The 4 foremost Nayanars with Manikkavacakar - collectively called the Nalvars: (from left) Sambandar, Appar, Sundarar, Manikkavacakar.

The Nayanars or Nayanmars (Tamil: நாயன்மார்கள்) were Shaivite devotional poets of Tamil Nadu, active between the fifth and the tenth centuries CE. The Tamil Śaiva hagiography Periya Puranam, a volume of the Tirumurai, written during the thirteenth century CE, narrates the history of each of sixty-three Nayanars and the history of nine Thokai Adiyar.

Sundarar's eighth century work Thiruthoṇdar thogai lists 60 Shaiva saints^[1] but gives none of the legends associated with them. In the tenth century CE Nambiyandar Nambi composed the Tirutoṇṭar Antādi, a sequence of interlocking verses the title of which can be rendered as the Necklace of Verses on the Lord's Servants. In this work Nambi adds Sundarar himself and his parents to the sequence, creating what is now the canonical list of sixty-three saints, each with a brief sketch of their legend.

Nayanars were from varied backgrounds, ranging from kings and soldiers to untouchables. The foremost Nayanars are Appar, Sundarar and Sambandar. Together with the twelve Vaishnava Alvars, the Nayanars are sometimes accounted South India's 75 Apostles of Bhakti because of their importance in the rise of the Hindu Bhakti movement.

They praised 275 of this deity's most holy temple abodes as the Paadal Petra Sthalams of the Shiva Sthalams on the continent.

The sixty-three Nayanmars[link]

The 63 nayanmars in a Shiva temple

Kannappa Nayanar

1. Adipaththar
2. Aiyadigal Kadavarkon Nayanar, Pallava King Aiyadigal Perumaanaar
3. Amaraneedi Nayanar
4. Anaya Nayanar
5. Appudhi Adigalar
6. Arivattaya Nayanar
7. Chandeshvara Nayanar
8. Cheraman Perumal Kazharirtrarivaar, Chera King, also called as Kootruva Nayanar
9. Dandi Adigal Nayanar
10. Enatinatha Nayanar
11. Eripaththa Nayanar
12. Eyarkon Kalikkaama Nayanar
13. Gananatha Nayanar
14. Idankazhi Nayanar
15. Ilayankudi maranar
16. Isaignaniyaar - a woman
17. Iyarpagaiar
18. Kari Nayanar
19. Kalikkamba Nayanar
20. Kaliya Nayanar
21. Kanampulla Nayanar
22. Kannappa Nayanar
23. Karaikkal Ammaiyar a woman
24. Kazharchinga Nayanar
25. Kochengat Chola, A Chola King
26. Kotpuli Nayanar
27. Kulachchirai Nayanar
28. Kungiliyak Kalaya Nayanar
29. Manakkanychaara Nayanar
30. Mangayarkkarasiyar, a woman
31. Meiporul Nayanar
32. Munayaduvaar Nayanar
33. Murkha Nayanar
34. Murti Nayanar
35. Muruga Nayanar
36. Nami Nandi Adigal
37. Nandanar Thirunalai Povar Nayanar, (popularly known as Nandanar)
38. Narasinga Muniyaraiyar Nayanar
39. Nesa Nayanar
40. Ninra Seer Nedumaara Nayanar
41. Perumizhalai Kurumba Nayanar
42. Pugal Cholar, A Chola King
43. Pugazh Thunai Nayanar
44. Pusalar
45. Rudra Pasupathi Nayanar
46. Saakkiya nayanar
47. Sadaiya Nayanar
48. Sambandar (Tirugnaana Sambandar)
49. Saththi Nayanar
50. Seruthtunai Nayanar
51. Sirappuli Nayanar
52. Siruttonda Nayanar
53. Somaachi maara nayanar
54. Sundarar
55. Thirukkurippu Thondar (Vannar caste)
56. Thiruneelakandar
57. Tirumoolar
58. Tirunavukkarasar, popularly known as Appar
59. Tiruneela nakkar
60. Tirunilakanda Yaazpaanar
61. Vaayilaar
62. Viranminda nayanar

See also[link]

• Manikkavacakar
• Nandanar
• Tamil mythology

Notes[link]

External links[link]

• Nayanmar temples map

References[link]

• Lord Siva and His Worship
• Sixty-Three Nayanmar Saints.
• - 63 Nayanmar Stories
• Stories Of Nayanars PDF Download - In Telugu