More women become Odhuvars in TN Temples

Subject : History

Section: Art and Culture

Context: TN Govt appoints 15 Odhuvars, of which 5 are women.

Who are Odhuvars?

Odhuvars are devotional singers dedicated to Siva Temples.
They sing the sacred Thevaram hymns as musical offerings to the Deity as part of the structured temple worship.
Rigorous training in the Thirumurai texts and Thevaram music is imparted to them at an early age.
They have to sing from the Thirumurai during each puja and also during special functions and festivals.
In the past, they were supported with honorariums by Kings.

What is Thevaram and Thirumurai?

Thevaram are hymns sung by Saivite Saints roughly 1,300 years ago.
Thevaram denotes the first seven volumes of the twelve-volume collection Tirumurai, a Shaiva narrative of epic and Puranic heroes, as well as a hagiographic account of early Saiva saints set in devotional poetry.
The Thevaram volumes contain the works of the three most prominent Shaiva Tamil poets of the 7th and 8th centuries: Sambandar, Appar, and Sundarar.
Consisting of 800 sacred hymns to the Hindu God Shiva, Tevaram dates back to the 7th and 8th century.