scenes from the Ramayana story, sometimes on a
grand scale.
The largest of the Rama Lila plays is staged
across the river from the holy city BENARES
(Varanasi), where the kings have established an
immense field as a stage for the Ramayana story.
Actors go from station to station on different
days as the story develops. On Vijayadashami,
the day after Navaratri, effigies of Rama’s ene-
mies—the demon king RAVANA, his son Megha-
nada, and his brother KUMBHAKARNA—are burned
to celebrate the victory of Rama over the demons
or Rakshasas.
In Bihar, Bengal, and Assam Navaratri is cel-
ebrated as a DURGA festival. The festival begins by
awakening Durga, who is asleep, and continues
by manufacturing a temporary image of her that
is enlivened for the purpose of the festival. PUJAS
or worship services are performed for Durga on
the last three days of the festival. On Vijaya-
dashmi the image of Durga is taken in a great
procession to be immersed and left in a tank, a
river, or the ocean.
In South India SARASVATI, goddess of learning
and the arts, is worshipped on the seventh day of
the festival and Durga on the eighth day. On the
ninth day there is a worship of instruments and
implements of livelihood, which are taken out to
be honored with mantras and small offerings.
Further reading: Diana L. Eck, Banaras, City of Light
(New York: Columbia University Press, 1999); H. V.
Shekar, Festivals of India: Significance of the Celebrations
(Louisville, Ky.: Insight Books, 2000).
Nayanmars
A Nayanmar or Nayanar is a “leader” or “master.”
In the Tamil devotional tradition the Nayanmars
were poet-saints who spread the message of
devotion to SHIVA throughout Tamil Nadu. Tra-
dition makes them 63 in number, but some of
the names are probably legendary figures. The
real Nayanars lived from roughly the sixth to
the eighth century C.E. They sang the praise and
love of Shiva at numerous holy places, shrines,
and temples throughout the region, opposing
the Jains, Buddhists, and VAISHNAVITES in their
efforts to advance everyone to the grace of their
Lord Shiva. They apparently participated in
India’s first known popular devotional move-
ment, as all their verses are sung in Tamil, the
spoken language of the local people, and not in
SANSKRIT.
The last of the Nayanars, SUNDARAR, was
granted a revelation by Lord Shiva himself at Tiru-
varur, of the lives of the 62 saints who preceded
him. His work is the first to give the entire list,
to which his own name was later added. Nambi
Andar Nambi (c. 1000 C.E.) is said to have com-
piled the songs of all of the Nayanars, adding to
them the works of several other famous poet-
saints, including MANIKKAVACAKAR, to form the
basis of the TIRUMURAI, the basic Tamil Shaivite
sacred canon. It consists of 12 books, 11 of them
assembled by Nambi.
Included in Tirumurai is Nambi Andar Nam-
bi’s own account of the “holy labors” of the 63
saints, as well as his own story and verses. The
12th and final book is SEKKILAR’s PERIYA PURANAM
(c. 1200 C.E.); its more than 4,000 verses summa-
rize and add to the earlier Nayanar compendiums
and include the works of some other Shaivite
saints.
The three best-known and most prolific of
the Nayanars are APPAR, SAMBANTHAR, and Sun-
darar. Their hymns make up the TEVARAM, which
serves as the primary liturgical scripture for
Tamil Shaivites. These songs are strongly oriented
toward particular sacred places, shrines, and
temples that were visited by the three peripatetic
saints as they pursued their PILGRIMAGE in order
to sing Shiva. In Shaivite temples in Tamil Nadu
today the Tevaram songs are sung in ritual wor-
ship, along with Sanskrit MANTRAS.
Most Nayanars were men, but a few were
women. The most famous of the women saints is
the first on the list of 63, Karaikal Ammaiyar. TheNayanmars 309 J