How many Alvars and Nayanars are there according to tradition?

Question

UnlockIAS · Accepted Answer

Correct — A, 12 and 63. South Indian bhakti tradition fixes the number of Alvars (Vaishnavite Tamil saint-poets, including Andal, their only woman) at 12, and the number of Nayanars (Shaivite Tamil saint-poets, canonised chiefly through the later Periya Puranam) at 63; both groups composed devotional Tamil hymns roughly between the 6th and 9th centuries CE.

Why the other options are wrong — (b) Undercounts the Nayanars — the traditional figure is 63, not 53.  (c) Overcounts the Alvars — tradition fixes their number at 12, not 23.  (d) Wrong on both counts — neither figure matches the traditional 12 Alvars or 63 Nayanars.

Concept: The Alvars (Vaishnava) and Nayanars (Shaiva) were Tamil bhakti saint-poets of roughly the 6th–9th centuries CE whose devotional hymns — collected as the Naalayira Divya Prabandham for the Alvars, and the Tevaram/Periya Puranam corpus for the Nayanars — shaped South Indian temple worship and are considered forerunners of the broader pan-Indian bhakti movement.

State PCS 2022 Q68 — History PYQ with Answer

State PCS 2022 Q68 — History PYQ with Answer