purANamВ (history) which is the twelth thirumuRai. (Becuase the songs in this are composed of various language constructs). prabha.ntamВ (assorted) which is the eleventh thirumuRai. chAththiram (shAstram)В (guidelines) which is the tenth thirumuRai namely thirumandhiram. They are thoththiram (stotram)В (praise) which are the first nine thirumuRais. These 12 thirumuRais are arranged in four catagories. These have the songs praying for good family and maaterial life at the same time those of devotees like pattinaththAr who praise the ascetic life against the married ! The thiruththANdakams of appar perumAn are very simple to pass rich concepts even to masses and there are some hymns from champan^dhar that dwells in the beauties of grammar and music. While the honey dipped words (Oh, honey is glorified !) of thiruvAchakam that just is nothing but pure devotion and surrender, thirumandhiram is a marvelous text on the sophisticated concepts of yoga shastram. Because they have all the elements the people of various states would look for. These thirumuRais are for masses to elites, simple devotees to great yogis, are for married people as well for ascetic. It could also be noted that the first consonant 'th' is same as that of the first consonat in vEdas !! So it can be noted that the Thirumurai is the description of the Pranava itself. By joining the first letter of the first Thirumurai and the last letter in the last Thirumurai one can see that it is the holy 'OM'. The last word in the last thirumurai (Periya Puranam) is 'ulagelaam'. The first letter in the first thirumurai (In tamil script) is 'tho' can be separated as 'th' + 'o'. This splendid luminance has been guiding the suffering masses from their darkness to the Supreme in Whose presence the sticky bonds (pAsam) is driven off. Like the 27 stars that shine in the sky these great devotees gave the thirumuRai which are like the twelve suns (dvAdasa Adityas). The philosophers who came in the later days like the santhAna kuravas who wrote the shaiva sidhdhantha texts (1) and others like thAyumAnavar and rAmalinga vaLLalAr have adored these scriptures and their authors in their works. These are the highly respected scriptures of thamiz shaivites. Panniru thirumuRai is the collection of twelve holy scriptures written by twenty seven marvelous devotees in thamiz language.

Thevaram