The Tamil Saiva Canon comprises of 12 Thirumurais authored by 26 saints, consisting of more than 20,000 verses. Of these, Peria Puranam is the 12th, the last one. This great work, authored by the Minister turned Saint Sekkizhar, runs to 4286 verses dealing with the lives and times of 63 Saiva Saints who served Man and God during the 3rd century BCE to the 9th century CE. The original work of Sundaramurthy Nayanar had only 11 verses mentioning the names of 62 saints. This was followed by a slightly longer version of 100 verses (of which 89 are available) by Nambiandar Nambi which included Sundaramurthy Nayanar also. It is to the lasting credit of Sekkizhar that he went into great detail in narrating the histories of these saints. It is not as if information on these were readily available. Of these 63, only 7 had left (poetic) records of their own search for God. The other 56 did not say or record anything about themselves – they were ardent devotees and that is about it all. Sekkizhar (1113- 1173 CE) was the Chief Minister of the great Chozha Emperor Kulothunga II who requested and encouraged Sekkizhar to undertake this difficult work.The Administrator- Scholar, coming 300 years after saint Sundarar went round the Southern Kingdom, gathered information by local enquires, examined epigraphs and copper plates, perused local literature and gathered much authentic information on these saints. Coupled with his own knowledge of Saivism and temple rituals and traditions as also the political history of the Tamil Kingdoms and Sangam literature and the Thevaram, he put in great efforts and, with divine blessings, produced this great epic to the delight of the king and his subjects. The 'arangetram 'of Peria Puranam was held at Thillai Natarajar Temple between the 4th April 1139 and 22nd April 1140. After this Sekkizhar himself retired to a saintly life.The original title given to the work was Thiruthondar Puranam. People so impressed with the work started calling it Peria Puranam (the great epic). G.U.Pope felt that every Tamil student should study it. Scholars have acclaimed it as an encyclopaedic lexicology and literary master-piece. In this connection the observations of Francois Gross- a great polymath – deserve to be quoted "It should be recognised that this work is an exceptional memorial. The examination of its multiple facets reaches the highest standard of Indian Scholarship- an awesome recollection of texts, anecdotes, a feeling for narrative, characters and situations and, all this in the service of a noble cause".
