Araiyar Sevai

Araiyar Sevai (Tamil: அரையர் சேவை, romanized: araiyarcēvai, lit. 'service of the cantors') is a Tamil Hindu performing art form, centered on the ritual singing and enactment of the hymns of the Divya Prabandham, the canon of the Sri Vaishnava tradition. Araiyar Sevai is generally performed only inside Vaishnavite temples in the presence of the temple utsavar — the temple's processional deity — by hereditary male performers called Araiyars.^[1] Although temple inscriptions suggest its performance was once widespread, it is today only performed in few temples in Tamil Nadu: the temple shrine of Srirangam, shrine of Azhagiya Manavala Perumal Temple, the shrine of Alvar Tirunagari and the temple of Andal at Srivilliputhur. It is also performed in a different form at the Melkote temple in southern Karnataka, where the hymns of the Divya Prabhandham is sung, but not enacted.