Kulasekhara was one of the successors of Cheraman Perumal who died about A. D. 825.
Again the same traditional history of the Kerala country says that Kulasekhara Perumal organized the kingdom into small chieftainships to protect it against the Mappillas and that after a reign of eighteen years he went to heaven with his body. Kulasekhara Alvar must, therefore, have lived between A. D. 780 and 890. But in accepting this date there arises one difficulty, that is, our Alvar calls himself Kudal Nayakan or the Lord of Madura. At this period the Pandyas were powerful as will be seen from the Chinnamanur grants. The only reconciliation for this discrepancy would be that Kulasekhara was a scion of the Pandya family who inherited the Kerala throne under the marumakkatayam system. He was known in the Chera country as Pandya Kulasekhara Perumal.
Kulasekhara had equal proficiency in Tamil and Sanskrit. He was the author of Mukunda Malai in Sanskrit and 105 stanzas in Tamil which form part of the Nalayiraprabandam. His Tamil hymns on Tirupati and Srirangam are exceedingly pathetic like the Tiruvachakam of Manikkavachagar and can melt even sceptic minds; while his Mukunda Malai is equally so. The similes employed by him in the Vittuvakkodu hymn are quite appropriate and convincing. Like the previous saints he was also an uncompromising opponent to other sects. We give
