ofTevaramand shows the institutionalisation ofTevaramwith the establishment of a department.[7]There are records fromKulothunga Chola IIIfrom Nallanyanar temple in South Arcot indicating singing ofTiruvempavaiandTiruvalamof Manickavasagar during special occasion in the temple.[7]

Iconography

Sambandar's image is found in almost all Shiva temples of Tamil Nadu. He is depicted as a dancing child or a young teen with his right forefinger pointing upwards, reflecting the legend where he credits Parvati-Shiva for what he has. AChola bronzeof Sambandar with a height of 52 cm (20 in) in standing posture dated to about the 12th century was found inVelankanniinNagapattinam district.He is sported withcaturaposture with his feat on Padmasana and he is sported with jewels around his neck. Another image found inTiruindalurin dancing posture with a height of 52 cm (20 in) dated 1150 has Sambandar sported with his right feet over a pedestal. Both the bronze images are stored in the Bronze gallery inGovernment Museum, Chennai.[8]

Compositions and legacy

Sambandar is the first poet-saint featured in theTirumurai,the canonical works of Tamil Shaiva Siddhanta. His compositions grace Volume I, II and III of the twelve-volume compilation. He has been highly influential on Tamil Shaivism.[2]His ideas and emotional devotion to Shiva are shared by other Nayanars and the Shaiva community they help organize. He is lucid in explaining the link between the Vedic tradition and the temple tradition. According to Cort, Sambandar clearly explains this through his hymn praising the power of thenamah sivayamantra:[9]

It guides to the good path,
all those who melt with love,
and flow with tears as they chant it.
It is the essence of the four Vedas,
Chant our Lord's name,
say, 'Hail Siva! "
– Translated by John Cort[9]

This is part of the refrain found in the Vedic teaching called theŚatarudrīya saṁhita,states Cort, the foundation that transmutes that Vedic tradition into the Agamic ritual tradition of Shaiva Siddhanta. Sambandar and other Nayanars help shift the focus from celebrating the Vedic canonical text into a "magical connection with Siva" whereby every devotee can have a personal, direct connection to Shiva and the essence of Shiva within him or her. It helps shift the spiritual experience from being channeled through Brahmin priests to being channeled through a direct loving connection with one's own Shiva. In effect, states Cort, "the essence of the Veda" displaces the Vedic text itself through the tradition pioneered by Sambandar, Appar and Sundarar.[9]

Temple services

Sambandar (Wooden Image),ASIMuseum, Vellore

The pilgrimage to temples, associated devotional singing with music, and other rituals started by Sambandar have thrived over the centuries. In contemporary Tamil Shiva temples,Odhuvars,Sthanikars,orKattalaiyarsoffer musical programmes in Shiva temples of Tamil Nadu by singingTevaramafter the daily rituals.[10]These are usually carried out as chorus programmes 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.[11]

Periya Puranam,the eleventh-century Tamil book on the Nayanars that forms the last volume of theTirumuraiprimarily had references only toTevaramand subsequently expanded to 12 parts and is one of the first anthologies ofTirumurai.[12]One of the first anthologies ofmoovarshymns called theTevara Arulmuraitirattuis linked to Tamil Shaiva Siddhanta philosophy by grouping ninety-nine verses into 10 categories.[12]The category headings are God, soul, bond, grace, divine initiation, methodology, enlightenment, bliss, mantra and liberation - correspond to Umapthi's work,Tiruvarutpayan.[13]Tirumurai kanda puranamis another anthology forTirumuraias a whole, but primarily focuses onTevaram.It is the first of the works to refer to the collection of volumes asTirumurai.[13]

Tamil Shaiva ethos

The hymns of Sambandar include criticism and allegations of persecution of the Shaiva community by Jain monks, along with a "bitter anti-Jain polemic".[14]Sambandar critiques the duplicity he sees.[15]The early studies of this Jain-Hindu interaction, as seen in Sambandar hymns and other early Shaiva literature, is one where Jainism is inferred as the heterodox popular religion followed by a revival and triumph of Shaiva Hinduism. The situation was likely more complicated and driven by historical developments and context. The Buddhists denied the "existence of soul", states Nilakanta Sastri, while the Jains recommended "asceticism and suffering" – a period in Tamil culture where such "pessimism" must have been the ethos.[16]

Shaivism retooled its Vedic roots and transmuted the Vedic ritual into a personalized temple bhakti ritual. Thus, the Shaiva poet-saints such as Sambandar and Appar emerged with an optimistic, cheerful celebration of Shiva, soul and life with music and songs. This may have represented a change to the earlier ethos of Tamil society. This evolution is embedded in the mythohistory of Shaiva legends, which accuse Jain monks of scheming and torturing Sambandar, Appar and others, followed by a reversal. These legends, states Richard Davis, are better studied as symbolic conflict of ideas, a competition for patronage and transformation of Tamil social ethos through a Brahmin-peasant alliance.[16]The Shaiva literature and songs characterize Jain monks and their ascetic lifestyle as false doctrines with no emotional or spiritual value in this or the next life. They offer a new vision to the Tamil society and culture where devotion to Shiva temple, community and loving engagement to life is the path to liberation.[16]

Translation of Sambandar hymns

Francis Kingsbury and Godfrey Phillips selected and translated 24 out of 383 of Sambandar's hymns into English in 1921. These were published with a small collection of Appar 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.[17]

Indira Peterson has published a more recent translation of many of Sambandar's hymns.[18]

Notes

  1. ^abPeterson 1989,pp. 19–27, 272–273.
  2. ^abcdDehejia, Vidya (1987). "Sambandar: a Child-Saint of South India".South Asian Studies.3(1). Taylor & Francis: 53–61.doi:10.1080/02666030.1987.9628355.
  3. ^abZvelebil 1974,p. 95.
  4. ^Encyclopaedia of Jainism, Volume 1, page 5468
  5. ^Majumdar, Ramesh Chandra (1951).The History and Culture of the Indian People: The classical age.Crows Nest, Australia: G. Allen & Unwin. p. 330.
  6. ^Vasudevan 2003, p. 13
  7. ^abcVasudevan 2003, pp. 109-110
  8. ^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. 45.
  9. ^abcCort 1998,pp. 175–176
  10. ^Ghose 1996, p. 239
  11. ^Bhargava 2006, p. 467
  12. ^abPrentiss 1992,p. 140
  13. ^abPrentiss 1992,p. 144
  14. ^Cort 1998,p. 213
  15. ^Das 2005, p.32
  16. ^abcCort 1998,pp. 175–176, 213–217
  17. ^Kingsbury, F (1921).Hymns of the Tamil Śaivite Saints (1921)(PDF).Oxford University Press. pp. 35–68.Retrieved8 July2014.
  18. ^Peterson 1989.

References

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