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"உலகெலாம் உணர்ந்து ஓதற்கரியவன் நிலவுலாவிய நீர்மலி வேணியன் அலகில் சோதியன் அம்பலத்தாடுவான் மலர் சிலம்படி வாழ்த்தி வணங்குவாம்." — "Let us praise and bow before the flower-like, anklet-adorned feet of Him who dances in the Golden Hall of Chidambaram (Ambalam), whose form is boundless light, whose matted locks bear the crescent moon and the waters of Gaṅgā, and who transcends all finite thought and speech." (Periya Purāṇam 1 — the opening line given directly by Lord Naṭarāja's divine voice: "Ulakelām")
Composed in the mid-12th century CE by Aruṇmoḻittēvar, revered as Cēkkiḻār (born in Kunrathur near Chennai and serving as Chief Minister — Uttamacōḻa Pallavaṉ — under Emperor Kulottuṅga Chola II, r. 1133–1150 CE), the Tiruttoṇṭar Purāṇam ("Sacred Chronicle of the Holy Servants"), universally beloved as the Periya Purāṇam ("The Great Purāṇa"), is the Twelfth and crowning book (Tirumuṟai) of the Tamil Śaiva Siddhānta scriptural canon.
Expanding upon Sundaramūrtti Nāyanār's 8th-century eleven-stanza hymn Tiruttoṇṭattokai (preserved in the Seventh Tirumuṟai) and Nampi Āṇṭār Nampi's 10th-century Tiruttoṇṭar Tiruvantāti (Eleventh Tirumuṟai), Cēkkiḻār traveled to original temple towns, studied Chola and Pallava stone inscriptions, and composed 4,286 viruttam stanzas inside the Thousand-Pillared Hall (Āyirakkāl Maṇḍapam) of Chidambaram Naṭarāja Temple.
Organized into two Kāṇḍams and 13 Carukkams (Cantos) framed by the mythical journey of Sundarar from Mount Kailāsa to Tamilakam and back again on a white elephant alongside the Chera king Cēramāṉ Perumāḷ Nāyanār, the Periya Purāṇam celebrates 63 individual saints (Taṉiyaṭiyār) and 9 collective groups of devotees (Tokaiyaṭiyār) — making 72 hagiographical units in total.
What makes the Periya Purāṇam a landmark in world religious literature is its radical social universality: the 63 Nāyanmārs come from every stratum of Tamil society, united solely by unswerving love (aṉpu) and service (toṇṭu) to Lord Śiva and His devotees (aṭiyār):
| Social Background / Calling | Exemplar Nāyanmārs in the Periya Purāṇam |
|---|---|
| The Four Great Acharyas (Samayakkuravar) | Tirujñānasambandar (1,256 stanzas — nearly a quarter of the entire epic!), Tirunāvukkaracar (Appar) (429 stanzas), Sundaramūrtti Nāyanār, and Tirumūlar (author of the Tirumantiram). |
| Outcaste & Marginalized Saints | Nandaṉār (Tirunāḷaippōvār) (an agrarian Paraiyar laborer for whom Lord Śiva commanded the stone Nandi at Tiruppunkur to move aside so Nandaṉār could behold the Śivaliṅga, before welcoming him into the sanctum of Chidambaram) and Tirunīlakaṇṭa Yāḻppāṇar (the wandering pāṇar lute-player who accompanied Sambandar). |
| Forest Hunter | Kaṇṇappa Nāyanār (Tiṇṇaṉ, the tribal hunter at Kāḷahasti who offered wild boar meat, carried river water in his mouth to bathe the Liṅga, and plucked out his own eye to staunch the bleeding eye of Kāḷattiappar, praised by Ādi Śaṅkara in Śivānandalaharī 63). |
| Women Saints | Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār (Puṉitavati, the 5th–6th c. CE pioneer of Tamil bhakti poetry who asked for a skeletal form to witness Śiva's cosmic dance at Tiruvālaṅkāṭu, addressed by Śiva Himself as "Ammaiye" — "O Mother!"), Maṅkaiyarkkaraciyār (Pandya queen who restored Śaivism at Madurai), and Icaiñāṉiyār (mother of Sundarar). |
| Artisans, Farmers, & Merchants | Tirunīlakaṇṭa Nāyanār (potter), Tirukkuṟippu Toṇṭar (washerman who washed the garments of Śaiva ascetics), Āṉāya Nāyanār (cowherd who played the Pañcākṣara on his bamboo flute), Iḷaiyāṉkuṭi Māṟa Nāyanār (farmer who gathered newly sown paddy seeds in a midnight storm to feed a hungry ascetic), and Mūrtti Nāyanār (sandalwood grinder). |
| Kings & Chieftains | Kōcceṅkaṭ Cōḻaṉ (builder of 70 elevated māṭakkōyil temples), Cēramāṉ Perumāḷ, Meypporuḷ Nāyanār, and Pukaḻccōḻa Nāyanār. |
