Tevaram - The Hymns

The Hymns

All the songs in the Tevaram (called pathikam, Tamil:பதிகம்) are believed to be in sets of ten. The hymns were set to music denoted by Panns and are part of the canon of the Tamil music. They continue to be part of temple liturgy today. Several of these poems refer to historic references pointing to the saint-poets' own life, voice of devotee persona, using interior language of the mystic. Multi-vocal rheotoric is commonly used taking on personal emotions and genres and some voices of classical Sangam literature. Of the three, Campantar's life is better interpreted by his verses. According to Zvelebil, Campantar's lyrics are characterized by egocentricism, by militancy and great ardour, by a warm feeling for the greatness and beauty of Tamil language with scholarly experimentation in meters showing familiarity with Sanskrit forms. Campantar's poetry shows structural and thematic distinctiveness of the bhakti poetry.

"In the temple where he is throned, who bids us not lose heart

In the hour when our senses grow confused, the way grows dim,

Our wisdom fails, and mucus chokes our struggling breath,

In Tiruvaiyar, where the girls dance around, and the drumbeats sound,

The monkeys fear the rain, run up the trees, and scan the clouds"

Appar's poems dealt with inner, emotional and psychological state of the poet saint. The metaphors used in the poems have deep agrarian influence that is considered one of the striking chords for common people to get accustomed to the verse. The quote below is a popular song of Appar glorifying Shiva in simple diction.

"மாசில் வீணையும் மாலையும் மதியமும்

வீசு தென்றலில் வீங்கிள வேணியில்

மூசு வண்டறை பொய்கையும் போன்றதே

ஈசன் எந்தை இணையடி நிழலே"

translating to

"My Lord's twin feet are like the sweet-sounding Veena

like the full-moon of the evening

like the gently breeze blowing from the South

like the young spring

like a bee-humming lake"

Cuntarar's hymns had a touch of humour, a rare thing in religious literature. In one of the verses, he playfully draws an anology with Siva with himself, both having two wives and the needs of nagging wives.

"Thou art half woman. Thyself

Ganga is in thy long hair

Full well canst thou comprehend

Burden of woman so fair"

The tendency to incorporate place names known to the folks in the idiom of the poems is another characteristic feature of Tevaram. The poems also involved glorifying the feat of Shiva in the particular location - the usage of locale continuously occurring in the verses is a testament. According to Prentiss, the poems do not represent social space as a contested space, the hymns represent the hymnists were free to wander and to offer their praise of Shiva. The emotional intensity of the hymns represent spontaneous expression of thought as an emotional responses to God.

Paadal Petra Sthalams are 275 temples that are revered in the verses of Tevaram and are amongst the greatest Shiva temples of the continent. The Divya Desams by comparison are the 108 Vishnu temples glorified in the poems of the contemporary Vaishnava Alvars of Tamil Nadu, India. Vaippu Sthalangal are places that were mentioned casually in the songs in Tevaram. The focus of the moovars hymns suggests darshan (seeing and being seen by God) within the puja (worship) offering. The hymnists made classificatory lists of places like katu (for forest), turai (port or refuge), kulam (water tank) and kalam (field) being used - thus both structured and unstructured places in the religious context find a mention in Tevaram.