Tevaram are by Sambandar, the next three by Appar, and the seventh by Sundarar. Appar and Sambandar lived around the 7th century, while Sundarar lived in the 8th century. It is likely that the lives of Appar and Sambandar overlapped sometime between 570 and 670 CE, while Sundarar lived in late 7th or the early 8th century. All three are among the 63 Nayanars () who are revered poet-saints of Shaivism. During the Pallava period these three travelled extensively around Tamil Nadu, pioneering the tradition of an emotional devotion to Shiva through ritual singing in temples and public places. This was an era where Hindus, Jains and Buddhists were rivals in seeking patronage and influence in royal and urban circles of South India. The Tevaram includes 383 or 384 hymns composed by Sambandar over volumes I–III, 313 hymns by Appar over volumes IV–VI, and 100 hymns by Sundarar in volume VII. Information about Tevaram Trio comes mainly from the Periya Puranam, the eleventh-century Tamil book on the Nayanars that forms the last volume of the Tirumurai. The first two poets are mentioned in the third poet Sundarar's Tiruttondartokai (lit. The List of the Holy Servants) and other poetry which is generally dated to the 8th century. Other Tamil texts such as the Tiruvilaiyatarpuranam provide more extended context for the life stories of the Tevaram trio and other poet-saints. All these texts including the Periya Puranam were finalized a few centuries later. The texts about the Tevaram trio are hagiographies full of mythistory where devotion leads to miracles, objects float upstream in a river, cruel Jains of the Chola kingdom repeatedly scheme to hurt and kill peaceful Shaiva poets in the Pandya kingdom, the Shiva devotees survive and thrive through divine interventions, magic cures people's diseases, stone statues spring to life to help the kind and gentle Shaiva people suffering persecution, gigantic forms of living animals such as cruel elephants become small peaceful stone statues, and other such events happen in the context of loving and intense devotion to Shiva. This myth-filled context has created much controversy and speculations on their reliability, even the centuries in which these poets lived. Sambandar Thirugnana Sambandar, sometimes spelled as Campantar or Ñāṉacampantar, was born into a family of Saivite Brahmins in Sirkazhi near Chidambaram. Little is known with any certainty about Sambandar actual life. The last hymns of Tevaram volume III provide some information.