Tamil Bhakti — Thevaram, Thiruvasagam, Divya Prabandham
தேவாரம் · திருவாசகம் · திவ்யப் பிரபந்தம்
The Nayanmars and Alvars sang God in Tamil a thousand years before anyone else sang in the vernacular, and the whole bhakti movement of India began here.
Between the sixth and ninth centuries, sixty-three Shaiva saints (the Nayanmars) and twelve Vaishnava saints (the Alvars) walked the temples of the Tamil country singing to Shiva and to Vishnu in Tamil—not Sanskrit—with a directness and intimacy that had no precedent. The Shaiva hymns of Sambandar, Appar and Sundarar are the Thevaram; Manikkavasagar's Thiruvasagam (“the sacred utterance”) is the most passionate of them all; and the Alvars' four thousand verses are the Nalayira Divya Prabandham, the “Tamil Veda,” still sung daily in Vishnu temples. Every later bhakti movement in India, north and south, descends from these singers. Abirami Bhattar's eighteenth-century Abhirami Andhadhi to the Goddess belongs to the same river.
நமச்சிவாய வாஅழ்க நாதன்தாள் வாழ்க
இமைப்பொழுதும் என்நெஞ்சில் நீங்காதான் தாள்வாழ்க
imaippozhudhum ennenjil nīngādhān thāḷ vāzhga
Hail Namashivaya! Hail the feet of the Lord! Hail the feet of him who does not leave my heart for the space of a blink!
The opening of Manikkavasagar's Sivapuranam, sung at dawn in every Shaiva home.
தென்னாடுடைய சிவனே போற்றி
என்னாட்டவர்க்கும் இறைவா போற்றி
ennāṭṭavarkkum iṟaivā pōṟṟi
Praise to Shiva, who has the southern land! Praise to the Lord of people of every land!
Two lines: God of my country, and then—God of every country.
நாமார்க்கும் குடியல்லோம் நமனை அஞ்சோம்
நரகத்தில் இடர்ப்படோம் நடலை இல்லோம்
ஏமாப்போம் பிணியறியோம் பணிவோம் அல்லோம்
இன்பமே எந்நாளும் துன்பம் இல்லை
naragaththil iḍarppaḍōm naḍalai illōm
ēmāppōm piṇiyaṟiyōm paṇivōm allōm
inbamē ennāḷum thunbam illai
We are subjects of no one. We do not fear Death. We shall not suffer in hell; we have no deceit. We rejoice; we know no disease; we bow to none. Joy, always—there is no sorrow.
Appar, having been persecuted by a king, sings the most fearless verse in Tamil. Bharathi's “achamillai” is its descendant.
தோடுடைய செவியன் விடையேறியோர் தூவெண்மதி சூடி
Thōḍuḍaiya seviyan viḍaiyēṟiyōr thūveṇmadhi sūḍiHe whose ear bears the ring, who rides the bull, who wears the pure white moon—
The first line of the first Thevaram, sung, tradition says, by a child of three.
மார்கழித் திங்கள் மதிநிறைந்த நன்னாளால்
நீராடப் போதுவீர் போதுமினோ நேரிழையீர்
nīrāḍap pōdhuvīr pōdhuminō nērizhaiyīr
In the month of Margazhi, on this good day of the full moon—you who would bathe, come, O finely jewelled ones!
Andal, the one woman among the Alvars, wakes her friends for God. Sung every dawn of Margazhi across Tamil Nadu.
உயர்வற உயர்நலம் உடையவன் யவனவன்
Uyarvaṟa uyarnalam uḍaiyavan yavanavanHe who has the highest goodness, beyond which nothing is higher—whoever he is—
The Tamil Veda opens with “whoever he is”: the greatest of the Alvars begins from not-knowing.
உதிக்கின்ற செங்கதிர் உச்சித் திலகம் உணர்வுடையோர்
மதிக்கின்ற மாணிக்கம் மாதுளம்போது மலர்க்கமலை
madhikkinṟa māṇikkam mādhuḷampōdhu malarkkamalai
The rising red sun, the mark on the brow; the ruby that the wise hold dear; the pomegranate flower; the lotus—
Abirami Bhattar, about to be executed at dawn, sang a hundred verses to the Goddess and the full moon rose at new moon. The first verse.
- Project Madurai — Thevaram, Thiruvasagam, Divya Prabandham (full Tamil) ↗
- Shaivam.org — Thevaram and Thiruvasagam with meanings ↗
- G. U. Pope's Tiruvāçagam, 1900 (public domain) ↗
Where the translation is marked “Aumidhra”, the English is our own plain rendering from the original, made with the public-domain translations above as reference. Where a translator is named, the wording is theirs.
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