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Concept
Appar
Summary
Appar, also referred to as (திருநாவுக்கரசர்) or Navukkarasar, was a seventh-century Tamil Śaiva poet-saint. Born in a peasant Śaiva family, raised as an orphan by his sister, he lived about 80 years and is generally placed sometime between 570 and 650 CE. Appar composed 4,900 devotional hymns to the god Shiva, out of which 313 have survived and are now canonized as the 4th to 6th volumes of Tirumurai. One of the most prominent of the sixty-three revered Nayanars, he was an older contemporary of Thirugnana Sambandar.
His images are found and revered in Tamil Shiva temples. His characteristic iconography in temples show him carrying a farmer's small hoe – a gardening tool and weed puller.
Appar is also known as Tirunāvukkarasar (lit. "King of the Tongue, Lord of Language"). His birth-name was Marulneekkiyar, and was renamed to Dharmasenar while he studied and later served as the head of a Jain monastery. After he returned to Shaivism and began composing devotional hymns to Shiva, he has been historically referred to as Appar (lit. "father"), after the child poet-saint Sambandar lovingly called him Appar.
An outline about Appar's life, without specifics, are found in his own hymns that were preserved by an oral tradition. A written collection of his hymns as well as more details are found in texts about four centuries after he died. One of the most studied version is the Sekkizhar's Periya Puranam, the last book of the Tirumurai. There, under Thiruninrasargam and in 428 verses, Sekkizhar presents the legendary life of Appar.
Appar was born in late 6th-century, likely between 570 and 596 CE. Some scholars place him a bit later, in early 7th-century. Appar was born in the Guruaruludaiyan kothiraam of the Vellalar caste by birth. His childhood name was Marunikkiyar (Marulneekiar). Orphaned, he was raised by his older sister Thilagavathiar. Thilagavathiar was betrothed to a military commander who died in war. She never married thereafter, devoted herself to Shaivism and to taking care of her little brother.
Official source
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