Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c8.1246

c8.1246

NAMMĀLVĀR. The first of the twelve great Ālvārs. The Śaivite devotees of South India are called Nāyanārs and the Vaiṣṇavite devotees, Ālvārs. The word ālvar means, a devotee of God. The Vaiṣṇava religion says that the twelve ālvārs are the incarnations of Ādiśeṣa and Garuda the followers and the embodied deities of the Conch and the discus the weapons of Viṣṇu. It is mentioned in Śrīmad Bhāgavata that divine persons who are followers of Viṣṇu will incarnate on the earth in Kaliyuga and that their native places will be the banks of the holy rivers in Drāviḍa such as Tāmraparṇī, Kṛtamālā (Vaigai), Payasvinī (Pāpanāśinī) and Kāverī. It is stated about these divine persons in Viṣṇumāhātmya that they would take birth in any caste and compose Drāviḍa songs and thereby propagate lofty truths. The collection of Drāviḍa songs thus composed by the ālvārs is called ‘Divya Prabandha’ (Divine Composition).