and slowly but steadily travelled as far as the Pandya-desa in the South; (2) the 'First Alvars' and Tirumalisaiyar, all of Tondai Nadu, were the earliest, and Nammalvar of the Pandya country was the latest; (3) Tirumalisaiyar, Tirumangai Mannan and Tondaradippodi Alvar who were the bitterest opponents to the Saivas, Jains and Buddhists flourished when the two latter religions were struggling for existence in the Tamil country; (4) Nammalvar, the last of the Vaishnava Saints and the first of the Acharyas lived when the two atheistic religions— Jainism and Buddhism—had very nearly died out in the Tamil country and when the Saivas and Vaishnavas had been reconciled; (5) Tirumalisaiyar, Kaliyan and Nammalvar were the greatest of the Vaishnava Saints; (6) and lastly, all the Alvars flourished during the pauranic period, that is between A. D. 550 and 950, when temples in honour of the Brahmanic deities, Vishnu and Siva, were being built in all the Tamil districts.
