Sharda Narayanan holds Doctorate in Sanskrit studies from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, as also M.Sc. (Physics) and M.A. (Sanskrit) from Banga lore University, after completing Samskrita Sahitya Exams at Sri Chamarajendra Wodeyar Samskrit College, Bengaluru. She currently teaches Indian Philosophy, Sanskrit language, Natya Sastra and Literary Theory at Dr. M.G.R. Janaki College for Women, Chennai. Serving as Faculty at Sri Siddhanta Knowledge Foundation for Course Development in IKS, she has many seminar presentations and published papers to her credit, in national and international forums such as World Sanskrit Conferences in Edinburgh, Bangkok, Vancouver and recently at Kathmandu where she presented a comparison between Tirumurai and Sanskrit poetry.
Her Doctoral thesis is published as a book, Vakyapadiya: Sphota, Jati & Dravya Collaborating with Mahamahopadhyaya Dr.R. Mani Dravid Sastri on Sastradipika: Tarka Pada, and co-authoring Gitagovinda of Jayadeva: Study in Sahitya & Natya with Dr Sujatha Mohan, she has edited two volumes of papers presented at Swadeshi Indology Conference 3: Studies in Tamil Civilization: Land of Dharma and Fount of Culture. Researching Tamil literature and Tirumurai for the past several years, she has also participated in the team of Central Sanskrit University to translate the book, The Battle for Sanskrit by Rajiv Malhotra into Sanskrit. She has received Citations from Indoi Chennal LitFest in 2021 and Rotary Dronacharya Award in 2025 for her work in Indian knowledge systems.
Madhangi Rathnavel, an IT engineer with over ten years experience in major IT companies, currently working as a Consultant is a keen scholar of Tamil and Sanskrit. Immersed in Saiva tradition from a young age, she is an accomplished singer, having learnt Tevaram traditionally from Odhuvamurti Sri Naganathan, Kapaleeshwarar Temple in Chennai. She has several research papers and seminar presentations in philosophy as well as Tirumurai to her credit, giving special lectures on Agama and Saiva Sastra. She has been researching and translating Kamika Agama for Kamakshi University, Coimbatore.
The Ninth Tirumurai is a collection of twenty-nine devotional songs of nine Nayanars, or saint-poets of the Saiva tradition, belonging to the glorious Chola period of the tenth century. Rich in literary and musical accomplishment, they celebrate the glory of Lord Shiva as Nataraja, echoed in the magnificent temple architecture and festivals of the time, replete with music and dance.
This Tirumurai is in many ways a continuation at a later period, of the Tevaram hymns, in its literature and musical quality. The songs reflect and acknowledge the influence of the Muvar Tirujnanasambandhar, Tirunavukkarasar and Sundaramurti Nayanar, to whom they pay homage in several places. But the cultural context of the Ninth Tirumrai was even grander, corresponding to the splendour of the Cholas. The temples, fes-tivals and processions were of an unprecedented scale and we can see the grandeur reflected in the lyrics. The philosophy of Saivism was also well es-tablished and some among the poets such as Tirumaligai Devar and Karuvur Devar were regarded as great mystics. Classical music was constantly scal-ing new heights with lyrics enriched by keener inclusion of Sanskrit terms.
Every day in the ritual worship of Lord Shiva in Agama temples, it is customary to sing five verses known as Panchapuranam from the Tirumurai collection, at every ceremony one verse from the Tevaram of Muvar, one from Manikkavacagar's works, one from the Tiruvisaippa, one from Tirupal landu and one from the Periya Puranam. See Appendix Note 1] With two songs of five selected from the Ninth Tirumurai, which is also the shortest of the twelve, we can understand the greatness of this compilation.
This book offers an insight into the musical and literary significance of these timeless songs, along with an account of the poets, their times and the history of the shrines, some ancient, such as Tiruvarur, and some built during the period, such as Rajarajeswaram (Thanjavur). The most impor tant of them all is Chidambaram, simply known as Koyil, the temple of temples; that it saw the coronation of many kings indicates its sanctity and splendour.
We are indebted to Odhuvamurti Sri B. Sargurunathan for his kind assis-tance, suggestions and inputs for this book. Smt. Saranya Vishwanath has taken a lot of time and great pains to discuss the lyrics and explain their meanings to me, which has been invaluable in preparing this book and I ac-knowledge my gratitude for all her time, patience, interest and enthusiasm. It has been a great privilege to receive the contribution of Chapter One on the greatness of the Chola rulers from an acclaimed author on the subject, Smt Kamini Dandapani, to embellish this book and I am thankful to her.
My mother-in-law Smt Shanta Subramanian has taken extensive effort in reading Tamil notes from several books to enable me to prepare English notes and we have spent many an enjoyable afternoon in this pleasant exercise. We are grateful to Smt Angayarkanni K. for her suggestions and corrections in the Tamil text. Last but not the least, it is always an enriching activity to discuss various aspects of Tirumurai with Smt Madhangi Rathnavel and I express my gratitude to her.
An audio album with traditional rendition of the songs is available online.
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