The Periya Puranam is a classical Tamil scripture that describes the lives of 63 Saivite saints. Down through the centuries it has had immense influence over the devotional tradition of Saivism in South India.
 
Towards the end of 1895, Sri Ramana Maharshi, (then known as Venkataraman) found at home a copy of the Periya Puranam. He picked it and, being the first religious book he had ever read,was transported to a hitherto unknown sphere of existence.
 
Waves of admiration,awe,reverence,sympathy and emulation swept over his soul in succession. It was not long after this book that the boy Venkataraman, fully absorbed in the effulgence of the self, made his way to Arunachala. Through out the next fifty-four years of his life the sage of Arunachala, never tired of recalling the stories of these saints and reciting their inspired poetry with deep emotion.