This article was accepted into the corpus but its outbound wikilinks were never NER-processed — typical at the deepest BFS hop or when the run's entity cap was reached. No expansion funnel to show.
| Periya Puranam | |
|---|---|
| Name | Periya Puranam |
| Original title | பெரிய புராணம் |
| Author | Sekkizhar |
| Language | Old Tamil |
| Subject | Shaiva bhakti, hagiography |
| Genre | Religious literature, epic poem |
| Published | 12th century CE |
Periya Puranam Periya Puranam is a 12th-century Old Tamil hagiographic epic detailing the lives of sixty-three Shaivite saints known as the Nayanars, composed under royal patronage. The work interweaves episodes linked to Pallava and Chola courts, pilgrimage sites such as Chidambaram and Thiruvarur, and devotional connections to temples like Brihadeeswarar Temple and Ekambareswarar Temple. It functions as a canonical text within the Tirumurai corpus and is central to traditions around Shaivism, Tamil literature, Bhakti movement, and temple rites across Tamil Nadu.
Sekkizhar's narrative consolidates oral hagiography, temple inscriptions, and earlier works such as the Tevaram hymns of Appar, Sambandar, and Sundarar. Commissioned during the reign of Rajaraja I and associated with court figures like Anantavarman Chodaganga in some accounts, the poem situates the Nayanars in a network of pilgrimage, royal patronage, and liturgical practice. Its canonical status within the Tirumurai and its role in institutionalizing Shaiva devotion link it to temples like Brihadisvara Temple, Thanjavur and centers such as Kanchipuram, Madurai, and Tiruvarur.
Authored by the court poet Sekkizhar during the reign of Rajaraja I of the Chola dynasty, the composition responds to royal initiatives to consolidate religious identity and temple patronage. Sekkizhar, a contemporary of figures like Kamban and later compared with Nammalvar and Manikkavacakar, drew from sources including temple inscriptions of Parantaka II, oral traditions tied to Tiru, and earlier devotional corpora such as the Nalayira Divya Prabandham (linked to Alvars) and the Tirumurai anthology. The composition process involved adaptation of local legends connected to pilgrimage centers such as Srirangam and Ramanathaswamy Temple.
The poem is structured into one hundred and thirty-six chapters recounting the biographies of sixty-three Nayanar saints grouped within episodic narratives that alternate miracle tales, martyrdoms, and repentance stories. Episodes reference interactions with monarchs like Mahendravarman I and Kocengannan, merchants linked to ports such as Puhar and Kaveripoompattinam, and devotees whose lives intersect with sites including Chidambaram, Kumbakonam, and Tirunelveli. The work often integrates hymn quotations from Appar, Sambandar, and Sundarar and situates miracles beside ritual settings like Chola temple consecration ceremonies.
Composed in the high medieval period of South India, the poem reflects the sociopolitical landscape shaped by the Chola dynasty, rivalries with the Pandyas and Cheras, maritime commerce with Srivijaya and Arab traders, and temple-centered urbanism in centers like Thanjavur and Kanchipuram. The text both records and shapes patronage patterns involving rulers such as Rajaraja I and Rajendra Chola I and religious reform movements linked to Shaiva Siddhanta. Pilgrimage networks connecting Rameswaram, Tiruchirappalli, and coastal shrines are foregrounded alongside accounts of artisans associated with temple workshops like those attested in Brihadeeswarar Temple inscriptions.
Sekkizhar employs classical Tamil meters and ornate diction resonant with poets such as Kamban and Ilango Adigal, combining hagiographic pathos with narrative devices from the Sangam and medieval bhakti traditions. Dominant themes include devotion (bhakti) to Shiva, renunciation, divine grace, caste and social reversal narratives involving figures like Nayanar Appar and Tirunavukkarasar, and conflicts with rival sectarians such as followers of Jainism and adherents of Buddhism in regional contests. Recurring motifs include miraculous interventions at temples like Chidambaram and moral exemplars compared to heroes from epics such as the Ramayana and Mahabharata.
Manuscript witnesses survive in palm-leaf codices preserved in temple libraries at Thanjavur, private collections tied to families of hereditary priests, and colonial-era archives. Early modern transmission involved commentaries by scholars in the Sanskrit and Tamil scholastic traditions; 19th- and 20th-century editors produced printed editions alongside critical apparatus informed by epigraphic evidence from Tanjore and catalogues compiled during the British Raj. Notable editions and translations link to scholars associated with institutions like the Madras Presidency and universities such as University of Madras.
The poem shaped temple liturgy, festival narratives, and iconographic programs across South India, influencing rituals at Brihadeeswarar Temple, processional traditions in Tiruvarur, and hagiographic art in shrines from Kanchipuram to Rameswaram. Its canonization within the Tirumurai established models for saintly devotion that informed later poets like Andal-linked traditions and performers in folk genres such as Therukoothu. Political uses of the text by modern movements link it to cultural revivalism in Tamil nationalism and heritage programs in institutions such as the Archaeological Survey of India.
Scholars of Indology and Tamil studies have debated the historicity of episodes, critiqued hagiographic exaggeration, and explored the poem's role in constructing communal identities vis-à-vis Jain and Buddhist presences. Critics reference methodologies from epigraphy, comparative analysis with the Tevaram, and reception studies in temple contexts like Srirangam and Chidambaram; defenders emphasize its literary merit and ritual centrality. Modern translations and commentaries produced at institutions such as the University of Madras and by scholars in France, Germany, and United Kingdom have broadened academic engagement while sparking debates over interpretation in postcolonial and religious studies.
Category:Tamil literature Category:Shaivism Category:12th-century books