SambandarSambandar (Tamil: சம்பந்தர்), also referred to as Tirugnana Sambandar (lit. Holy Sage Sambandar), Tirujnanasambanda, Campantar or Jñāṉacampantar, was a Shaiva poet-saint of Tamil Nadu who lived sometime in the 7th century CE. He was a child prodigy who lived just 16 years. According to the Tamil Shaiva tradition, he composed an of 16,000 hymns in complex meters, of which 383 (384) hymns with 4,181 stanzas have survived. These narrate an intense loving devotion (bhakti) to the Hindu god Shiva.
Andhra PradeshAndhra Pradesh (ˌɑːndrə_prəˈdɛʃ, aːndɦrɐ prɐdeːʃ abbr. AP) is a state in the southern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state with an area of and tenth-most-populous state, with 49,577,103 inhabitants. It has shared borders with Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and the Bay of Bengal. It has the second-longest coastline in India of about . After existence as Andhra state and unified Andhra Pradesh, the state took its present form on 2 June 2014, when the new state Telangana was formed through bifurcation.
Brihadisvara TempleBrihadishvara Temple, called Rajarajesvaram (Lord of Rajaraja) by its builder, and known locally as Thanjai Periya Kovil (Thanjavur Big Temple) and Peruvudaiyar Kovil, is a Shaivite Hindu temple built in a Chola architectural style located on the south bank of the Cauvery river in Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu, India. It is one of the largest Hindu temples and an exemplar of Tamil architecture. It is also called Dakshina Meru (Meru of the South).
ApparAppar, 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.
ThalassocracyA thalassocracy or thalattocracy, sometimes also maritime empire, is a state with primarily maritime realms, an empire at sea, or a seaborne empire. Traditional thalassocracies seldom dominate interiors, even in their home territories. Examples of this were the Phoenician states of Tyre, Sidon and Carthage; the Italian maritime republics of Venice and Genoa of the Mediterranean; the Chola dynasty of Tamilnadu in India; the Omani Empire of Arabia; and the Austronesian empires of Srivijaya and Majapahit in Maritime Southeast Asia.
Tirunelveli districtTirunelveli district is one of the 38 districts of Tamil Nadu state in India. It is the largest district in terms of area with Tirunelveli as its headquarters. The district was formed on 1 September 1790 by the British East India Company (on behalf of the British government), and comprised the present Tirunelveli and Thoothukudi, Tenkasi and parts of Virudhunagar and Ramanathapuram district. As of 2011, the undivided district (along with Tenkasi) had a population of 3,077,233.
PolonnaruwaPoḷonnaruwa, (පොළොන්නරුව; பொலன்னறுவை) also referred as Pulathisipura and Vijayarajapura in ancient times, is the main town of Polonnaruwa District in North Central Province, Sri Lanka. The modern town of Polonnaruwa is also known as New Town, and the other part of Polonnaruwa remains as the royal ancient city of the Kingdom of Polonnaruwa. The second oldest of all Sri Lanka's kingdoms, Polonnaruwa was first established as a military post by the Sinhalese kingdom.
ValmikiValmiki (vɑːlˈmiːki; Sanskrit: वाल्मीकि, ISO ʋɑːlmiːki) was a legendary poet who is celebrated as the traditional author of the epic Ramayana, based on the attribution in the text itself. He is revered as Ādi Kavi, the first poet, author of Ramayana, the first epic poem. The Ramayana, originally written by Valmiki, consists of 24,000 shlokas and seven cantos (kaṇḍas). The is composed of about 480,002 words, being a quarter of the length of the full text of the Mahabharata or about four times the length of the Iliad.
KaveriThe Kaveri (also known as Cauvery, the anglicised name) is one of the major Indian rivers flowing through the states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. The Kaveri River rises at Talakaveri in the Brahmagiri range in the Western Ghats, Kodagu district of the state of Karnataka, at an elevation of 1,341 m above mean sea level and flows for about 800 km before its outfall into the Bay of Bengal. It reaches the sea in Poompuhar, in Mayiladuthurai district.
NelloreNellore is a city located on the banks of Penna River, in Nellore district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It serves as the headquarters of the district, as well as Nellore mandal and Nellore revenue division. It is the fourth most populous city in the state. It is at a distance of 700 km from Visakhapatnam and about 170 km north of Chennai, Tamil Nadu and also about 380 km east-northeast of Bangalore, Karnataka. There are various theories linked to the origin of the name "Nellore".
