Sekkizhar

Sekkizhar, whose birth name is believed to be Arulmozhithevar, is one of the most revered figures in Tamil Saivite tradition. While deeply embedded in popular hagiography as the Chief Minister (இளவல் - *ilaval*) to the Chola emperor Kulottunga II, precise biographical details outside the traditional narratives remain scarce. His literary output is singularly focused on the *Periya Puranam*, a monumental hagiographical epic that details the lives of the sixty-three Nayanmars (Saivite saints) and nine Thogaiyadiyars (groups of devotees). Tradition paints Sekkizhar as a scion of the *Vellala* community from Kunrathur, a village near modern-day Chennai. The *Vellalas* were a powerful landowning agricultural caste that formed the backbone of the Chola administration and economy, placing Sekkizhar in a position of significant social and political influence. His deep immersion in Saivite theology and Bhakti literature underscores his commitment to the Saivite faith, which he championed through his magnum opus. His work is less a personal poetic expression and more a grand theological and cultural project aimed at consolidating Saivite identity. The absence of specific autobiographical elements in the *Periya Puranam* itself, beyond the traditional introductory verses, highlights his role as a chronicler and theologian, rather than a poet focused on individual introspection. What we know is largely filtered through later commentaries and oral traditions that emerged around the significance of his work.

Sekkizhar's signature style in the *Periya Puranam* is characterized by its narrative grandeur and devotional intensity. He primarily employs various *viruttam* metres, particularly the *kalippa viruttam*, which provides immense flexibility for storytelling, dramatic exposition, and lyrical description. His mastery of these complex metres allows for the seamless flow of epic narratives, adapting rhythm and pace to suit the emotional context of each saint's story. His imagery is deeply rooted in Saivite mythology, Puranic traditions, and the rich natural landscapes of Tamilakam. He conjures vivid pictures of temple towns, sacred rivers, forest hermitages, and the miraculous deeds of Shiva and his devotees. The descriptions are often highly detailed, emphasizing the physical manifestations of devotion, suffering, and divine intervention. Technically, what sets Sekkizhar apart is his unparalleled ability to synthesize a vast and disparate body of oral traditions, local legends, and earlier devotional poetry (like the *Tevaram* and *Tiruvacagam*) into a single, cohesive, and aesthetically unified epic. He transforms individual hagiographies into a grand Saivite theological tapestry, elevating the Nayanmars to almost divine status and establishing a canonical narrative of Saivite devotion that has profoundly shaped Tamil religious identity.

Sekkizhar's *Periya Puranam* irrevocably altered the landscape of Tamil literature and Saivite religious thought. It codified the lives of the Nayanmars, transforming disparate local legends into a cohesive, canonical narrative, thereby solidifying Saivite identity in Tamil Nadu. Its influence is evident in subsequent devotional literature, temple iconography, and performance traditions. Even today, the *Periya Puranam* is recited, studied, and revered as a fundamental text of Tamil Saivism. In modern Tamil political discourse, Sekkizhar's work holds a complex position. It is celebrated by Tamil nationalists and religious revivalists as a pinnacle of indigenous Tamil literary and spiritual achievement, often invoked to highlight the distinctness and antiquity of Tamil Saivite culture, sometimes as a counterpoint to Sanskritized Hinduism. However, it is also critically examined by Dravidian movements and caste-justice advocates for its implicit reinforcement of caste hierarchies and its glorification of extreme, sometimes disturbing, forms of devotion, which can be interpreted as promoting blind faith or social fatalism. Comparing Sekkizhar to other contemporary ancient literatures: His *Periya Puranam* functions similarly to the hagiographical traditions of early Christianity, like the *Lives of the Saints*, in its compilation of exemplary lives to inspire devotion and establish orthodoxy. Its epic scope and didactic purpose bear resemblance to the Sanskrit Puranas (e.g., *Skanda Purana*) which consolidate regional myths and divine narratives, or even to the *Mahabharata* and *Ramayana* in their role as foundational cultural texts that blend narrative with ethical and theological instruction. While lacking the direct philosophical argumentation of Greek texts like Plato's *Republic* or the legal codification of Roman law, Sekkizhar's work, like Virgil's *Aeneid* for Rome, creates a foundational 'national' narrative, albeit a religious one, defining the spiritual ethos of Tamilakam. The sheer volume and poetic excellence of the *Periya Puranam* place it among the great narrative poems of world literature of its period, celebrating faith and local heroes in a manner distinct yet resonant with epic traditions globally.