Editing Nayanars (section)

==History==
The list of the Nayanars was initially compiled by [[Sundarar]] (Sundararmurthi). In his poem ''Tiruthonda Thogai'' he sings, in eleven verses, the names of the Nayanar saints up to [[Karaikkal Ammaiyar]], and refers to himself as "the servant of servants".<ref name="dictionary"/><ref name="divine life">{{cite web |last=Sivananda |first=Swami |author-link=Sivananda Saraswati |title=Sixty-Three Nayanar Saints |at=19. Tiru Kurippu Thonda Nayanar |publisher=The Divine Life Society Uttar Pradesh |url=https://www.dlshq.org/download/nayanar.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191123171907/https://www.dlshq.org/download/nayanar.htm |archive-date=23 November 2019 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Mahadevan |first=T. M. P. |author-link=T.M.P. Mahadevan |year=1971 |title=Ten Saints of India |edition=3rd |location=Mumbai |publisher=Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan |page=35 |lccn=70-924698}}</ref> The list did not go into the detail of the lives of the saints, which were described in detail in works such as ''[[Tevaram]]''.<ref name="Zvelebil"/>

In the 10th century, king [[Raja Raja Chola I]] collected the volumes of ''[[Tevaram]]'' after hearing excerpts of the hymns in his court.<ref name="Cutler 50">{{cite book |last=Cutler |first=Norman |title=Songs of Experience: The Poetics of Tamil Devotion |year=1987 |publisher=Indiana University Press |location=Bloomington |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=veSItWingx8C&q=tevaram&pg=PA4 |isbn=0-253-35334-3}}</ref>{{rp|50}} His priest [[Nambiyandar Nambi]] began compiling the hymns into a series of volumes called the ''[[Tirumurai]]''. He arranged the hymns of three saint poets [[Sambandar]], [[Appar]] and Sundarar as the first seven books which he called the ''Tevaram''. He compiled [[Manikkavacakar|Manikkavasakar]]'s ''Tirukovayar'' and ''[[Tiruvasakam]]'' as the eighth book, the 28 hymns of nine other saints as the ninth book, the ''[[Tirumandiram]]'' of [[Tirumular]] and 40 hymns by 12 other poets as the tenth book. In the eleventh book, he created the ''Tirutontanar Tiruvanthathi'' (also known as ''Tirutoṇṭar Antādi'', lit. Necklace of Verses on the Lord's Servants), which consisted of 89 verses, with a verse devoted to each of the saints. With the addition of Sundarar and his parents to the sequence, this became the canonical list of the 63 saints.<ref name="Zvelebil">{{cite book |last=Zvelebil |first=Kamil |author-link=Kamil Zvelebil |title=Tamil Literature |series=A History of Indian Literature |volume=10 |year=1974 |location=Wiesbaden |publisher=Otto Harrasowitz |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OQ33i496MsIC&pg=PA130 |page=130 |isbn=3-447-01582-9}}</ref> In the 12th century, [[Sekkizhar]] added a twelfth volume to the ''Tirumurai'' called ''[[Periya Puranam]]'' in which he expands further on the stories of each of 63 Nayanars.<ref name="hounds"/><ref name="dictionary"/><ref name="divine life"/>

The Nayanars were from various backgrounds, including [[Nadar (caste)|Nadar]], [[Vanniyar]], [[Vellalas]], [[Konar (caste)|Idayars]], [[Kurumba (tribe)|Kurumbars]], [[Thevar]]s, oilmongers, [[Brahmin]]s, [[Vannar]], and [[Dalit]]s.<ref name="hounds"/> Along with the twelve [[Vaishnava]] [[Alvars]], they are regarded as the important [[Hindu saints]] from [[South India]].

Many [[Kannada]] works, such has ''Nambiyannana Ragale'' and ''Tiru Nilakanta Devara Ragale'', are written on Nayanars by Kannada poet [[Harihara (poet)|Harihara]]. Sundara Murthy nayanar is known as Nambiyanna in [[Kannada literature]].{{citation needed|date=October 2023}}