Skip to content
Sambandar
EntityQ3531581· pop 10· linked from 443 articles

Also known as Thirugnana Sambandar, Tirujnanasambanda, Campantar, Ñāṉacampantar

Sambandar (Tamil: சம்பந்தர், romanized: Campantar), also referred to as Thirugnana Sambandar (Tamil: திருஞானசம்பந்தர், romanized: Tiruñāṉacampantar), was a Shaiva poet-saint of Tamil Nadu who lived sometime in the 7th century CE. 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. Sambandar merged with the divine effulgence when he was sixteen years of age. The surviving compositions of the poet-saint are preserved in the fi

Key facts

Hindu leader.caption
A copper alloy sculpture of Sambandar with forefinger pointing slightly up (symbolically towards Parvati and Shiva)
Hindu leader.religion
Hinduism
Hindu leader.name
Sambandar
Hindu leader.image
The Hindu Saint Sambandar.jpg
Hindu leader.birth_place
6th–7th century Sirkazhiswaram, Chola Empire (present Sirkazhi, Mayiladuthurai district, Tamil Nadu, India)
Hindu leader.philosophy
Shaivism, Bhakti
Hindu leader.honors
Nayanar saint, Muvar
Hindu leader.literary_works
Tevaram

via Wikipedia infobox

~10 min read

Encyclopedic overview

10 sections
Contents
  • Life
  • Inscriptions
  • Iconography
  • Compositions and legacy
  • Temple services
  • Tamil Shaiva ethos
  • Translation of Sambandar hymns
  • Notes
  • References
  • External links

Sambandar (Tamil: சம்பந்தர், romanized: Campantar), also referred to as Thirugnana Sambandar (Tamil: திருஞானசம்பந்தர், romanized: Tiruñāṉacampantar), was a Shaiva poet-saint of Tamil Nadu who lived sometime in the 7th century CE. 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. Sambandar merged with the divine effulgence when he was sixteen years of age. The surviving compositions of the poet-saint are preserved in the first three volumes of the Tirumurai called Thirukkadik kaappu, and provide a part of the philosophical foundation of Shaiva Siddhanta.

He is one of the most prominent of the sixty-three Nayanars, Tamil Shaiva bhakti saints who lived between the sixth and the tenth centuries CE. He was a contemporary of Appar, another Shaiva poet-saint.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Sambandar” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

Gallery (6)

Available in 8 languages

via Wikidata sitelinks · CC0