Posted on: 23 May 2016

Digital Rare Book:
The Saiva Saints
By M. Arunachalam
Published by Gandhi Vidyalayam, Mayuram Taluk - 1985

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Image:
Karaikkal Ammaiyar, Shaiva Saint

Chola period (880–1279)
ca. late 13th century
India (Tamil Nadu)
Copper alloy

Devotees of Shiva also pay homage to a group of sixty-three "slaves of the lord," figures analogous to the Christian saints. Historical figures who lived from the sixth through the tenth century, the saints were part of a popularizing movement known as bhakti, which valued intense devotion to an individual god above adherence to religious tenets or the performance of rituals. The saints traveled to sites in South India associated with Shiva and wrote poems and songs praising the Lord in the popular language of Tamil rather than the liturgical Sanskrit. Their poems figure prominently in the sacred canon of Shiva and are often sung in religious ceremonies.

In this sculpture, bhakti saint Karaikkal Ammaiyar is shown playing the cymbals as she chants one of her poems. Karaikkal Ammaiyar, who lived in the sixth century, asked Shiva to take away her beauty so that she would not be distracted from her worship of him. Shiva complied, and she became the emaciated figure depicted in this and other sculptures.

Text and Image credit: The Metropolitan Museum of Art


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So beautiful

So beautiful

Diwank Singh Tomer

Are those tits pouting?

"In this sculpture, bhakti saint Karaikkal Ammaiyar is shown playing the cymbals as she chants one of her poems. Karaikkal Ammaiyar, who lived in the sixth century, asked Shiva to take away her beauty so that she would not be distracted from her worship of him. Shiva complied, and she became the emaciated figure depicted in this and other sculptures."

One of the basic qualifications required to join this group - is the ability to read !!

R E K T

All 63 Nayanmars with their unique iconography can still be seen on the carved pillars of the main temples of Darasuram & Chidambaram. One can still buy small replicas of all 63 in shops around Chennai's Mylapore temple, along with this nice summary from Ramakrishna Mission, Chennai . ( http://www.chennaimath.org/istore/product/the-sixty-three-nayanmars-an-introduction/ )

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