Sundaramurti Swami (Colombo National Museum)
The bronze representing Sundaramurti Swami (or Chuntaramurtti Swami ) (Sinhala: සුන්දරමූර්තිස්වාමි; Tamil: சுந்தரமூர்த்தி) is presently on display in the Gallery of Polonnaruwa Period in Colombo National Museum , Sri Lanka. It was discovered from the premises of Siva Devale No. 5 in Polonnaruwa Ancient City (Coomaraswamy, 1914). Towards the end of the last millennium, several devotees of Siva and Visnu such as Sundaramurti Swami, Candikeswara , and Tirugnanasambandar became popular devotional singers in South India (Chutiwongs et al., 2013). Among them, Sundaramurti Swami (c. 8th century A.D.) was a young Tamil psalmist who lived in Tiruarur near Nagapatam in the Madras presidency (Arunachalam, 2004). He, on the day of his marriage, became a dedicated Siva worshipper when Siva appeared before him in the form of an old Brahmin (Arunachalam, 2004). It is said that Sundaramurti Swamiwas was surprised by this unexpected incident. The hand poses of the statues of this saint appear to depict thi…
