The poet-saint Sambandar

Sambandar, a Hindu poet-saint devoted to Shiva, is often shown as a child dancing in exultation. His religious expression is centered on singing and dancing, with his emphasis on worship through ecstatic poetry and movement.

A historical figure born in the seventh century, Sambandar as a young child was left hungry next to a sacred pool while his father took a ritual bath. Shiva’s wife Parvati appeared and gave him milk. Sambandar is then said to have burst into song honoring the god and goddess. He went on to compose more than four hundred hymns in praise of Shiva over the course of his life and made pilgrimages to important Shiva shrines, performing miracles and singing his poems as he traveled. In parts of southern India, Sambandar remains a much-revered saint whose poems continue 26 to be sung in temples today.