This post is an invitation to go deeper. Let us strip away the ritualistic veneer and explore the radical, poetic, and philosophical core of the Thevaram. Compiled around the 10th century CE, the Thevaram (from Tevaram meaning "Garland of Gods") is the first seven volumes of the Tirumurai , the twelve-volume canon of Tamil Saivism. It comprises the ecstatic outpourings of three poet-saints: Sambandar (the child prodigy), Appar (the reformed Jaina ascetic), and Sundarar (the lover of material pleasures who found God).
When Sambandar sings of Shiva’s earrings ( thodudaiya seviyan ), he is pointing to the dual nature of reality. Earrings swing left and right, yet remain attached to the same ear. Similarly, pleasure and pain, good and evil, are two ornaments hanging from the single face of consciousness. thevaram songs with meaning
Appar (formerly a Jaina monk named Dharmasivachariyar) was tortured by a Pandya king. He was forced to lie on a stone bed heated from below, yet he smiled. This song is his manifesto. This post is an invitation to go deeper
Describing Shiva’s various dances.
The next time you hear a priest chant Thevaram in a dark temple corridor, realize this: He is not performing a ritual. He is hacking his own nervous system. He is walking into the cremation ground of his mind. And he is dancing. It comprises the ecstatic outpourings of three poet-saints: