Nanachampantar

…important Nāyaṉārs were Appar and Campantar, in the 7th century, and Cuntarar, in the 8th. Appar, a self-mortifying Jain ascetic before he became a Śaiva saint, sings of his conversion to a religion of love, surprised by the Lord stealing into his heart. After him, the term tēvāram (“private worship”)…

Among the Nayanars, the poets Nanachampantar, Appar, and Chuntaramurtti (often called “the three”) are worshipped as saints through their images in South Indian temples. The Nayanars were approximately contemporary with their Vaishnavite (Vishnu-worshipping) counterparts, the Alvars. In the 10th century Nambi Andar Nambi collected the hymns of the Nayanars