Sekkizhar
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| Tirumurai | |
| The twelve volumes of Tamil Shaivite hymns of the sixty-three Nayanars | |
| 1, 2, 3. Tirukadaikkappu | Campantar |
|---|---|
| 4, 5, 6. Tevaram | Appar |
| 7. Tirupaatu | Cuntarar |
| 8. Tiruvacakam and Tirukkovaiyar | Manikkavacakar |
| 9. Tiruvisaippa & Tiruppallaandu | Various poets |
| 10. Tirumandhiram | Tirumular |
| 11. Prabandham | Various poets |
| 12. Periya Puranam | Sekkizhar |
Sekkizhar was a poet and scholar of Tamil Shaiva Siddhanta[1][2] and the chief minister in the court of the Chola King Kulothunga Chola II (1133-1150)[3]. He compiled and wrote the Periya Puranam (Great Purana), recounting the life stories of the sixty-three Shaiva Nayanars, the poets of Shiva who composed the liturgical poems of the Tirumurai. Sekkizhar's work itself became part of the sacred canon[1].
Contents |
[edit] Life
Sekkizhar was born Arul Mozhi Tevar in Kunrattur village in Tondaimandalam[1]. As minister and a poet in the court of Kullottonga Chola II he went to Chidambaram to write the Periyapuranam[1][4]. Among all the hagiographic Puranas in Tamil, the Periyapuranam (or Tiruttondar Puranam) stands first[5].
Kullottonga Chola II was a devotee of Lord Siva Natraja at Chidambaram and continued the reconstruction of the center of Tamil Saivism that was begun by his ancestors. However, he was also enchanted by the Jain epic Jivaka Cintamani[3] a courtly epic of erotic flavor[3] in which the hero Jivaka marries seven damsels and gains a kingdom. In the end he realises the transiency of possessions, renounces his kingship and finally attains Nirvana.[3]
Sekkizhar exhorted the king to abandon the pursuit of impious literature and turn instead to the life of the Saiva saints celebrated by Cuntarar and Nambiyandar Nambi[5] and the king thereupon invited Sekkizhar to expound the lives of the Saiva saints in a great poem. As a minister of state Sekkizhar had access to the lives of the saints and after he collected the data he wrote the poem in the Thousand Pillared Hall of the Chidambaram temple[6].
This work is considered the most important initiative of Kullottonga Chola II's reign[6]. Although it is only a literary embellishment of earlier hagiographies of the Saiva saints it came to be seen as the epitome of Chola literary style[6]. The Periyapuranam is considered a fifth Veda in the Tamil and it immediately took its place as the twelfth and the last book in the Saiva canon. [5].
Sekkizhar was also famous for his religious and social services. When Tondaimandalam was attacked by a famine, Sekkizhar saved the country and hence earned the title Thondai mandalam nindru kaatha perumaan (the one who saved Thondaimandalam)[7].
[edit] Research Centre
The Sekkizhar Research Centre conducts research on his epic Periyapuranam and the period, art, culture, civilization, rituals, socioeconomic conditions, and religion/secularism of the times and place surrounding it.
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d A Dictionary of Indian Literature By Sujit Mukherjee
- ^ http://www.hinduonnet.com/2002/06/04/stories/2002060400590800.htm
- ^ a b c d Criminal Gods and Demon Devotees By Alf Hiltebeitel
- ^ Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature By various
- ^ a b c Medieval Indian Literature By K. Ayyappapanicker, Sahitya Akademi
- ^ a b c The Home of Dancing Śivan̲ By Paul Younger
- ^ Encyclpopaedia of Indian Literature By various
