ity, and color of the land. The summum bonum of the reli-
gious experience was expressed in terms of possession by the
god, or ecstasy. Into this milieu there immigrated a sobering
influence—a growing number of Jain and Buddhist commu-
nities and an increasing influx of brahmans and other north-
erners.
THE HETERODOXIES. By the third century BCE, pockets of
Jains and Buddhists were settling in the deep South. Some
may have migrated across the straits from Sri Lanka; others
came southward during the reign of A ́soka, the Mauryan em-
peror. By the first century CE, both had established settle-
ments and built small institutions and shrines known as
pa
̄
l
̄lis. Although both Jain and Buddhist monks tended to
live outside the cities for centuries—the Jains often in rock
caves and the Buddhist monks in monastic communities—
their impact on Tamil country increased, enhanced by the
influx and influence of lay members. The politics and litera-
ture of Tamil country were influenced by Jain and Buddhist
savants, especially between the fourth and seventh centuries
CE. Consequently, the dominant mood of religion in Tamil
country for some three centuries reflected Jain and Buddhist
values. There was little emphasis on theism or indigenous sa-
cred places. Sobriety and self-effacement became a respected
way of life, especially for the elite.
THE HINDUIZATION OF TAMIL COUNTRY. Beginning in the
third century CE, migrating brahmans and other persons in-
fluenced by Vedic and epic traditions were also becoming a
part of the Tamil landscape. In the early cities, chieftains
who sought to enchance their status employed brahman
priests to perform Vedic rituals as had been the case in the
north during the epic period. It was in the seventh century,
however, that Hindu Sanskritic culture and religion merged
with the indigenous Tamil society, leading to a pervasive
hinduization of Tamil country and the emergence of a new
and creative Hindu civilization.
The first significant feature of the “Hindu age” in Tamil
India was the rise of devotional poetry (bhakti) in the vernac-
ular language during the seventh, eighth, and ninth centu-
ries. Poets who were followers of S ́iva (Na ̄yan
̄
a ̄rs) and of
Vis:n:u (A ̄
̄
lva ̄rs: literally, those who are “immersed”) popular-
ized these two deities throughout Tamil country. These
poets were drawn from all walks of life, though over half of
them were of brahman or of royal background. At first, their
attacks on Jains and Buddhists tended to be virulent, espe-
cially in the case of the S ́aiva Tiruñanacambantan
̄
. But by
the mid-eighth century, Hindu devotionalism had taken a
significant hold in Tamil country and the poets could afford
to take a more accommodating attitude toward the declining
Jain and Buddhist presence.
Between the years 650 and 940 the twelve Vais:n:ava
poet-saints (A ̄
̄
lva ̄rs) wrote some four thousand verses, which
were eventually canonized in the Na ̄la ̄yira-divyaprabandham
(The four thousand divine verses) edited in the tenth century
by Na ̄thamuni, the first major a ̄ca ̄rya, or sectarian teacher,
of Vais:n:avism. Of the earlier A ̄
̄
lva ̄rs, the most prolific wasKalikan
̄ ̄ri (800–870), also known as Tiruman ̇ kai, who wrote
1,227 verses combining militant, heroic, and erotic imagery
with the anguish of separation from his lord. The ninth- and
tenth-century A ̄
̄lva ̄rs associated primarily with western
Tamil country include Vit:t:ucit:t:an
̄, known as Periya ̄
̄lva ̄r
(“great A ̄
̄lva ̄r”), who wrote 473 verses largely from the stand-
point of the deity’s mother expressing fondness for the child
Kr:s:n:a. Periya ̄
̄lva ̄r’s daughter Ko ̄tai, popularly known as
A ̄n:t:a ̄
̄l (“she who rules the lord”), wrote 173 verses. Often
erotic, they focused on Kr:s:n:a as an adolescent from the view-
point of a gop ̄ı who spends time with the Lord in his inner
chamber. Finally, Cat:ako ̄pan
̄or A ̄
̄lva ̄r Ma ̄
̄ran
̄(880–930),
also known affectionately as Namma ̄
̄lva ̄r (“our own devo-
tee”), wrote 1,296 verses that combine passionate devotion
for Kr:s:n:a with the metaphysics of Veda ̄nta, the philosophical
system of Vais:n:ava brahmans. Namma ̄
̄lva ̄r has come to be
seen as the most authoritative of the A ̄
̄lva ̄rs for the Sri
Vais:n:avas.While tradition claims there were sixty-three S ́aiva poet-
saints (Na ̄yan
̄a ̄rs)—perhaps in response to the traditional
sixty-three saints of Jainism—there were in fact only eight
who were poets of repute, while another S ́aiva poet of the
period, Ma ̄n:ikkava ̄cakar, who was important for the shaping
of S ́aiva devotionalism, was not accepted as a Na ̄yan
̄a ̄r for
several centuries. The earliest of the Na ̄yan
̄a ̄rs was probably
a woman, Ka ̄raikka ̄l Ammaiya ̄r (seventh century CE), who re-
nounced worldly pleasures for devotion to S ́iva. Tirumu ̄ lar
(eighth century CE) is noted for his 3,000-verse philosophical
treatise, Tirumantiram, which interprets Sanskrit Agamic
and Tantric material into Tamil. The best known and most
prolific of the Na ̄yan
̄a ̄r poets were the three whose poetry
makes up the first seven sections of the T ̄evara ̄m, the Tamil
S ́aiva canon. Two of these are seventh-century figures:
Tiruna ̄vukkaracar, better known as “Appar,” or “Father,”
and his younger contemporary, Campantar or
Tiruña ̄n
̄acampantar, who is generally believed to have been
a child prodigy uttering all his poetry before the age of six-
teen; the third poet is the ninth-century (?) Cuntaramu ̄ rtti.
However, perhaps the best of all the S ́aiva poets of these three
centuries was the ninth-century Ma ̄n:ikkava ̄cakar, for whom
the religious experience was like ecstasy and “madness” when
one was possessed by S ́iva. Ma ̄n:ikkava ̄cakar’s use of erotic
imagery apparently was a major factor in keeping him from
being accepted as a poet of the S ́aiva canon until at least the
twelfth century, when Ce ̄kki
̄la ̄r included him in his
Periyapura ̄n:am, the mythical hagiography of the S ́aiva saints.
The religion propagated by the bhakti poets used epic
and puranic mythology selectively and gave it a locus in
Tamil India. A number of basic themes were stressed: (1) the
supremacy, greatness, even terror of S ́iva or Vis:n:u, coupled
nonetheless by the deity’s grace and compassion for those
who were devoted to him; (2) the concrete and available
presence of the god in his specific sacred places and, hence,
the desirability of pilgrimage, festival, and temple ritual; (3)
the affirmation of the individual in the experience of bhakti8974 TAMIL RELIGIONS