Tamil Hindu saints

Indian spiritual teacher (1879–1950)

Ramanuja ('; Middle Tamil: Rāmāṉujam; Classical Sanskrit: Rāmānuja; 1077 – 1157, trad. date 1017-1137), also known as Ramanujacharya''', was an Indian Hindu philosopher, guru and social reformer. He is one of the most important exponents of the Sri Vaishnavism tradition in Hinduism. His philosophical foundations for devotional practice were influential in the Bhakti movement.

Agastya was a revered Indian sage of Hinduism. In the Indian tradition, he is a noted recluse and an influential scholar in diverse languages of the Indian subcontinent. He is regarded in some traditions to be a Chiranjivi. He and his wife Lopamudra are the celebrated authors of hymns 1.165 to 1.191 in the Sanskrit text Rigveda and other Vedic literature.

Thiruvalluvar, commonly known as Valluvar, was an Indian poet and philosopher. He is best known as the author of the Tirukkuṟaḷ, a collection of couplets on ethics, political and economic matters, and love. The text is considered an exceptional and widely cherished work of Tamil literature.

Andal (ISO 15919: Āṇṭāḷ), also known as Kothai and Nachiyar is one of the 12 Alvars, who are Tamil saints who patronised Vaishnavism during the Bhakti movement. She is the only female Alvar. She is considered to be an avatar of the earth goddess Bhumi, who is an aspect of Hindu goddess Lakshmi, the consort of the preserver god Vishnu. The Alvars are affiliated with the Sri Vaishnavism tradition of Vaishnavism. As per Hindu mythology, she was raised by Periyalvar in Srivilliputhur, where she grew up as a devotee of Krishna.

The Alvars (), are the Tamil poet-saints of South India who espoused bhakti (devotion) to the Hindu preserver deity Vishnu through their songs of longing, ecstasy, and service. They are venerated in Vaishnavism, which regards Vishnu as the Ultimate Reality.

thumb|right|290px|The Nalvar () of Shaiva Siddhanta – (from left) [[Sambandar, Appar and Sundarar, the three foremost Nayanars, and Manikkavacakar.]] The Nayanars (or Nayanmars; ) were a group of 63 Tamil saints living during the 6th to 8th centuries CE. Along with the Alvars, their contemporaries, they influenced the Bhakti movement in early medieval South India. The names of the Nayanars were first compiled by Sundarar. The list was expanded by Nambiyandar Nambi during his compilation of material by the poets for the Tirumurai collection, and would include Sundarar himself and Sundarar's par

Bogar, Bhogar, or Boganathar was a Tamil Shaivite Siddhar. He was a disciple of the great siddhar Kalangi Nathar. Kalangi Nathar initiated him Jnana yoga (supreme self-knowledge). There are 18 Siddhars popularly known in Tamil literature. He is the one among the 18 Siddhars. They are described as experts in Yoga, alchemy, literature, and philosophy, and as having the ability to move their souls to and from the bodies of others.

Manikkavacakar was a 3rd-century Tamil saint and poet who wrote Thiruvasagam and Thirukkovaiyar, books of Shaiva hymns. Tamil scholars and researchers share that he was a minister to the Pandya king Nedunjeliyan II (3rd Century CE) and lived in Madurai (or) he was a minister to the Pandya king Arikesari (6th Century CE).

Sri Vaishnava religious leader

Nammalvar was one of the twelve Alvar saints of Tamil Nadu, India, who are known for their affiliation to the Vaishnava tradition of Hinduism. The verses of the Alvars are compiled as the Naalayira Divya Prabandham, where praises are sung of 108 temples that are classified as divine realms, called the Divya Desams. Nammalvar is considered to be the fifth in the line of the twelve Alvars. He is highly regarded as a great mystic of the Vaishnava tradition. He is also considered to be the foremost among the twelve Alvars, and his contributions amount to 1352 among the 4000 stanzas in the Naalayir

Appar (), also referred to as Tirunavukkaracar () 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. 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 Sambandar.

last of the 12 Alvar saints of south India

Arunagirinathar ('', ) was a Tamil Shaiva saint-poet who lived during the 14th century in Tamil Nadu, India. In his treatise A History of Indian Literature'' (1974), Czech Indologist Kamil Zvelebil places Arunagirinathar's period between circa 1370 CE and circa 1450 CE. He was the creator of Tiruppugazh ('''', , meaning "Holy Praise" or "Divine Glory"), a book of poems in Tamil in praise of Murugan.

thumbnail|Agastya, the first Siddhar thumb|Pambatti Siddhar Sannidhi at [[Marudamalai Temple]]

Periyalvar (), also known as Vishnuchittar, was one of the twelve Alvar saints of South India who are known for their affiliation to the Vaishnava tradition of Hinduism. He was the foster father of Andal. Andal, also called as Kodhai, is the only female Alvar, and is considered to be the incarnation of Bhudevi according to Sri Vaishnavism.

Tamil poet, possibly first century BCE birthdate

Incarnation of Lord Vishnu

poet-saint of Sri Vaishnavism

Indian Hindu leader

In the Siddhar tradition of Tamil Nadu, Korakkar is one of the 18 esteemed Siddhars of yore, and is better known as Gorakhnath in North India. Siddhar Agastya and Siddhar Bhogar were his gurus. There is a temple in Vadukku Poigainallur, Nagapattinam, Tamil Nadu which specifically houses his Jeeva Samadhi. According to one account, he spent much of his youth in the Velliangiri Mountains, Coimbatore.

Religious teacher

tamil poet-saint

tamil poet-saint

twelfth century Tamil poet

poet-saint of the Tamil Vaishnava tradition

one of the twelve alvar saints of South India

hindu poet-saint

Sri Vaishnava poet-saint