Sēkkilān Mādēvadigal Rāmadēva (12th century CE),[1][2] known popularly by his family name as Sekkizhar,[3][4] was a saint and a contemporary of Kulottunga Chola II.

Sekkilhar was a child of precious genius and having noticed this, king Anapaya, that is Kulothunga Chola II appointed him as his Prime Minister on account of his talents.

Kulothunga Chola II, then a young king, was a devotee of Lord Siva at Chidambaram and continued the reconstruction of the center of Tamil Saivism that was begun by his ancestors.

He composed the Periyapuranam or the Great Narrative about the lives of the sixty three Nayanmars or saints and would himself sing it in the Thousand Pillared Hall of the Chidambaram temple and arouse the latent Chola Saiva zeal.

Ulakellam unarnthu otharkku ariyavan Nilavulaviya neermali veniyan Alakil jothiyan ambalatthu aaduvan malar chilambadi vaazhthi vanakuvom He who is known to those who forsake attachments He who is of plaited locks of hair in which river flows and baby moon grazes He who is verily sublime light and who dances in the golden hall of chidambaram lets worship his rosy anklet girt feet Kulothunga Chola II was so moved upon hearing the Periyapuranam that he placed the poem and Sekkilhar on the royal elephant and took them out on a grand procession around the streets of Chidambaram, the king himself waved the fly-whisks and showered Sekkilhar with honors.