In contemporary Tamil Shiva temples, Odhuvars, Sthanikars, or Kattalaiyars offer musical programmes in Shiva temples of Tamil Nadu by singing Tevaram after the daily rituals.
The pilgrimage to temples, associated devotional singing with music, and other rituals started by Sambandar have thrived over the centuries. Sambandar (Wooden Image), ASI Museum, Vellore Both the bronze images are stored in the Bronze gallery in Government Museum, Chennai. Another image found in Tiruindalur in dancing posture with a height of 52 cm (20 in) dated 1150 has Sambandar sported with his right feet over a pedestal. He is sported with catura posture with his feat on Padmasana and he is sported with jewels around his neck. A Chola bronze of Sambandar with a height of 52 cm (20 in) in standing posture dated to about 12th century was found in Velankanni in Nagapattinam district. He is depicted as a dancing child or a young teen with his right forefinger pointing upwards, reflecting the legend where he credits Parvati-Shiva for what he has. Sambandar's image is found in almost all Shiva temples of Tamil Nadu. There are records from Kulothunga Chola III from Nallanyanar temple in South Arcot indicating singing of Tiruvempavai and Tiruvalam of Manickavasagar during special occasion in the temple. A record belonging to Rajendra I mentions Tevaranayakan, the supervisor of Tevaram and shows the institutionalisation of Tevaram with the establishment of a department. A few earlier records give details about the gifts rendered to the singers of Tevaram from Parantaka I of the 8th century. Rajaraja deputed 48 pidarars and made liberal provisions for their maintenance and successors. The singers of these hymns were referred as Tirupadiyam Vinnapam seyvar or Pidarar in Tamil inscriptions from about the 8th to 16th-centuries, such as the inscriptions of Nandivarman III in the Tiruvallam Bilavaneswara temple records. Many other inscriptions likely are related to the musical bhakti singing tradition founded by Sambandar and other Nayanars. The Child Saint Sambandar, chola bronze, 12th century India, Freer Gallery of Art, Washington DC InscriptionsĪn inscription of Rajaraja Chola I at Tiruvarur mentions Sambandar along with Appar, Sundarar and the latter's wife Nangai Paravaiyar.
Sambandar died in the Tamil month of "Vaigasi" at the age of sixteen at his wedding. Att the age of three, he is said to have mastered the Vedas. His father saw drops of milk on the child's mouth and asked who had fed him, whereupon the boy pointed to the sky and responded with the song Todudaya Seviyan, the first verse of the Tevaram.
When Sambandar was three years old his parents took him to the Shiva temple where Shiva and his consort Parvati appeared before the child. Īccording to the Tamil texts, Sambandar was born to Sivapada Hrudiyar and his wife Bhagavathiar who lived in Sirkazhi, Tamil Nadu. The first three volumes of the Tirumurai contain three hundred and eighty-four poems of Sambandar, all that survive out of a reputed more than 10,000 hymns. A Sanskrit hagiography called Brahmapureesa Charitam is now lost. Information about Sambandar comes mainly from the Periya Puranam, the eleventh-century Tamil book on the Nayanars that forms the last volume of the Tirumurai, along with the earlier Tiruttondartokai, poetry by Sundarar and Nambiyandar Nambi's Tiru Tondar Tiruvandadi. Amirthakadaieeshwarar temple relief depicting Appar bearing Sambandar's palanquin