FOREWORD
The author of this work Prof. N. Subbu Reddiar is a well-known Tamil Writer. He got a Department of Tamil founded in the Sri Venkateswara Uviversity at Tirupati and has been the Head of the Department for many years. He has recently been raised to the status of a Professor in the University and he richly deserves that position. He has written a number of works in Tamil on various subjects-scientific, technological and academic. His language is easy-flowing and mellifuous, understandable both by scholars and by laymen. He has contributed greatly to Tamil writing.
The present work of his is a unique one dealing as it does with the Ajvirs. The Alvirs are Sri Vaisnavite saints of South India who realised Godhead in His arcā form in the Vaisnavite temples of South India. They are mystics of a very high order and sang of God in ecstasy and their verses number about 4000 which are called the Na@layira Divya Pra- bandkam. The main Alvars are ten in number who with the addition of two others viz, Antal and Maturakavi constitute a dozen, They are drawn from all castes and they gave a great impetus to the spread of Sri Vaisnavism. Their verses mostly relate to Raima and Krsna the avaidras of Visnu ~ besides the absolute Para-vasudeva in Sri Vaikuntha. Of all these Alvars, Namma]var is the foremost one though not the earliest. He is recognised as the patron~saint of Sri Vaisna- vism in southern India. His thousand verses are called Tiru- vaymoli Ayiram as having emanated from his holy mouth. Before the singing of any of these songs, the raniyan or the verse relating to the author is recited and his blessings are invoked. The teniyax of Nammalvar describes him as one who rendered the Vedas into Tamil and that his thousand verses have all the sanctity and the authority of the Vedas.
Referring to the Nālāyira Divya Prabandham, Sri Vedantha Desika states. that they throw considerable light on a number of intricate and difficult passages in the Vedas and help to clarify many doubts therein; and the Tenkalais have given greater authority to the Tamil Prabandhams than even to the Vedas themselves. Nammālvār’s. hymns are considered to be the authority on Sei Vaisnavism by both the sects of Sri
