Periya Puranam is a Tamil
Hindu epic.
Cekkilar, a twelfth-century character, wrote a
hagiographical chronicle of the lives of the sixty-three Nayanars.
Between the seventh and ninth centuries, the Nayanars were a
group of Shaiva poet saints who lived in southern India.
The Nayanars, together with their Vaishnava counterparts,
the Alvars, were instrumental in reviving Hinduism in Tamil Nadu, which was
formerly dominated by Buddhist and Jain religions.
Both the Nayanars and the Alvars placed a strong emphasis on
personal devotion (bhakti) to a personal god—Shiva for the Nayanars and Vishnu
for the Alvars—and expressed this love via hymns sung in Tamil.
Cekkilar was a minister in the court of Chola dynasty king
Kullottunga II (r. 1130–50), according to legend.
Cekkilar wrote his piece in an attempt to wean the king away
from a Jain epic poem, which had piqued his interest.
His work depicts these saints as models of Shiva devotion
and as beneficial role models for others, despite their sometimes intense
devotion.
One example of this great devotion is Kotpuli Nayanar, who
murdered his whole family after discovering that they had eaten Shiva's temple
rice to preserve their lives during a famine.
Despite the fact that this is an extreme example, the lesson
is clear: loyalty to God must take precedence over all other commitments.
