A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar c19.s2.11.3

c19.s2.11.3

Nammāḻvār's work is held in the highest respect as it is believed to embody the deepest philosophical truths taught by the Upanishads. The 1,101 stanzas comprising the Tiruvāymoḻi hold the place of honour and have been most elaborately commented on by later expositors of the Viśishtādvaita system of philosophy. The Tiruvāśiriyam, Tiruviruttam and Tiruvandādi are other works comprising together less than 200 stanzas. They relate to the deities of some thirty shrines, of which all but six are found in the Pāndya and Chera countries. Nammāḻvār was a yogi, and his Tiruvāymoḻi is replete with a convincing narration of his mystical experiences. Like the other *ālvārs*, he delights in the contemplation of the *avatārs* of Vishnu and their achievements, and his handling of themes from the lives of Rāma and Krishna has found expression in some very charming child poetry. Not only as philosopher and mystic, but even as a pure literary artist, Nammālvār takes a very high rank. Nāthamuni, the first of the *ācāryas* of the next epoch, is said to have been his pupil and received from him the entire canon of 4,000 hymns. The other pupil, Madhurakavi, himself an *ālvār*, wrote only one hymn in praise of his guru. It is quite probable that the last two *ālvārs* lived for many years after 850, the limit of our second period.