This work is a translation into modern English prose of the classical Tamil epic poem known as the Periya Purāṇam ("The Great History"), or the Tirut Toṇṭar Purāṇam ("The History of the Holy Servants", sc. of the Lord Siva). The original was composed in the second quarter of the twelfth century CE by Cēkkiḻār, a minister at the court of Kulottunga II, the reigning king of the Cōḻa dynasty in South India.

The epic contains the life stories of the sixty three Saivite saints, known as "Nāyaṉmār", most of whom lived during the sixth to eighth centuries CE. Their stories illustrate with great colour and vividness the lengths to which they were led by their fervent devotion to Siva. They were responsible for the conversion of the Tamil people from the prevailing Jain and Buddhist religions to Saivism. The struggle with those "alien faiths" forms the background to many of the most striking events recorded in the epic.

Of the sixty three Nāyaṉmār, the three saints whose lives are recorded at greatest length are Appar, Cuntarar and Campantar. These three composed the devotional hymns which form the collection of bhakti poetry known as the Tēvāram, which is used in worship in temples and private homes throughout the Tamil-speaking world to this day. Both the Periya Purāṇam, which recounts the lives of the authors of those hymns, and the Tēvāram collection are included in the canon of books held sacred by the Tamil Saivite community.

This Tamil bhakti literature constitutes the first Indian religious literature in a language other than Sanskrit. The Periya Purāṇam is a fundamental text for the study and understanding of this living tradition of spirituality. It has been described as "the national epic of the Tamils".

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Critical Reviews

"Alastair McGlashan offers us here the skilled and elegant translation of the Periya Purāṇam that has long been needed - faithful to the original, attractive in its English rendering, and accompanied by a lucid and informative introduction that puts it in context and makes it accessible. At long last, this classic of Tamil literature can finally receive the attention it has always deserved."

-Dr Francis Clooney SJ, Parkman Professor of Divinity, Harvard Divinity School, USA

"A scholarly translation of this Saiva text is long overdue … your excellent translation …"

-Dr Anne Monius, Professor of South Asian Religion, Harvard Divinity School, USA

"At the London Saiva conferences, your thought-provoking discourses in chaste Tamil without any flaw astonished me. Although many people in my country seem to be in the grip of panic that Tamil would meet its doomsday because of the callousness of native speakers, your impeccable, immaculate Tamil has dissipated that fear. In meticulous Tamil you pronounce the letters perfectly. Great western scholars such as Pope and Caldwell came here, mastered the Tamil language and rendered yeoman services to Tamil. You follow in their footsteps and do valuable service to Tamil.

Your translation of the Periya Purāṇam is really a marvellous feat. Those who go through it will doubtless be struck by its conformity with cherished tradition. Your presentation is so crystal clear that even an ordinary man will study and enjoy it. By this laudable service you are sure of carving a niche in the minds of Tamil lovers all over the globe. You have made history in the sphere of Tamil literature."

-Srimath Kumaraswami Thambiran Swamigal, Dharmapuram Atinam, Tamil Nadu, India

"I have gone through the papers sent by you on Periya Purāṇam, the Introduction and Kaṇṇappa Nāyaṉār Purāṇam. The first one is done meticulously by pointing out all the historical facts and literary evidences. It gives the preparatory grounds as to how Cēkkiḻār was able to accomplish his mission of singing the glory of the sixty three Saiva saints.

Kaṇṇappa Nāyaṉār's narrative is amazing and astounding, since as a mystic he forgot all worldly attachments and exhibited his illumined soul in his divinity-soaked, non-Agamic ways of adoration. Your presentation of his biography is really thrilling and enchanting."

-Dr R. Gopalakrishnan, Professor of Philosophy, University of Madras, India

About the Author

Alastair Robin McGlashan is an Anglican priest, a Jungian analyst and student of Tamil. After studying classics at Oxford and theology at Cambridge, he taught for ten years at a seminary in South India, where he made acquaintance with the Tamil language and with Tamil culture. After his return to the UK, he served as chaplain in a psychiatric hospital, and subsequently worked as a Jungian analyst.

Since retirement, he has taken part in psychotherapy teaching programmes in the UK, Russia, and Poland, and at his former seminary in South India.

Other publications by the author:

Theology (English):

• Conversion — a comparative study Laity Department of the World Council of Churches, Study document no VIII, July 1960
• What the churches teach about the ministry Laity (bulletin of the Laity Department of the World Council of Churches, no 9) July 1960
• Conversion SPCK (Simeon Booklets no. VIII), 1964
• Conservative Evangelicals and the Ecumenical Movement Prism (no 87), July 1964
• A note on Ephesians 1.23 Expository Times, Jan. 1965
• Diakonia and the Diaconate The Churchman (vol. 84, nos. 1, 2) Spring, Summer 1970
• Living in a united church The Church Quarterly (vol. 3, no 3) Jan. 1971

Theology (Tamil):

• Commentary on the Epistles of St John Church of South India Tamil Theological Series, Palayamkottai, 1969
• Introduction to the grammar of New Testament Greek Tamil Theological Book Club, Christian Literature Society, Madras, 1972
• Textual Criticism of the New Testament, article in Companion to the Bible Tamil Theological Book Club, Christian Literature Society, Madras, 1973
• New Testament Introduction, part I (Gospels and Acts) Tamil Theological Book Club, Christian Literature Society, Madras, 1979
• New Testament Introduction, part II (Epistles and Revelation) Tamil Theological Book Club, Christian Literature Society, Madras, 1980

Analytical Psychology:

• Music as a symbolic process Journal of Analytical Psychology (vol. xxxii, no 4) 1987
• Symbolization and Human Development Religious Studies (vol. xxv, no 4) 1989
• Comment on E. Weisstub, "Self as Feminine Principle" Journal of Analytical Psychology (vol. xlii, no 3) 1997
• Cultural differences in the consulting room Indian Journal of Psychological Counselling (vol. 9, no 14) 2000
• The speck and the log - the mechanism of projection in church life Arasaradi Journal of Theological Reflection (vol. xiv, pp. 97-111) 2001
• The individuating supervisor in Wiener, Mizen and Duckham (ed.), Supervising and being supervised London, Palgrave Macmillan, 2003
• La musique en tant que processus symbolique Cahiers Jungiens de Psychanalyse (no. 113) March, 2005

Tamil studies:

• Amazing grace - the experience of grace in Christian and Hindu bhakti Theology (vol. cv, no 828) Nov/Dec. 2002
• The history of the holy servants of the Lord Siva — a translation of Cēkkiḻār's Periya Purāṇam Victoria (British Columbia), Trafford Publishing, 2006
• Sacred history, Saivite and Christian Theology (forthcoming)

Excerpts