Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c8.1249

c8.1249

The first and foremost among the ālvārs is Nammālvār. ‘Tiruvāymoli’ is his work. It had been predicted in Vaiṣṇava Purāṇa that at the beginning of Kaliyuga. Viṣṇu Senānī named Viṣvaksena would incarnate as Nammālvār and that he would reinstate the Vaiṣṇavite religion. It is hinted in Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa that Nammālvār would incarnate in Śrīnagarī (Tirunagari) on the banks of river Tāmraparṇī in the Kingdom of Pāṇḍya. As was fore-told Nammālvār was born in Tirunagari. The present name of this place is ‘Ālvār tirunagari’.