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The Saiva canon

CHENNAI : The Saiva canonical literature in Tamil is known as the Tirumurai. Nambiandar Nambi of Tirunarayur codified the Tirumurai hymns into 12, the total number of verses being nearly 20,000 verses. Twenty-seven saints composed these hymns and there is an interesting hagiological account of how he happened to undertake this mission. He was directed in a dream to the locked room in which the Dikshitars had secured the manuscripts, with the instruction to popularise them. They agreed to give them to Nambiandar on the condition that he must bring Tirujnanasambandar, Tirunavukkarasar and Sundarar. It was an impossible task indeed but Nambiandar agreed and brought their idols instead. Naturally they objected but he won them around by pointing to Lord Nataraja in the sanctum and asking them whether they did not see God in the idol there.

In his discourse, Swami Omkarananda said the outpourings of these saints in the Tirumurai continued to inspire countless devotees to pursue the path to liberation. The first seven Tirumurai known collectively as Tevaram is the composition of Tirujnanasambandar, Navukkarasar and Sundarar, the 8th being the Tiruvasagam of Manikkavasagar. The 9th Tirumurai (the Tiruisaippa) is a miscellaneous collection and the mystical hymn Tirumandiram of Tirumular forms the 10th Tirumurai. The 11th is again a miscellaneous collection in which a hymn is attributed to Lord Siva Himself and the last is the biographical work of the 63 Nayanmars by Sekkhizhar— the Periapuranam.

The central thread that runs through all these works is the glory of Lord Siva and devotion to Him. That the saints have eulogised God on the basis of the Vedas, which are the primary scriptural authority can be seen from the explanation of the Panchakshara mantra (Namah Sivaya) in their hymns. This Mantra is central to the Vedic hymn Srirudra. The Nayanmars reiterate that this Mantra is capable of liberating man from bondage and that it embodies the truth of the four Vedas. Chanting of this Mantra purifies the subtle body to enable the devotee to experience God.

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