Appar | |
|---|---|
 Appar | |
| Personal | |
| Born | Marul Neekkiyar 570 CE |
| Died | 650 CE (aged 80) |
| Religion | Hinduism |
| Organization | |
| Philosophy | Shaivism Bhakti |
| Religious career | |
| Literary works | Tevaram 4,5 (Tirukkuruntokai), 6 (Tiruttantakam) |
| Honors | Nayanar saint, Muvar |
Appar (Tamil: அப்பர்) also referred to as Tirunavukkaracar (Tamil: திருநாவுக்கரசர், romanized: Tirunāvukkaracar) or Navukkarasar, was a seventh-century Tamil Shaiva poet-saint. Born in a peasant Shaiva family, raised as an orphan by his sister, he lived about 80 years and is generally placed sometime between 570 and 650 CE.[1][2] 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.[3] One of the most prominent of the sixty-three revered Nayanars, he was an older contemporary of Sambandar.[1][4]
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.[1]
- ^ a b c Peterson 1989, pp. 19–21, 270–273, 283–297.
- ^ Zvelebil 1974, p. 95
- ^ Nagaswamy 1989, pp. Chapter 2.
- ^ Vanmikanathan 1983, p. 8.