Cekkilar

(12th c. C.E.) Author of the Periya
Puranam, a hagiographical account of
the sixty-three Nayanars. The Nayanars
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were a group of sixty-three Shaiva poetsaints who lived in southern India
between the seventh and ninth centuries. Along with their Vaishnava counterparts, the Alvars, the Nayanars
spearheaded the revitalization of Hindu
religion in opposition to the Buddhists
and the Jains. Both the Nayanars and the
Alvars stressed passionate devotion
(bhakti) to a personal god—Shiva for
the Nayanars, Vishnu for the Alvars—
and conveyed this devotion through
hymns sung in the Tamil language.
According to tradition, Cekkilar was a
minister at the court of the Chola
dynasty’s king Kullottunga II
(r. 1130–1150 C.E.). Cekkilar was distressed by the king’s admiration for a
Jain epic poem and composed his own
text to distract the king. His text portrays
the Nayanars as models of devotion to
Shiva, although they are sometimes
extreme in their actions. Yet in every
case, the love between devotee (bhakta)
and deity manifests itself in the circumstances of everyday life, leading the
saints to final liberation.