Caste, community, wealth, and status do not count with them even as they do not with the Lord. These Nayanmars consists of devoted men and women of all ages and range from tribal hunters to emperors of vast domains. Lord Shiva whom these Saiva-Siddhantins worshiped is not a sectarian deity but the supreme creator preserver and destroyer of the Universe who comes in human form from time to time and ‘plays’ with these servitors when their devotion gets incandescent.
The Tamil Devotional Classic Periya Puranam or “The Great Epic” by Sekkizhaar is the saga of the sixty-three Nayanmars or servitors of the Lord who not only lived for Him, on the other hand, adored Him in delightfully distinct ways.
