South-Indian Images of Gods and Goddesses c12.s2.57

c12.s2.57

Saiva and Vaishnava saints (called *Nāyanārs* and *Alvārs*), the former of whom are sixty-three in number and the latter twelve are also occasionally installed in temples, their images being made either of metal or of stone. The most famous of the former are Appar, Sundarar and Tirujnānasambandar,² whose devotional hymns in praise of the many Saiva shrines of the South are collected together under the name *Dēvāram* and are regarded as scriptures by the devout section of the Saivas. Stories relating to the pious lives of the sixty-three Saiva devotees are recorded in the book called *Periyapurāṇam*, which was written about the end of the thirteenth century of the Christian era. Māṇikkavāsagar, the author of the *Tiru-vāsagam*, is also a saint of great reputation. A beautiful image of his (fig. 161) comes from Tiruvarangulam in the Pudukkōttai State. An illustration from Madura (fig. 162) of Kāraikkāl-Ammai, one of the female Saiva saints counted among the sixty-three, gives a true picture of how devotion and severe penance are expected to reduce the physical body to a skeleton. Like the Saiva scriptures, the hymns of the Vaishnava saints (*Alvārs*) (see Tirumangai-Ālvār, fig. 160 (e) above), are also collected under the name *Nālāyiraprabandham* and form the accredited scriptures of the Tengalai section of Srī-Vaishnavas. The lives of the *Alvārs* are given in the book entitled *Guruparamparāprabhāva*.