A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar c20.17

c20.17

Kulaśekhara, the ruler of Kerala, proficient alike in Sanskrit and Tamil, was the next āḷvār who, among other shrines of Vishnu, sang of those at Chidambaram and at Tiruvāli—the latter, no doubt, a foundation of Tirumaṅgai. Lastly came the celebrated Nammāḷvār and his pupil Madhurakavi. The former was born of a Veḷḷāla family of Āḷvārtirunagari (also called Kurugūr) in the Tinnevelly district. His personal name was Māṛan and he seems to have gained the name Śaṭhakopa on the occasion of his initiation. He renounced the world in his thirty-fifth year to practise yoga. His hymns, the largest in number after those of Tirumaṅgai, are rightly regarded as embodying the deepest religious experience and philosophic thought of one of the greatest seers of the world.