Lives of Tamil saints at a cultural crossroads

Sekkizhar [i.e. Sekkilan Madevadigal Ramadeva]. A printed illustrated abridgement of the Periya Purana m in Tamil.

€ 6,500.00

A graphic form of the Periya Pur a m ("Great Epic"), depicting the lives of the sixty-three Nayanars (Saints or Devotees of Shiva). The 112 illustrations are introduced by selections from the text in Tamil over 20 pages. Rooted in Indian traditions of manuscript illustration, this work dates from a period when the printed book, hitherto largely the domain of missionaries and colonial authorities in India, was beginning to supplant the manuscript as a medium for Indian culture. The volume thus offers us a view of the rich religious culture of southern India at a significant crossroads.

An inscription inside the front cover places the printing of this volume to before 1875, in the first decades of mass printing in India. The pictures are all clear and elegant, and rooted in the Indian tradition of illustration. Manuscript culture endured far longer in India than in Europe, and it was not until the later 19th century when printing began to take over from scribal culture. Although printing presses had been introduced to India by European missionaries in the 16th century, the number of printed Indian texts was very low before this point. The British viewed the growing culture of Indian printing both as an opportunity for education and as a potential source of subversion, and from 1867 all books printed in India had to be registered with the authorities. A book such as this is emblematic of this transition, both from manuscript to printed culture, and from European to native control.

In addition to the illustrations, the volume includes the text of Thirutonda Puranacharam, followed by an extract from Thirunatundar Thirunamakovai by the Shaiva philosopher Sivagnana Munivar (1753-1785), and another extract from the Sekkizhar Purana by the 13th/14th-century poet Umapathi Shivachariyar, on the life of the Indian saint and poet Sekkizar, the 12th-century compiler of the Periya Purana m. The tables list the Nayanars, their names and their attributes, and explain the illustrations.

The Periya Purana m is one of the central texts of Tamil Shaivism, the worship of Shiva as the supreme entity. It was compiled by Sekkizhar (or Sekkilhar, Sekkilan Madevadigal Ramadeva) during the reign of the Chola King Kulottunka II (1133-1150 CE), and relates the lives of the sixty-three Nayanars, the saints who helped define the religion between the sixth and eighth centuries CE, in a climate dominated by Jainism and Buddhism. Puranic literature is a vast tradition in India, covering a wide range of topics, including legends and religious themes, many of the oldest taking form over the course of the first millennium CE.

A volume that represents the rich religious traditions of southern India at a crucial time of cultural transformation.