ABSTRACT
Focusing on the work of the celebrated Tamil Śaiva poet of the seventh century, Appar, and his subsequent twelfth-century hagiography, this essay examines the complex and very specific ways in which Jains as religious “others” serve Tamil poetic attempts to shape Śaiva theology and practice, ways that change quite dramatically over time in the texts of the Śaiva poetic canon. In Appar’s devotional poetry, Jain ascetics play very specific roles as religious others, occupying one pole of human existence opposite that of sexual indulgence and family life. By the twelfth century, however, Śaiva hagiography portrays Appar straightforwardly as an ex-Jain-monk uniquely qualified to vanquish, even to kill, his erstwhile Jain colleagues. Carefully re-reading both devotional poetry and hagiography reveals less about the Jains as historical “others” on the Tamil landscape, and far more about the changing fortunes, attitudes, and practices of Tamil-speaking Śaivas themselves.
