Author: Indira Viswanathan Peterson
Publisher: Motilal Banarsidass
Year: 2007
Language: English
Pages: 382
ISBN/UPC (if available): 9788120807846
Description
Composed by three poet-saints between the sixth and eighth centuries A.D., the Tevaram hymns are the primary scripture of Tamil Saivism, one of the first popular large-scale devotional movements within Hinduism. Indira Peterson eloquently renders into English a substantial portion of these hymns, which provide vivid and moving portraits of the images, myths, rites, and adoration of Siva and which continue to be loved and sung by the millions of followers of the Tamil Saiva tradition. Her introduction and annotations illuminate the work’s literary, religious, and cultural contexts, making this anthology a rich sourcebook for the study of the South Indian popular religion.
Indira Peterson highlights the Tevaram as a seminal text in Tamil cultural history, a synthesis of pan-Indian and Tamil civilization, as well as a distinctly Tamil expression of the love of song, sacred Landscape, and ceremonial religion. Her discussion of this work draws on her pioneering research into the performance of the hymns and their relation to the art and ritual of the South Indian temple.
Contents
List of Illustrations and Map
Preface
A Note on Transliteration
Guide to Tamil Pronunciation
Part One:
INTRODUCTION: POETRY AND RELIGION IN THE
SONGS OF THE TAMIL SAIVA SAINTS
1. The Study of the Tevaram
2. The Making of the Tevaram: The Text
And It’s Context
3. The Poets and their Poems
4. The Lives of a Text: The Role of the Tevaram
Hymns in Tamil Saivism
5. On translating the Hymns
Part Two:
AN ANTHOLOGY OF HYMNS FROM THE TEVARAM
Section 1
Murtti: Images of the Lord
1. The Beautiful Lord
2. The Lord is all things
3. Nataraja: Lord of the Dance
4. Bhiksatana: The Beggar
5. Siva’s Myths
Section 2
Koyil, Arur: Beloved Abodes
1. The Temple
2. The Lord’s Dear Town
3. Sacred Landscapes
4. Celebrations
5. Brahmin Ways
6. Talapuranam: Local Legends
Section 3
Atiyar: The Ways of Love
1. The Lord is sweet
2. The Lord’s Emblems
3. Pain and Grace
4. The Lord, My Lover
5. Five Who Dwell within
6. Acts of Devotion
7. Singing of Siva
Section 4
Muvar Mutalikal: The First Three Saints
1. Campantasr: The Blessed Child
2. Appar: The Reformed Monk
3. Cuntarar: The Lord’s Comrade
4. The Servants of the Lord
APPENDIXES
GLOSSARY
BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX OF POEMS
GENERAL INDEX