Perumizhalai Kurumba Nayanar | Kovai Yellow Pages

Was Perumizhalai Kurumba Nayanar a Kurumba Gounder?

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Perumizhalai Kurumba Nayanar – Was he a Kurumba Gounder?

Short answer: the sources say he was born into the Kurumba (Kurumbar) shepherd community. They do not use the name “Kurumba Gounder”, which is a much later community name, so no historical record can say that he was - or was not - a Kurumba Gounder in today’s sense. What can be said is that he came from a shepherd community of the same name, and that many Kurumbar today revere him as one of their own.

Who Was Perumizhalai Kurumba Nayanar?

One of the 63 Nayanmars, the Tamil Shaivite saints.
He lived in Perumizhalai (also called Perumanallur or Devamalai), in present-day Pudukkottai district, Tamil Nadu.
He was born into the Kurumba community and followed its traditional work: rearing sheep and making thick woollen blankets.
He was a devoted follower of Sundarar, another of the Nayanmars, whom he took as his guru. He was a contemporary of Sundarar, the Chera king Cheraman Perumal and Kotpuli Nayanar.

His Story in the Periya Puranam

His life is told in Sekkizhar’s Periya Puranam, the great hagiography of the Nayanmars, and he is named in Sundarar’s Thiruthondar Thogai, the list of Shiva’s devotees on which it is based. According to the story, his devotion gave him yogic powers (the ashta siddhis). Through them he came to know that Lord Shiva was about to call Sundarar back to Kailash. Unable to bear being separated from his guru, he gave up his body by his yogic power and reached Shiva’s abode before his guru.

Guru Puja

His Guru Puja is held every year in the Tamil month of Aadi, on the day of the Chithirai star, and it is celebrated in his home town. Many Shiva temples with shrines to the 63 Nayanmars also mark the day.

Then and Now: Key Differences

Element	Perumizhalai Kurumba Nayanar	Kurumba Gounder today
Time	Age of Sundarar (Bhakti period)	A present-day community name
Described as	Born into the Kurumba community; shepherd and blanket maker	Listed in Tamil Nadu’s Most Backward Classes list as “Kurumba, Kurumba Gounder”
Place	Perumizhalai, Pudukkottai district	Found in several districts, including the Kongu region
Status	Saint revered in Shaivism	A living community

Why the Question Is Hard to Answer

Many people assume a direct link between Kurumba Nayanar and today’s Kurumba Gounder because of the shared name. The difficulty is that community names and boundaries change over many centuries:

The hagiographies describe a pastoral community that reared sheep and wove wool - the same traditional occupation associated with the Kurumbar of the Tamil plains today.
The present names and the official lists come from much later times, so they cannot simply be projected back.
“Kurumba” is also the name of the hill tribes of the Nilgiris, who are a different people (see categories of Kurumba). The Nayanar’s story, with its sheep and woollen blankets, points to the shepherd community, not the hill tribes.

For a fuller explanation of the names, read Kurumba vs Kurumbar vs Kurumba Gounder - who are they. The same shepherd community’s link with wool appears in the legend of the Mettu Mahadhanapuram Mahalakshmi temple.

Perumizhalai Kurumba Nayanar is spiritually and symbolically important to Kurumbar communities, who see in him a saint from their own shepherd tradition. Whether he can be called a “Kurumba Gounder” is a question of modern naming that the old texts do not answer.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Who was Perumizhalai Kurumba Nayanar?

One of the 63 Nayanmars (Tamil Shaivite saints). He lived in Perumizhalai, Pudukkottai district, reared sheep, made woollen blankets, and was a devoted follower of Sundarar.

Was Kurumba Nayanar a Kurumba Gounder?

The sources say he was born into the Kurumba shepherd community. They do not use the later name Kurumba Gounder, so that question cannot be settled from the texts, though Kurumbar communities revere him as their own.

When is Kurumba Nayanar Guru Puja?

In the Tamil month of Aadi, on the day of the Chithirai star.

How did Kurumba Nayanar die?

According to the Periya Puranam, he learned by yogic power that Shiva would call Sundarar to Kailash, and gave up his body to reach Shiva's abode before his guru.