South Indian Bronzes: A Historical Survey of South Indian Sculpture with Iconographical Notes Based on Original Sources c7.12

c7.12

Tiru-Jnana Sambandha who was the younger contem- @H Tiru-Jnana Sambandha. porary of St. Appar lived about the beginning of the seventh century and was a native of Shiyali (Shrikali) in the Tanjore District. He was the famous child-saint who associated himself with St. Appar in his divine mission and called the latter in the affectionate appellation of ' Father ' (Tamil ' Appar '). He is said to have been called to the worship of Siva while still a child and to have died a child. He is often represented in the memorial statues as a nude child holding a pair of cymbals which he received from Siva and with which he went about singing Siva's praise. The story of his initiation is thus narrated: "When he was still a child he went with his father to the Shiyali temple. Becoming hungry he began to cry; whereon the goddess of the shrine took pity on him and gave him a cup of her own milk. His father noticed that he had been drinking milk and asked him where he got it. In reply he broke out into a hymn in praise of the deity which now forms the first of those in the *Devāram*. This incident gave him his name which means ' related through wisdom ' to the God-head. Later he vanquished the Jains at Madura, and afterwards he travelled to more than 200 shrines of which the majority are in Tanjore. Each of his hymns which are in lofty language and are considered to be finer as poetic efforts than those of Appar or Sundara Murti, consisted of eleven stanzas of which the last always referred to himself."'