Sundarar

8th century Indian poet

Sundarar , also referred to as Chuntarar, Chuntaramurtti, Nampi Aruran or Tampiran Tolan, was an eighth century poet saint of Tamil Shaiva Siddhanta tradition of Hinduism. He is among the Tevaram trio, and one of the most prominent Nayanars, the Shaiva bhakti (devotional) poets of Tamil Nadu. His hymns form the seventh volume of the Tirumurai, the twelve volume compendium of Shaiva Siddhanta. His songs are considered the most musical in Tirumurai in Tamil language. He was adopted by regional feudatory dedicated to Shiva, and that brought the name "Aruran". Peers and the generations that followed him called him "Tampiran Tolan", which means "intimate companion, dedicated friend of the lord [Shiva]". Sundarar began his first poem (Tevaram VII.1.1) by addressing Shiva as Pittaa pirai chudi meaning O mad man :

O madman with the moon crowned hair,
God of grace,
O Lord, how can I forget you? You dwell forever in my heart,
In Arutturai, shrine of grace,
in Venneynallur on Pennai's southern bank,
you took me for your own–
how can I deny you now? – Translated by Indira Peterson

In the next stage of his life, Sundarar moved around Tamil Nadu, visiting Shiva Temples of Tamil Nadu. In Tiruvarur, he fell in love with a temple dancer named Paravayar, and married her. After few years of married life, Sundarar visits the Siva temple in Thiruvottriyur, a sea side suburb of Madras. There he meets and is enamoured by a peasant Vellala girl Cankali. With the help of Shiva, this leads to Sundarar's second marriage, but only after his wedding vows include the promise of never leaving Cankali and Thiruvottriyur. After marrying his second wife, Sundarar misses his first wife Paravai. He does not keep his word, and leaves for Tiruvarur. The broken vow causes him to go blind before he reaches Tiruvarur. His suffering thereafter are part of several Tevaram hymns. As a blind man, he visits many Shiva shrines and sings there. Slowly in stages, he becomes closer to Shiva and recovers his sight. Another legends states that Cheraman Perumal – the king of the region now known as Kerala, heard of him and came to Tiruvarur. Both embarked on a pilgrimage together. He died during this pilgrimage. Zvelebil estimates that Sundarar died about 730 CE. In his later hymns, he presents his spiritual discussions with Shiva on how to achieve both spiritual succor and material wealth in life. He seeks the latter to provide for his family and to pay for the charitable temple kitchen that fed hundreds of Shaiva pilgrims. Shiva becomes his patron king, grants him grain, gold and a flashing sword. This is embedded symbolism to inspire regional kings and wealthy patrons to support the spiritual and charitable works at Shiva temples.

Like the Tevaram trio, Sundarar's hymns were passed on through the oral tradition for a few centuries. Sometime around 1000 CE, Raja Raja Chola I (985 1013 CE) heard short excerpts of Shiva hymns in his court. He then embarked on a mission to recover the hymns. He sought the help of Nambiyandar Nambi, who was a priest in a Ganesha temple. Nambi, states the tradition, prayed before Ganesha for success in finding the manuscripts. Nambi found the scripts in the form of cadijam leaves half eaten by white ants in a chamber inside the second precinct in Thillai Nataraja Temple, Chidambaram. Tradition attributes this discovery to Shiva's intervention. This, states Vasu, began the tradition of placing Nayanar statues in large Tamil Shiva temples. The Shiva temple centered community tradition has thrived among Tamils since the times of Sambandar, Appar and Sundarar. Odhuvars, Sthanikars, or Kattalaiyars offer musical programmes in Shiva temples of Tamil Nadu by singing Tevaram after the daily rituals. 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 like Madurai Meenakshi Amman Temple, Nellaiappar Temple and Suchindram. The singers of these hymns were referred as Tirupadiyam Vinnapam seyvar or Pidarar, from the inscriptions of Nandivarman III in the Tiruvallam Bilavaneswara temple records. Rajaraja deputed 48 pidarars and made liberal provisions for their maintenance and successors. More recent English translations of many more select hymns by Sundarar have been published by Indira Peterson, and David Shulman.