Thirugnana Sambanthar was a Saiva saint, who lived in the Pandya country in the ancient Tamil Nadu during the reign of Ninrasir Nedumaran (c.7th century CE).^[1] Sambanthar, is one of the 63 Nayanars, Tamil Saiva Bhakti saints, who lived between the sixth and the tenth centuries CE. Sambanthar composed many hymns on Shiva, some of which were collected at a later date. These hymns form a part of the religious canon of Saivism. Sambandar was a contemporary of Appar, another Saiva saint. This article is about the Hindu God Åšiva. ... Context : Kingdoms of Ancient India Pandyas were fierce warriors who took part in the Kurukshetra War. ... The Nayanars were the sincere and ardent devotees of Lord Siva. ... Tamil ( ; IPA ) is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamils in India and Sri Lanka, with smaller communities of speakers in many other countries. ... Bhakti movements are Hindu religious movements in which the main spiritual practice is the fostering of loving devotion to God, called bhakti. ... Thirunavukkarasar, also spelt as Tirunvukarasar, and popularly known as Appar, meaning father-figure, or a high one in Tamil is a Shaivite saint who lived in Tamil Nadu. ...

His life

Information about Sambandar come to us mainly from the Periyapuranam, a eleventh century Tamil book on the Nayanars and the earlier Tiruttondartokai, a similar book by Sundaramoorthy Nayanar. Periya Puranam (that is, the Great Puranas) or Tiruttontarpuranam (that is, The Puranas of the Holy Devotees) is a great Tamil work, depicting the legendary poetic account of the lives and time of the sixty-three Nayanmars. ... Sundaramurti Nayanmar(8th century C.E.), shortly known as Sundarar, was one of the four most prominent Nayanmars. ...

Sambandar was born to Sivapada Hridayar and his wife Bhagavathiar who lived in the town of Sirkazhi in Tamil Nadu. According to legends, when Sambandar was three years old, his parents took him to the Siva temple. There they left the child on the steps of the sacred pond and went in to do their ablations. Missing his parents, Sambandar started crying. The legends state that Siva and his consort Parvathi appeared before the child and the goddess nursed the child at her breast, giving the child divine qualities. Sambandar's first hymn Thoodudaiya Seviyan was supposed to have been composed at that young age. Sirkazhi (சீர்காழி) is a city and a municipality in Nagapattinam district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. ... In Hinduism, Parvathi (The Little One) is one of the names of the goddess Durga, also called Uma, Bhavani and Kali among others. ...

As a wandering minstrel Sambandar sang several hymns and opposed the then prevalent Jain heterodoxy in the Tamil country and is credited with the conversion of the Pandya king from his Jain faith.^[1]

The Tirumurais, the Tamil canonical literature of Saivism, contains the collected poems of the various Saiva saints. The first Tirumurai contains the 384 poems of Sambandar.

Sambandar died at the young age of of sixteen, soon after his marriage.

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b} Dr. R. Nagasamy. A New Pandya Record and the Dates of Nayanmars and Alvars. Tamil Arts Academy. Retrieved on 2007-07-09.

Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... is the 190th day of the year (191st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

References

• SRI SWAMI SIVANANDA. SIXTY-THREE NAYANAR SAINTS. The Divine Life Trust Society. Retrieved on 2007-07-08.