Thevaram, Tēvāram, Tevaram: 3 definitions

Introduction:

Thevaram means something in the history of ancient India, Tamil. If you want to know the exact meaning, history, etymology or English translation of this term then check out the descriptions on this page. Add your comment or reference to a book if you want to contribute to this summary article.

India history and geography

Source: Wikipedia: India History

The Thevaram (Tēvāram) denotes the first seven volumes of the Tirumurai, the twelve-volume collection of Śaiva devotional poetry. These volumes contain the works of the three most prominent Tamil poets of the 7th and 8th centuries: Sambandar, Appar, and Sundarar. The three poets were not only involved in portraying their personal devotion to Shiva, but also engaged a community of believers through their songs, and their work is an important source for understanding the emergence of the Bhakti movement in early medieval South India.

All the songs in Thevaram, called pathikam, are believed to be in sets of ten. The hymns were set to music denoted by panns and are part of the canon of Tamil music. They continue to be part of temple liturgy today. [...] The earliest singers of Tevaram hymns were referred to as pidarars, and were among the Tirupadiyam Vinnapam Seyvar that Nandivarman III provided for in Tiruvallam Bilavaneswara temple records dating from the 8th century.

Source: OpenEdition books: Deep rivers (Selected Writings on Tamil literature)

Tēvāram is a canonical collection of hymns to Shiva, a kind of psalter and is essentially the perfected lyrical expression in the Shaivite domain of the most powerful movement of religious fervour, or Bhakti, to emanate from the Tamil world between the 6th and 9th centuries.1 From a more technical point of view, the Tēvāram constitutes, in the body of twelve Tirumuṟai (sacred work), the first seven divided between three authors: Ñāṉacampantar (I-III), Appar (III-VI) and Cuntarar (VII) who form the Shaivite "trio" (Mūvār), whence the appellation Mūvār Tēvāram frequently given to their work in its totality.

The meaning of the word tēvāram is itself obscure. Modern explanations resort to popular etymology. For example, we break (v) “divinity” + āram “garland” in referring to the hundred hymns of Cuntarar or Campantar but to only one of Appar, where the envoi verse uses the fairly common metaphorical formula Tamil-mālai “Tamil garland” apropos the songs. Or, from vāram “song” or “dance” in honour of the divinity, we gloss “tevā pāṇi” “song or melody in the service of God”. The medieval inscriptions however bring us back to the conception of worship or, more directly, of a private cult and of the body of a specific building, as also connected to a temple and to the practice of a cult, which leads us to the Sanskrit semantic equivalence of the deva-āgāra, deva-ārha type, which designates a cult place and may be the origin of the Tamil term. There are as well several instances of the word tēvāram used in a Jain context, whether monumental or iconographic, constructions, sculpture or development of a natural site, for example rock sculpture, with dehāra as equivalence (Bellary Dt.; S.I.I. IX, No 115), probably derived from the Sanskrit devagṛha.

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The history of India traces the identification of countries, villages, towns and other regions of India, as well as mythology, zoology, royal dynasties, rulers, tribes, local festivities and traditions and regional languages. Ancient India enjoyed religious freedom and encourages the path of Dharma, a concept common to Buddhism, Hinduism, and Jainism.

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Languages of India and abroad

Tamil dictionary

[«previous next»] — Thevaram in Tamil glossary
Source: DDSA: University of Madras: Tamil Lexicon

Tēvāram (தேவாரம்) noun cf. devārha.

1. [Malayalam: tēvāra.] Worship; பூசனை. உயர்தவ மூவா யிரவர்க டாவாமறையொடு தேவாரக் கைப்பற்றிய பணிமுற்ற [pusanai. uyarthava muva yiravarka davamaraiyodu thevarag kaipparriya panimurra] (கோயிற் புராணம் திருவிழா. [koyir puranam thiruvizha.] 27).

2. Deity worshipped privately in a house; கிருகாராதனக் கடவுள். உம்முடைய தேவாரமோ [kirugarathanag kadavul. ummudaiya thevaramo] (ஈடு-முப்பத்தாறுயிரப்படி [idu-muppatharuyirappadi], 6, 8, 10).

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Tēvāram (தேவாரம்) noun probably from தே³ [the³] + வாரம். [varam.] A collection of devotional songs in honour of Śiva, composed by Appar, Campantar and Cuntarar, otherwise known as Tamiḻ-vētam; சசிவபிரான்ிவ பிரான் விஷயமாக அப்பர், சம்பந்தர், சுந்தரர் என்ற நாயன்மார் மூவரால் அருளிச்செய்யப்பட்ட பதிகங்கள் கொண்டதும் தமிழ்வேதம் என்று கொண்டாடப்படு வதுமான சைவத்திருமுறை. [sasivapiraniva piran vishayamaga appar, sambanthar, suntharar enra nayanmar muvaral arulicheyyappatta pathigangal kondathum thamizhvetham enru kondadappadu vathumana saivathirumurai.] (I. M. P. T j. 1012.) பேசு வது தேவாரமேயலால் வாய்க்கெளிய பேய்க்கிரந்தங் கள் பேசோம் [pesu vathu thevarameyalal vaykkeliya peykkiranthang kal pesom] (தமிழ்நாவலர் சரிதை [thamizhnavalar sarithai] 231).

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Tēvāram (தேவாரம்) noun A compartment in a mansion; மாளிகையில் ஒரு பகுதி. பெரியவுடை யார் தேவாரத்தே கேட்டருளி [maligaiyil oru paguthi. periyavudai yar thevarathe kettaruli] (S. I. I. vii, 269).

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Tamil is an ancient language of India from the Dravidian family spoken by roughly 250 million people mainly in southern India and Sri Lanka.

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