Shaivism
Nayanars

By the 7th century, the Nayanars, a tradition of poet-saints in the bhakti tradition developed in ancient Tamil Nadu with a focus on Shiva, comparable to that of the Vaisnava Alvars. The devotional Tamil poems of the Nayanars are divided into eleven collections together known as Tirumurai, along with a Tamil Purana called the Periya Puranam. The first seven collections are known as the Tevaram and are regarded by Tamils as equivalent to the Vedas. They were composed in the 7th century by Sambandar, Appar, and Sundarar.

Tirumular (also spelled Tirumūlār or Tirumūlar), the author of the Tirumantiram (also spelled Tirumandiram) is considered by Tattwananda to be the earliest exponent of Shaivism in Tamil areas. Tirumular is dated as 7th or 8th century by Maurice Winternitz. The Tirumantiram is a primary source for the system of Shaiva Siddhanta, being the tenth book of its canon. The Tiruvacakam by Manikkavacagar is an important collection of hymns.
keywords:letter_frequency