A group of college students tours old temples in the Kaveri delta. At Thanjavur and Chidambaram they see huge Shiva temples whose inscriptions record the support of powerful kings, along with fine bronze images of Shiva dancing. Their guide tells them that these kings wished to win the support of the peasants who revered the Tamil saints. Inside one temple, singers still chant hymns of the Shaiva saints from a collection that the same kings had ordered to be gathered and arranged. During a festival, metal images of saints are carried in procession.
The collection of hymns from which the singers chant is known as:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → Tevaram
Option (1) Nalayira Divyaprabandham — Incorrect. The Nalayira Divyaprabandham is the collection of hymns of the Alvars, the devotees of Vishnu.
Option (2) Tevaram — Correct. The Chola kings had Tamil Shaiva hymns sung in temples and had them collected into a text, the Tevaram.
Option (3) Bhagavata Purana — Incorrect. The Bhagavata Purana is a Sanskrit Purana that took in ideas of the Tamil Vaishnava bhaktas.
Option (4) the vachanas — Incorrect. The vachanas are sayings in Kannada by the Virashaivas of Karnataka.
NCERT (2026-27): “2.4 Relations with the state … “These kings also introduced the singing of Tamil Shaiva hymns in the temples under royal patronage, taking the initiative to collect and organise them into a text (Tevaram). Further, inscriptional evidence from around 945 suggests that the Chola ruler Parantaka I had consecrated metal images of Appar, Sambandar and Sundarar in a Shiva temple. These were carried in processions during the festivals of these saints.” |